Key Dates
14 January 2011 - Deadline for submission of forms CT61 and payment of any associated income tax for the quarter ended 31st December 2010.
19 January 2011 - PAYE and NIC due for the month ended 5th January 2011. Quarterly PAYE and NIC due for the quarter ended 5th January 2011 for qualifying small employers. Submit Construction Industry Scheme return for the month ended 5th January 2010.
31 January 2011 - Final submission date for 2010 self-assessment tax returns (where these were issued by 31st October 2010 and are delivered electronically). Balancing payment due for 2009/2010 personal tax. First payment on account due in respect of 2010/2011 personal tax. |
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Consultation under Way on PAYE Reform
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is inviting employers to respond to a second phase of consultation on improving PAYE through the use of Real Time Information (RTI).
The consultation, launched on 3 December, follows an HMRC discussion paper published in July 2010, which outlined RTI as a way to reduce costs for employers and HMRC and improve customer service for individuals. |
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The RTI process will allow information on tax and other deductions to be submitted automatically to HMRC at the same time as employees are paid.
Following a positive response to the discussion paper, ministers have decided to proceed with a phased introduction of RTI, beginning in 2012.
The new consultation document explains how RTI will work in more detail and sets out a timeline for its introduction.
HMRC says it is keen to hear the views of interested parties on the proposals and particularly on the information it proposes employers will have to submit to HMRC and the channels to be used to send this.
It stresses that its intention is that RTI should involve only data already collected and recorded by employers for PAYE purposes or to satisfy other existing legislative requirements.
The consultation runs until 28 December 2011.
LINK: PAYE RTI consultation |
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Corporation Tax ‘Vodcast’ Offers Expert Advice
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HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has teamed up with accountancy experts to provide online advice on changes to corporation tax due in April 2011.
From 1 April 2011 onwards, all companies and organisations will have to file company tax returns online for any accounting period ending after 31 March 2010. |
From the same date, they will have to pay any corporation tax and related payments due electronically, for example by direct debit.
Under the changes, all corporation tax returns and supporting documents, including accounts, will also have to be filed online using Inline eXtensible Business Reporting Language (iXBRL).
Now HMRC and the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) have produced a video podcast, or vodcast, providing guidance on the changes, including the preparations businesses should be putting in place and the penalty regime.
The podcast, which can also be downloaded as a transcript, is available on the ACCA website at
http://www.accaglobal.com/uk/members/publications/podcasts/corptax?utm_source
=XBRL&utm_medium=LEC&utm_campaign=HMRC%2B
LINK: Switching from paper to online returns guidance |
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HMRC Joins Twitter
HMRC has begun trialling the use of Twitter, operating under the username @hmrcgovuk
Dave Hartnett, HM Revenue & Customs Permanent Secretary for Tax, said that the social media site was an excellent way for followers to find out quickly and easily what was going on at HMRC. |
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HMRC tweets posted on Twitter will include news, publications, web content, consultations, speeches and publicity campaigns concerning HMRC and tax matters.
Mr Hartnett stressed: “It is important to remember that we will never discuss individual taxpayer’s affairs using Twitter.”
LINK: HMRC press release |
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Employment Rights Payments Change
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Annual changes to the payments for unfair dismissal and redundancies will take effect from 1 February 2011.
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Under index-linking, increased limits will apply to:
- statutory redundancy payments
- the basic and compensatory awards for unfair dismissal
- the limit on guarantee payment made when employees are not provided with work and
- the minimum basic award for unfair dismissal in health and safety and certain other cases.
The changes include a new upper limit on the amount of compensation for unfair dismissal, which rises from £65,300 to £68,400, and a new £400 maximum for a week’s pay in calculation of redundancy payments, up from £380.
LINK: The Employment Rights (Increase of Limits) Order 2010
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Business Records Checks Consultation Focuses on SMEs
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is seeking views on how best to implement a programme of Business Records Checks, designed to improve record keeping in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
HMRC says that although keeping adequate and accurate business records allows businesses to comply properly with their tax obligations, its random enquiry programme suggests that poor record keeping is a problem in around 40 per cent of around five million SME cases. |
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With research indicating that poor business record keeping generally leads to an underassessment of tax, HMRC estimates that it could be losing out on tax payments in up to two million SME cases annually.
HMRC says: “The loss of tax through poor record keeping, particularly in the current economic climate, cannot continue and HMRC is, therefore, determined, to use the powers at its disposal to improve business record keeping.”
HMRC wants to check the business records of up to 50,000 cases annually, beginning in the second half of 2011, and impose penalties for significant record keeping failures.
The consultation focuses chiefly on how best HMRC can implement a programme of Business Record Checks, which it says will bring potential benefits for businesses including improved financial management, which in turn will improve firms’ chances of business success by providing better information for decision-making.
LINK: Consultation document |
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European Patent Fees Reduced
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Thousands of innovative UK businesses will reduce the cost of protecting their bright ideas in Europe under new arrangements.
From 1 January 2011, applicants filing patents in Europe will need to supply the European Patent Office (EPO) with fewer documents than before, which will cut the cost of the fees they pay agents for making applications. |
The EPO enables companies to make one application for patent protection in up to 40 European countries rather than making separate applications in each country.
But individuals cannot make their own applications to the EPO so companies must engage a patent attorney to do it for them.
The new arrangements mean applicants will no longer have to supply the EPO with the results of searches already done by the Intellectual Property Office (IPO).
Instead the IPO will automatically supply the information from its records and around 5,000 applications a year will benefit from this change.
LINK: Department for Business, Innovation and Skills press release |
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Tax Avoidance Study Group Launched
The government has made its first appointment to a group of experts who will explore the potential for a General Anti-Avoidance Rule (GAAR) as part of the UK tax regime.
Graham Aaronson QC was appointed in December to lead a study into whether a GAAR could be effective in the UK tax system and how it could be framed to deter and counter tax avoidance without reducing the UK tax regime’s attractiveness to business. |
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Details of further members of the study group will be announced this month and the group is due to complete its study by 31 October 2011. The government says it will not introduce a GAAR without further, formal public consultation.
Responding to the study group’s launch, the Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT) said it looked forward to having the opportunity to contribute to its work.
John Whiting, CIOT tax policy director said: “We are happy to examine the idea of a GAAR, although many of the underlying concerns that existed when this was looked at in 1999 remain.”
He added that if a GAAR was to be introduced, it should be part of a general reform of anti-avoidance law and not simply as an additional layer.
Countries that already have a GAAR include Canada, Hong Kong, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia.
LINK: CIOT press release |
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Tax Reliefs in the Spotlight
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The Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) has completed a key stage in its major review of tax reliefs.
The OTS’s interim report, issued on 13 December, follows publication the previous month of a full list of all 1,042 UK tax reliefs and allowances, when the OTS also invited comments and views from those who use them. |
In the interim report, the OTS focuses on a sample of 13 reliefs, selected to include a variety of different types of relief.
The report is designed primarily to invite comment on whether the methodology used by the OTS is appropriate and whether any additional or alternative criteria should be used in its final report. The OTS stresses it is not looking to draw any final recommendations or conclusions at this stage.
Reliefs considered for retention in the interim report include income tax relief for players in the UEFA Champions League Final 2011; for simplification, research and development tax relief; and for abolition, vaccine research relief.
Subject to comments received on the interim report, the OTS will apply its criteria to a further 74 reliefs and, if time allows, 75 more for a final report to be published ahead of the 23 March 2011 Budget. These further reliefs are also listed in the interim report.
LINK: Tax reliefs review |
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