Key Dates
14 October 2010 - Deadline for submission of forms CT61 and payment of any associated income tax for the quarter ended 30th September 2010.
19 October 2010 - PAYE and NIC due for the month ended 5th October 2010. Quarterly PAYE and NIC due for the quarter ended 5th October 2010 for qualifying small employers. Due date for payment of tax and class 1B NIC arising under a PAYE Settlement Agreement for the year ended 5th April 2010. Submit Construction Industry Scheme return for the month ended 5th October 2010.
31 October 2010 - Submission date for 2010 self-assessment tax returns not submitted electronically (where these were issued by 31st July 2010). |
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October Promotions Within CW Fellowes
Lee Beaumont
Lee has been with CW Fellowes for just over six months and during this time has proved himself to be an asset to the Fareham office. We are pleased to announce that Lee has been promoted to Associate Director from the 1 October 2010. |
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Tina Harris
From the 1 October Tina has become the Audit Manager in our Fareham office. She will be working closely with other members of the Audit team to ensure a smooth transition into this role. |
Rebecca Cornell
Again, from the 1 October, Becky has been promoted to the role of Payroll Supervisor and will be responsible for the day to day running of the payroll function, together with promoting the product offering and all that it entails. |
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The Great South Run
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On the 24 October, three of CW Fellowes "greatest sportsmen", Oliver Rowe, Gary Essery and James Hewitt are taking part in the Great South Run. A fast flat course through Portsmouth's Naval Heritage and along Southsea seafront, covering 10 miles.
We wish them good luck as they support Leukaemia Busters. |
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GHG Premiership Rugby Clubs Charity Cycle Challenge
Bruce Elkins, Director of CW Fellowes Limited Chartered Accountants has successfully completed a 650 mile cycle of last seasons Premier rugby clubs, starting at Newcastle Falcons cycling to the Double Header at Twickenham on 4th September and finishing back at his home club Tottonians RFC in Totton, near Southampton.
The cycle was his 20th consecutive year of sporting challenges fundraising for charity, he is supporting the Wessex Cancer Trust (www.wessexcancer.org) and The Rose Road Association(www.roseroad.org), charities based in Southampton and hopes to raise £20,000 this year.
Bruce will be having a break from fundraising next year so all donations from anyone wishing to support him and the charities would be greatly appreciated . A diary of the challenge and some photographs are posted on his company website at www.cwfellowes.com/charity-cycle-challenge-2010.htm |
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Land Remediation Relief
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Companies can claim relief from Corporation Tax for qualifying expenditure incurred for land remediation, which means restoring contaminated or long-term derelict land. The rate of relief is 150% of the relevant costs. Only companies may claim this relief – it is not available to individuals or partnerships (although there are special rules for corporate members of partnerships).
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here to view full article...
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HMRC Issues Guidance On Tax Underpayments
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has issued guidance for up to 1.4 million taxpayers who have underpaid PAYE due to incorrect tax codes.
It has been widely reported that around 1.4 million people had underpaid £2 billion through PAYE, an average of £1,500 each. Around 4.3 million people will receive a rebate from £1.8 billion in overpayments between April 2008 and April 2010.
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The problems have arisen after HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) implemented its new National Insurance and PAYE Service, allowing it for the first time to combine its records of individuals' national insurance contributions with their income tax paid through PAYE. A computerised system introduced in 2009 has allowed more discrepancies to be identified.
People who have underpaid tax of less than £2,000 will generally be expected to pay what they owe via extra tax deductions via PAYE from April 2011 onwards. Those owing larger sums will need to make arrangements to pay the amount outstanding.
HMRC chief executive Dame Lesley Strathie has confirmed that people who owe more than £2,000 in tax would not have to pay interest if the tax authority gave them extra time to pay.
Before the concession, people had three months to pay up after which point they would be charged interest on the money owed.
Guidance issued by HMRC also says: “In cases of genuine hardship HMRC will allow payments to be spread across a period of three years.”
