From Friday, 18 September businesses will be legally required to keep attendee details to support NHS Test and Trace. It will become mandatory for certain businesses including the hospitality and tourism and leisure sectors, close contact services and places of worship to have a system to collect NHS Test and Trace data, and keep this for 21 days.
Summer mini-Budget Statement: The £30bn on half price meals out for the nation, VAT and stamp duty slashed, £1,000 sweeteners for Employers to save Jobs
Lets hear it for the UK Government! - Yes, they may not have got everything right (such as support for the self employed) but with the Furlough scheme extended to October, grants provided to the retail and hospitality sectors to support the economy this package further alleviates some of the pressure faced by businesses.
Jobs Retention: Employers who bring back furloughed staff and continuously employ them through to January 2021 will be paid a £1,000 bonus per employee as long as they are paid at least £520 on average a month.
Apprenticeships: Employers will be paid £1,000 to take on trainees and up to £2,000 to hire young apprentices.
VAT cut for hospitality industry: And there was more for the hard-hit hospitality industry as Mr Sunak announced a VAT cut on food, accommodation and attractions from 20 per cent to 5 per cent from July 15 to January 12.
‘Eat Out to Help Out’ discount among measures to get customers back into restaurants, cafes and pubs. Meals eaten at any participating business from Monday to Wednesday during August will be 50 per cent cheaper, up to a maximum discount of £10 per head for everyone.
Stamp duty slashed: The Chancellor confirmed that stamp duty was being abolished on transactions below £500,000 until March 31, 2021 – effective immediately.
IR35 changes
IR35 delayed The government has also postponed controversial tax reforms to off-payroll working rules (known as IR35) for the private sector until April 2021, to help ease the strain that the coronavirus pandemic is putting on businesses and individuals.
This was announced in the House of Commons in March, along with an emergency £330bn financial package to bolster the UK economy that includes a business rates holiday as well as loans for struggling firms. When the changes come into force it will mean every medium and large private sector business in the UK will have to set the tax status of its contract workers, meaning thousands could have to pay more tax.
Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS)
As per the announcement by Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, last week Monday, approved banks has launched yesterday the Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS) for its clients to support them during the current Covid-19 pandemic.
The new loan scheme is a different offering from the current CBILS product, and aims to support clients with their borrowing needs from £2,000 up to £50,000, which are 100% guaranteed by the government.
Available to a UK based business that was established before 1 March 2020 and has been adversely impacted by Covid-19.
· The lending request cannot exceed 25% of 2019 total turnover.
· £2,000 to £50,000.
· Maximum of 6 year BBLS term.
· The UK government will guarantee 100% of the loan and cover the first 12 months of interest payments & fees.
April 2020 - Landlord tax changes
Tax relief: In 2020-21, landlords will not be able to claim any tax relief on mortgage interest payments. Instead, from April 2020, they will receive a 20% tax credit on interest payments.
Capital Gains: Private Residence Relief is reduced to the time owners lived in their property, plus nine months, meaning landlords will lose nine months’ worth of CGT relief when they come to sell.
In addition, CGT relief of up to £40,000 (£80,000 for a couple) was available for those who let out a property that is, or has been, their home. However, from April 2020, this relief only applies to landlords who are in shared occupancy with their tenant, as the government aims to “better focus PRR to owner-occupiers”.
The deadline for payment of your CGT bill also changed in April 2020, from 31 January in the year after the tax year the sale is made, to within 30 days of the completion of the sale.
HMRC help with your VAT, PAYE/CIS and Corporation Tax
VAT that is due for payment in April, May and June
The Government have said that you can defer payment of any VAT that should have been paid in April, May and June. You have up to 5th April 2021 to pay this.
You do not need to speak to HMRC or ask for permission to do this. Just don't pay it. If you normally pay by Direct Debit, then please cancel the Direct Debit or else HMRC will take the payment as normal.
PAYE/CIS, Corporation Tax and VAT due before April 2020 (so now overdue) or after June 2020.
These need to paid in full, and on time, as normal.
However, HMRC have said that if you cannot pay these on time you need to contact them to discuss the possibility of a time to pay plan and they will treat each company on a case by case basis.
