Wokingham Accountants
Accountancy may not strike everyone as exciting, but it is fast moving. We’ll keep you informed about issues we think may be of interest or relevance to you.
HMRC produce a range of Toolkits for agents, which highlight errors commonly made in returns so that agents can take steps to avoid them. The business profits toolkit provides guidance on errors that are found in relation to business profits for small and medium-sized businesses. They are helpful to anyone computing taxable business profits. Risk … Read more
The best way to ensure that your estate is passed on in accordance with your wishes is to make a will. However, even with the best of intentions, it may happen that someone dies without making a will, particularly where the death was sudden and unexpected. Where there is no will, the estate is divided … Read more
An economic operator registration and identification (EORI) number will be needed for UK businesses to be able to continue to trade with the EU after the UK leaves the EU. If there is a no-deal Brexit In the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal, an EORI number that starts with GB … Read more
The self-employed pay two classes of National Insurance contributions – Class 2 and Class 4. Class 2 contributions are weekly flat-rate contributions which provide the mechanism by which the self-employed build up their entitlement to the state pension and certain contributory benefits. By contrast, Class 4 contributions are based on profits from the self-employment and … Read more
Directors’ loan accounts – avoiding the risks HMRC produce a series of toolkits which set out common errors that they find in returns. The hope is that by being familiar with the mistakes that are routinely made, steps can be taken to avoid them. Although the toolkits are aimed primarily at agents, they are useful … Read more
Rather than allocating specific cars to particular employees, some employers find it preferable to operate a carpool and have a number of cars available for use by employees when they need to undertake a business journey. From a tax perspective, provided that certain conditions are met, no benefit in kind tax charge will arise where … Read more
Tax credits are benefit payments that are paid to people in work who are on a low income or have children. There are two tax credits – working tax credit (for those working but on a low income) and child tax credit (for those on low income, regardless of whether they are working or not, … Read more
If you’ve received a tax calculation or simple assessment from HMRC, don’t assume that it is correct – HMRC can and do make mistakes. Each year HMRC undertake a PAYE reconciliation for employed individuals who are not required to submit a tax return to check that the correct amount of tax has been paid. Where … Read more
From a payroll perspective, there are various tasks that an employer has to perform when they take on a new starter. For 2019/20 an employer needs to operate PAYE where the employee earns more than £118 per week (the lower earnings limit for National Insurance purposes). However, if any employees earn more than £118 per … Read more
Closing a business can be a difficult time. However, you can be tax efficient with this beneficial liquidation strategy. Although it is possible to strike off a company and for distributions made prior to dissolution to be treated as capital rather than as a dividend, this is not an option where the amount of the … Read more