However, the guidance says that following media reports that underpayments of tax could be written off, “HMRC can consider writing off the underpayment only in certain circumstances”.
People who have overpaid will receive a full refund, HMRC says.
LINKS: HMRC guidance and BBC news |
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£900m To Fight Tax Non-Compliance
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Large businesses will be among those targeted in a £900 million government plan to tackle non-compliance in the tax system.
Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander has announced that the government will make £900m available over the Spending Review period to raise additional revenues from taxpayers seeking to avoid paying their fair share.
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The scheme is designed to bring in around £7 billion a year by 2014-15 in additional tax revenues.
The £900 million will allow HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) to target avoidance and evasion. Funding will be available for
- the deployment of dedicated tax experts to extend HMRC’s coverage of large businesses, with a focus on tackling high-risk areas.
- a more robust criminal deterrent against tax evasion with criminal prosecutions increased fivefold
- a crackdown on offshore evasion with the creation of a new dedicated team of investigators to catch those hiding money offshore.
Other initiatives will include increased use of private debt collection agencies and greater investment to prevent smuggling of alcohol and tobacco.
LINK: Press release |
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New Businesses Benefit From NI Holiday
A new regional national insurance (NI) holiday for start-up businesses has come into effect.
Businesses setting up outside London, the South East and East of England will be eligible for a NI holiday worth up to £5,000 for each of the first ten employees they hire in their first year of business. This means a maximum saving on their national insurance payments of up to £50,000.
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The scheme will run for three years. It is estimated that 400,000 new businesses will benefit by having a lower tax bill from employing new staff.
The regional holiday, announced in the June Budget, is designed to encourage the creation of private sector jobs in regions with high public sector employment.
The NI holiday, announced in the June Budget, is available to new businesses starting between 22 June 2010 and 5 September 2013.
However, as the scheme itself did not begin until 6 September 2010, eligible businesses can only deduct employer NICs due on earnings paid on or after that date (but before 5 September 2013).
More details of the scheme are available via Business Link.
LINKS: Business Link website |
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CD-Rom Alert For Employers
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HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has issued an alert to employers who use its Employer CD-ROM to help run their payroll systems.
Employers using the CD-ROM must update it now, to ensure it has the most up-to-date guidance and calculators.
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HMRC will be replacing the Employer CD-ROM for employers with a new downloadable application – ‘Basic PAYE Tools’ – in February 2011, and downloading the September update will ensure that employers can take full advantage of this new product.
LINK: The September update can be downloaded free from the HMRC website at www.hmrc.gov.uk/employers/cdrom
LINK: HMRC is urging employers to register for its email alert service, which notifies employers when new information is available on the HMRC website. To register, visit www.hmrc.gov.uk/paye/forms-publications/register.htm |
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Businesses Get Helping Hand On Awards
Businesses looking for opportunities to raise their profile are being given a helping hand by Business Link.
A searchable database of awards now available on the Business Link website allows entrepreneurs and firms to search for awards appropriate to their business sector and will identify both national awards and those relevant to their location.
Business Link says that while business recognition award may not always involve a financial reward, winning one can help to boost profile and reputation.
LINK: Business awards finder |
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Online Guidance To Sale Of Goods Act Launched
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The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) launched a new online resource to help businesses comply with the law when customers buy or return goods.
The Sale of Goods Act (SOGA) is the main law that relates to the purchase of consumer goods, covering issues including quality of goods, how they are described when being sold, whether they are fit for purpose and when a customer is entitled to a refund.
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With the OFT estimating that problems with unsatisfactory goods cost consumers around £2 billion a year, it has worked with businesses and trade associations to develop the SOGA Hub to help businesses and sales staff understand their legal obligations and improve customer service.
The hub includes an at-a-glance guide to the law, detailed explanations, practical example and training materials and a quiz. The materials can be used as they are or incorporated into existing staff training programmes and are designed to be relevant to people dealing with various levels of consumer contact.
