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Accountancy & Business Knowledge
Tax and Accounting
HM Revenue and Customs has issued a warning about a scam involving fraudsters who telephone taxpayers to inform them they are due a tax rebate, then ask for their bank details so they can use them to try to withdraw funds from their account. The warning comes amid a surge in tax scam phishing e-mails, which has resulted in HMRC closing down more than 180 websites in the UK and other countries for sending out fake tax rebate e-mails over recent months.
If you receive suspicious e-mails or telephone calls you should report them to phishing@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk Advice on online security and links to current security messages and examples of scams are available at http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/security/index.htm
Do not get conned into these scams, a good basic rule is that HMRC will only currently contact you by snail mail (normal post), not by any other method.
These have recently changed such that for companies with accounting year ends after 31st March 2010 your Corporation Tax Return must be filed on line, this is something that we now do for all our clients automatically. On top of this your Corporation Tax payments must be made electronically, cheques will no longer be acceptable, with cleared funds in the Revenues account by the due date, i.e.) 9 months and 1 day after your year end.
From May 2010, the Revenue have been able to impose penalties on businesses that do not pay their PAYE on time. The penalty can be up to five per cent of the amount that is due.
The requirement is that employers must pay their PAYE and National Insurance contributions by the 19th of each month, or the 22nd if paying electronically. For smaller companies there is a Quarterly scheme but these dates are the same for the end of each quarter. My recommendation here is if you have a payroll then mark the 19th of each month in your diary to ensure that you do not incur any penalties or interest.
Should any problem arise with your cash flow which results in you not being able to pay your tax at any time then the most important thing is to contact the Revenue straight away, via the information on their website at www.hmrc.gov.uk, to negotiate a time to pay plan or get your accountant to do this on your behalf. The worst thing to do is ignore it and bury your head in the sand.
P11D
When it comes to end of year forms, completing the P11D is one of the most dreaded tasks. You keep putting it off. When you do get round to it, if you get it wrong and the Revenue is likely to show no mercy, in fact they are tightening up their procedures right across the board and now carry out more inspections than ever. At the top of their agenda is checking that you have reported all of the expenses paid and benefits provided for directors and employees alike.
A P11D employee is one who is earning at a rate of at least £8,500 per annum (including benefits) or is a company director even if earning below this rate, to ensure compliance it is recommended that a form should be completed for all directors whether they have taken a benefit or not.
The forms must be with them by today 6th July 2010, with the deadline for paying any resulting Class 1A National Insurance being 19th July 2010, to avoid any penalty and interest charges. A penalty of up to £3,000 can be applied, even if the submission is made on time, if the subsequent submission proves to be faulty.
Where do I turn for help? The Revenue publishes its view and guidance on expenses and benefits on its website’ For:-
- The P11D Guide (2010), see www.hmrc.gov.uk/guidance/p11dguide.pdf- 4 page document.
- Booklet 480 (2010): Expenses and benefits. A tax guide, see www.hmrc.gov.uk/guidance/2010/480.pdf- 105 page document.
- CWG5: Class 1A National Insurance contributions on benefits-in-kind, see www.hmrc.gov.uk/guidance/2010/cwg5.pdf- 36 page document
Companies House
For financial years beginning on or after 6th April 2008, the normal time allowed for filing accounts was reduced from 10 months to 9 months for a limited company and the penalties were increased as per the following table.
|
Length of delay |
Old Penalty |
New Penalty |
|
Not more than 1 month |
£100 |
£150 |
|
More than 1 month but not more than 3 months |
£250 |
£375 |
|
More than 3 months but not more than 6 months |
£500 |
£750 |
|
More than 6 months |
£1,000 |
£1,500 |
Also the amount in the above table will be doubled if the previous year’s accounts were also submitted late.
The quickest way of checking your filing dates is to visit the Companies House website www.companieshouse.gov.uk and using the Webcheck field select your company name or company number.
VAT
On a slightly better note, the Revenue have not published this widely, because I suppose that they do want you to take advantage of this relief, but if you have debts six months older than your normal payment terms then you can legitimately deduct the VAT associated with the debt from your next VAT Quarters payment and only subsequently pay over the VAT if the debt is collected.
If your business has an annual VAT exclusive turnover of £100,000 or more or you registered for VAT on or after 1stApril 2010 then you now must file your VAT Returns online and pay VAT electronically for accounting periods starting on or after 1stApril 2010.
If you are still paying by cheque the change is that in the past your payments were considered as on time if the cheque arrived on or before the due date now they will only be considered on time if the funds are in the Revenue’s bank account on the due date.
The Revenue state that a cheque takes three bank working days to clear – that excludes Saturdays, Sundays and bank holidays. If your payment arrives after the due date the revenue can apply penalties and surcharges and have started writing letters to this effect, it would seem that your first “offence” only gets a warning..