Great news for small employers (up to 49 employees): you will not be charged late filing penalties under PAYE Real Time Information (RTI) reporting until 5 March 2015. This change follows a recent relaxation for micro employers (1 to 9) employees which delays penalties for them until 5 April 2016.
SME Tax News
According to HMRC, "A very small number of employers have incorrectly been sent an interim penalty warning letter when they have, in fact, submitted their P11D(b) for tax year 2013 to 14. Most of the letters that have been issued inappropriately relate to employers who have changed their trading name recently. If you or your client has received a warning letter and you have successfully filed your P11D(b), you do not need to take any further action."
Current Consultations from HMRC and HM Treasury and measures heading for the 2015 Finance Bill.
Partnership agreements are often forgotten especially where the partners are all family members. The case of John Ronald Ham v Ronald William Ham & Lorna Jean Ham [2013] EWCA Civ 1301 highlights the importance of having a well-constructed partnership agreement in place.
The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) has become an approved regulator of probate, and is the first non-legal body to be able to regulate probate services and licence Alternative Business Structures (ABS’s) under the terms of the Legal Services Act 2007.
HMRC has been given leave to appeal the decision of the Upper Tier Tax Tribunal that payments made by the club to players via its employee benefit trust (EBT) were loans and not subject to PAYE.
HMRC have announced a number of changes to the LDF to restrict access to the favourable terms to new tax irregularities with significant offshore connection.
Two consultations on offshore evasion strategy have now closed, new measures are being introduced in 2015/16. The new measures include making a failure to declare offshore income or gains a criminal offence.
The Low Incomes Tax Reform Group (LITRG) are calling for online government services to be clearly marked in order to prevent people being coned into paying for free government services by copy-cat websites. LITRG is calling for the introduction of a kitemark to help the public ensure they are using official websites.
Advisers KPMG report that HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) have issued 36,000 letters informing employers and agents of possible overpayments of PAYE. The letters, issued at the beginning of August, are causing some confusion as they refer to both the last three Real Time Information (RTI) submissions and the period 6 July – 5 October; time periods which do not correlate.