News
Employing staff for the first time?
16/05/2024
There are a number of rules and regulations that you must be aware of when you employ staff for the first time.
HMRC’s guidance sets out some important issues to be aware of when becoming an employer.
Decide how much to pay someone - you must pay your employee at least the National Minimum Wage.
Check if someone has the legal right
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Register an overseas company
16/05/2024
An overseas company must register with Companies House if they want to set up a place of business in the UK. This would mean that the overseas company has a physical presence in the UK through which it carries on business.
If an overseas company does not have a physical presence in the UK, they are not usually required to register with
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Beneficial tax-exempt loans
16/05/2024
An employee can obtain a benefit when provided with an employment-related cheap or interest-free loan. The benefit is the difference between the interest the employee pays, if any, and the commercial rate the employee would have to pay on a loan obtained elsewhere. These types of loans are referred to as beneficial loans.
There are a
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Closing a limited company
16/05/2024
There are a number of reasons why you may need to close your limited company. This could be because the company structure no longer suits your needs, your business is no longer active, or the company is insolvent. You will usually need the agreement of all the company’s directors and shareholders to close down a company.
The method for
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Check a VAT number
16/05/2024
The Check a UK VAT number service is available at: www.gov.uk/check-uk-vat-number.
This service allows users to check:
if a UK VAT registration number is valid; and
the name and address of the registered business.
The service also allows UK taxpayers to obtain a certificate to prove that they checked that a VAT registration number
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Deferring National Insurance payments
16/05/2024
Employees with more than one job may be able to defer or delay paying Class 1 National Insurance in certain circumstances.
This deferment can be considered when any of the following apply:
You pay Class 1 National Insurance with more than one employer.
You earn £967 or more per week from one job over the tax year.
You earn £1,209 or
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Customs declaration deadline
13/05/2024
A reminder that businesses must submit all export declarations through the Customs Declaration Service (CDS) by 4 June.
Businesses exporting goods have less than one month left to move across to the CDS, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) announced today.
Export declarations must be submitted through CDS from 4 June this year, when it
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Company names – new regulations
13/05/2024
A recent post by Companies House confirmed that they are now using new powers to challenge the registration of certain company names.
Extracts from their recent blog post is reproduced below:
“New powers to challenge company names
These new measures build on existing controls on company names. Names cannot be the same as or too
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Time to renew tax credits
09/05/2024
HMRC is currently sending the annual tax credit renewal packs to the 730,000 tax credit claimants and is encouraging recipients to renew their tax credits claim online. HMRC started writing to taxpayers on 2 May and expects all packs to be with recipients by the 19 June 2024.
Renewal packs with a black stripe across the front page are
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Act now to claim dormant funds
09/05/2024
The Ministry of Justice has published an urgent warning for anyone with unclaimed dormant funds held by the Courts Funds Office (CFO). Recent changes in legislation have changed the rules for individuals or entities with dormant funds held by the CFO.
The new rules come into effect from 1 June 2024 and mean that any account that has been
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Check if HMRC contact is genuine
09/05/2024
HMRC’s published guidance titled ‘Check genuine HMRC contact that uses more than one communication method’ has been updated. The list is intended to help taxpayers check if recent contacts purporting to be from HMRC are actually a scam.
The guidance contains a list of emails, phone calls, letters and text messages recently issued by HMRC
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How to claim R&D expenditure credit
09/05/2024
In the Autumn Statement last year, it was announced that the existing R&D Expenditure Credit and Small and Medium Enterprise Scheme would be merged from April 2024. The merged scheme R&D expenditure credit (RDEC) and enhanced R&D intensive support (ERIS) became effective for accounting periods beginning on or after 1 April
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Do you need to register for Economic Crime Levy?
09/05/2024
The Economic Crime Levy is a levy that applies to businesses that are already regulated for anti-money laundering purposes.
Your business must register if your UK revenue is £10.2 million or more in a financial year and:
Your business is already regulated by HMRC for anti-money laundering purposes.
Your business is regulated by a
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Lifetime transfers and liability to IHT
09/05/2024
There are special rules concerning the liability to IHT of a transfer made during a lifetime. For example, most gifts made during a person's life are not subject to tax at the time of the gift. These lifetime transfers are known as 'potentially exempt transfers' or 'PETs'.
These gifts or transfers achieve their potential of becoming
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Tax Diary June/July 2024
07/05/2024
1 June 2024 - Due date for corporation tax due for the year ended 31 August 2023.
19 June 2024 - PAYE and NIC deductions due for month ended 5 June 2024. (If you pay your tax electronically the due date is 22 June 2024).
19 June 2024 - Filing deadline for the CIS300 monthly return for the month ended 5 June 2024.
19 June 2024 - CIS
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Cyber protection laws introduced
07/05/2024
New consumer protections against hacking and cyber-attacks came into force at the end of April 2024. All internet connected smart devices will be required by law to meet minimum-security standards.
Manufacturers will be legally required to protect consumers from hackers and cyber criminals from accessing devices with internet or network
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New Companies House powers
07/05/2024
The recently introduced Economic Crime and Transparency Act has gifted Companies House a range of new powers aimed at reducing exploitation by corporate entities to pursue illegal enterprise.
The aim of the new reforms are:
Introducing identity verification for all new and existing registered company directors, People with Significant
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VAT boost to charitable donations
02/05/2024
The government is looking to introduce a new relief that would provide a VAT boost to charitable donations. The new VAT relief would be designed to encourage businesses to donate everyday items to charities without creating a VAT liability. A 12-week consultation on the proposed changes will be launched before 23 July 2024.
Under the
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