Update for businesses
In the budget, the Chancellor announced measures including:
SMEs can ask for time to pay tax bills.
retail, leisure and hospitality businesses with a rateable value (RV) of less than £51,000 will pay no business rates in 2020/21 if they apply.
pubs with a RV of less than £100,000 receive a £5,000 reduction on business rates if they apply.
new small business grants are available.
a new Coronavirus Business Interruption Scheme may guarantee some business loans up to 80%
sick pay can be claimed from Day 1.
Impact of covid-19
Will lenders follow Italy and offer payment holidays on mortgages during the Coronavirus pandemic?
Some lenders are already offering repayment holidays on mortgages and loans for those customers affected by the Coronavirus outbreak. These include Royal Bank of Scotland (to include NatWest and Ulster Bank), Lloyds Banking Group (to include Halifax, Bank of Scotland and MBNA), and TSB.
Barclays, Virgin (to include Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank), Metro Bank, Post Office, Co-Operative, First Direct and Santander are not offering currently blanket measures like this. However, they are offering to extend help to those affected on a case by case basis and are encouraging those who are experiencing financial difficulty to contact them.
The criteria for holiday payments will vary from lender to lender, so it’s important to speak to your lender if you are struggling to make the repayments. Any deferred payments will need to be caught up in the future and may have an impact on your credit rating.
What if my tenants can’t pay their rent?
In addition to homeowners struggling to pay mortgages, the impact of COVID-19 will affect renters alike. As a landlord, it is prudent to be aware of this and ensure that you are having conversations with your tenants.
Budget 2020 - summary
firms with fewer than 250 staff to be refunded for sick pay payments for 2 weeks
small firms to be able to access ‘business interruption’ loans of upto £2m
business rates with a rateable value upto £51,000 to be abolished for retail, leisure and hospitality sector
NI threshold to rise to £9,500
plastic packaging tax to come into force from April 2022
more than £600bn to be spent on infrastructure, transport and housing
On the eve of Brexit
Phew…some of us thought this would never get done…but finally after 3.5years following the referendum, 2 elections and 3 prime ministers today is the last day the UK spends within the EU.
So what changes tommorow for the Freedom of movement and Movement of goods? In essence nothing will change as we enter an 11 month transition period till 31st December 2020 within which our political leaders will negotiate terms.
so far so good for individuals and businesses alike!
Moving to the Cloud
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Move over spreadsheets. It’s time to go digital.
Use these assets to promote the benefits of cloud accounting.
With Making Tax Digital around the corner, here are some Q&A's
1) Can I still issue manual invoices?
Yes. If a business issues paper invoices it can type the selected data contained in the invoice into functional compatible software this includes spreadsheets. In addition the business can take a photo of the invoice and scan it into their software.
2) Do I need to record every line on the invoice?
No. Where more than one supply is recorded on the invoice and these supplies are within the same VAT period and charged at the same rate of VAT you can record these as a single entry.
3) How do I record petty cash purchases?
Where you are claiming input tax on employee expenses and your employee provides the combined value of more than one purchase, you do not have to record each purchase separately. The business can record the total value and the total value input tax due.
Budget Autumn 2018
Some of the key highlights of this year Autumn budget:
Personal Allowance
The tax-free Personal Allowance, i.e. the amount you can earn before having to pay Income Tax, will rise by £650 to £12,500 from April 2019, a year earlier than planned.
Stamp Duty
All first time buyers purchasing shared equity homes up to £500,000 will be exempt from Stamp Duty Land Tax.
The Higher Rate Threshold
The amount you have to earn before you pay tax at 40%, will increase from £46,350 to £50,000, again from April 2019.
IR35 to be expanded
IR35 will be rolled out to contractors in the private sector from April 2019.
National Living Wage
(NLW) boost for those aged 25 and over will increase 4.9% from £7.83 per hour to £8.21 per hour from April 2019.
UK digital services tax
New 2% UK digital services tax announced. Charged on the UK- generated revenues of big tech firms with at least £500m a year in global revenues.
At the business symposium 2018
Business Symposium 14th August 2018
Kensington Conference and Event Centre; The Town Hall Hompton Street London W8 7NX
Symposium Chairs:
Honourable Lord Duccan McNair Chief Guest
Honourable Mr. Muffasar Atta Malik President KCCI Special Guest Symposium organizers:
Huner UK Ltd, UKPCCI and Karachi Chamber of Commerce Pakistan
Symposium objective:
The purpose of this business symposium is to invite business community of Pakistan and support them in developing trade links with UK. With this aim, Huner UK in collaboration with Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry and UK-Pakistan Chamber of Commerce & Industry (UKPCCI) has organized a symposium on the National Day of Pakistan. We have invited entrepreneurs from different chambers of Pakistan with Karachi chamber leading the delegation from Pakistan. Our focus in business symposium is to arrange B2B meetings and offer other services related to doing business with UK.