The OFT worked to develop the SOGA Hub with the British Retail Consortium, the Trading Standards Institute and businesses including the Home Retail Group, B&Q and a number of small and medium-sized retailers across the country.
LINKS: SOGA Hub |
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Comments Invited On Bribery Act Guidance
Businesses are being invited to have their say on guidance designed to help them implement legal measures designed to strengthen the UK’s stance against bribery.
The Bribery Act, which will take effect from April 2011, will encouragebusinesses to adopt robust anti-bribery safeguards. Its measures include:
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- introducing a new corporate offence of failure to prevent bribery by persons working on behalf of a business, anywhere in the world. A business can avoid conviction if it can show that it has adequate procedures in place to prevent bribery.
- making it a criminal offence to give, promise or offer a bribe and to request, agree to receive or accept a bribe either at home or abroad. The measures cover bribery of a foreign public official.
- increasing the maximum penalty for bribery from seven to 10 years’ imprisonment, with an unlimited fine.
Ahead of the Bribery Act coming into force, the government has launched a consultation exercise on guidance on procedures that commercial organisations can put in place to prevent persons associated with them from bribing. The consultation runs until 9 November.
Businesses that export goods or have a presence overseas are among those being advised to start preparing now for the Bribery Act.
The UK is currently a respectable 17th out of 180 countries and territories ranked in Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index (CPI), which measures perceived levels of public sector corruption.
However, it is a major exporter and UK companies and subsidiaries are also present in many countries well down the CPI. The World Bank estimates that more than £1,000 billion is paid annually in bribes worldwide and industries in which UK businesses are involved – including aerospace, construction, defence and extraction – are known as high risk areas for bribery.
LINKS: Bribery Act Consultation
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Tax Specialists Criticise Paperwork Cuts
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Tax experts have hit out at HM Revenue and Customs’ (HMRC) plans to stop issuing copies to tax agents of some mail sent to their clients to help cut costs.
The Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT) said that while it supports the need to reduce government spending, it is concerned that the move will result in extra work for HMRC, taxpayers and their agents and potentially create costs greater than savings.
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CIOT Deputy President Anthony Thomas said: “This is a seriously short-sighted move.
“By keeping tax agents less well-informed about their clients’ tax obligations HMRC are likely to find they lose more money than they save.
“HMRC estimate that not sending copies of PAYE coding notices (P2s) and tax calculations (P800s) will save them £1.25 million. But they have not estimated the cost of dealing with an increased number of enquiries from agents, let alone that of dealing with the higher number of erroneous tax returns which is likely to result.
“It is particularly disappointing that this change is being sprung on taxpayers and their agents with more or less immediate effect and without consultation.
“If they are set on proceeding, then much more effort will need to be put into telling all taxpayers about the changes. At the moment all that is planned is a message on letters from HMRC to taxpayers, but if the taxpayer doesn’t read letters obviously from HMRC (which is not uncommon, on the basis that they leave that to their agent) they will not see the message on the letter telling them to show it to their agent.”
HMRC say it has tried to look for savings in areas where there will be minimal impact on customers.
LINKS: HMRC information |
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Chandlers Ford Office: a |
CW Fellowes, Templars House, Lulworth Close, Chandlers Ford, Hampshire,
SO53 3TL.
t | +44 (0) 23 8024 7070 f |
+44 (0) 23 8024 7071 e | chandlersford@cwfellowes.com
Fareham Office: a |
CW Fellowes, Carnac Place, Carnac Court, Cams Hall Estate, Fareham,
Hampshire, PO16 8UY.
t | +44 (0) 1329 220554 f |
+44 (0) 1329 225266 e | fareham@cwfellowes.com
w | www.cwfellowes.com
Registered in England and Wales No: 6491259.
Registered to carry on audit work and regulated for a range of
investment business activities by the Institute of
Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. |