The symposium is intended to provide a platform for Made In Pakistan products and Pakistan Businesses to exchange information and identify research needs in this important area encompassing several bilitrat trade, engineering, mechanical and physical disciplines.
Business Sectors Participating include:
The delegates participating from Pakistan are from the following sectors:
Honurabale Mr. Sahebzada Ahmed Khan High Commissioner Pakistan UK Guest of Honour
Honourable Ch. Mohammad Sadeeq President UKPCCI Special Guest
Leather Industry
Textile Industry
Handicrafts
Gem and Jewellery
Ceramics and Tile industry
Construction Industry
Furniture and Décor Industry
Agriculture Industry
Pharmaceutical industry Surgical instruments
Sports Industry
Auto Industry
Electrical and Home Appliances Food
Symposium Special:
Pakistan Development Exchange and Hopeman Consultants UK: A social enterprise for smart philanthropy and poverty reduction. This is a state of the art business modal for business to conduct CSR, get connected to the grass root level and fair trade opportunities at the base of the pyramid.
The latest global trends suggested that the bottom of the pyramid is the biggest market, and the businesses should be targeting product development for these segments.
Business Symposium 14th August 2018
Kensington Conference and Event Centre; The Town Hall Hompton Street London W8 7NX
Symposium Chairs:
Honourable Lord Duccan McNair Chief Guest
Honourable Mr. Muffasar Atta Malik President KCCI Special Guest Symposium organizers:
Huner UK Ltd, UKPCCI and Karachi Chamber of Commerce Pakistan
Symposium objective:
The purpose of this business symposium is to invite business community of Pakistan and support them in developing trade links with UK. With this aim, Huner UK in collaboration with Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry and UK-Pakistan Chamber of Commerce & Industry (UKPCCI) has organized a symposium on the National Day of Pakistan. We have invited entrepreneurs from different chambers of Pakistan with Karachi chamber leading the delegation from Pakistan. Our focus in business symposium is to arrange B2B meetings and offer other services related to doing business with UK.
The symposium is intended to provide a platform for Made In Pakistan products and Pakistan Businesses to exchange information and identify research needs in this important area encompassing several bilitrat trade, engineering, mechanical and physical disciplines.
Business Sectors Participating include:
The delegates participating from Pakistan are from the following sectors:
Honurabale Mr. Sahebzada Ahmed Khan High Commissioner Pakistan UK Guest of Honour
Honourable Ch. Mohammad Sadeeq President UKPCCI Special Guest
Leather Industry
Textile Industry
Handicrafts
Gem and Jewellery
Ceramics and Tile industry
Construction Industry
Furniture and Décor Industry
Agriculture Industry
Pharmaceutical industry Surgical instruments
Sports Industry
Auto Industry
Electrical and Home Appliances Food
Symposium Special:
Pakistan Development Exchange and Hopeman Consultants UK: A social enterprise for smart philanthropy and poverty reduction. This is a state of the art business modal for business to conduct CSR, get connected to the grass root level and fair trade opportunities at the base of the pyramid.
The latest global trends suggested that the bottom of the pyramid is the biggest market, and the businesses should be targeting product development for these segments.
Interest rate hike
in what has been a prolonged decision, the Bank of England has raised the base rate to 0.75 after a decade from the 2008 recession
Increase to NMW from 1 April 2018
The government is increasing the National Minimum and National Living Wage rates on 1 April 2018. As the minimum wage increases more employers than ever will be directly affected, including those who currently pay above the minimum.
Years25 and over 21 to 24 18 to 20 Under 18 Apprentice
April 2017 (current) £7.50 £7.05 £5.60 £4.05 £3.50
April 2018 £7.83 £7.38 £5.90 £4.20 £3.70
Making Tax Digital - April 2019
From 1 April 2019, businesses with taxable turnover above the VAT registration threshold must keep and preserve digital records and provide VAT returns using compatible software. Contact us if you require assistance.
