Tax Newsletter 15 Oct 09
This week we report some practical points gleaned from the Learning Together seminar with HMRC on the new compliance checks and penalties. We also take a brief look at taxation of Tips and Troncs as the law has recently changed in this area.
After the practical points in this newsletter I have put the Spotlight on one of our tax adviser members and offered another item for the tax fun spot. I've also provided details of next week's seminar for accountants. Remember to book now if it's of interest. It's ideal if you feel that your networking is not working as well as you'd like and you want to Win more of the work you want by differentiating your practice. After all you do want to avoid anyone thinking you're just the same as all the other accountants - don't you?
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If this is your first abbreviated copy of our weekly practical tax update written especially for accountants in general practice I hope you'll remember skipping past prompts like this over recent weeks. And if you've been meaning to upgrade for a while now.....
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For now, here are taster's of this week's 3 practical tax points which full members have received together with direct links to further related information:
Compliance checks
We discussed the new compliance checks in previous newsletters, (see 26 March, 25 June, and 3 September 2009), but there are a lot of new procedures to take on board, so we make no apology for revisiting this area. Two things you need to be clear about from the start are:
- Do HMRC have the right to demand the information requested; and
- Has a formal compliance check actually commenced?
What are they asking for?
HMRC's power to examine records during visits to business premises is
restricted to information and documents that relate to......
Sorry - the rest of this item, our practical advice and useful links are only available to professional members.
Has a compliance check commenced?
HMRC officers are instructed to write to the taxpayer or their accountant to request
the information they require to be produced voluntarily. Only when the information is not forthcoming will the HMRC officer issue a formal information notice.
This can create a problem for clients who have professional fees insurance......
Sorry - the rest of this item, our practical advice and useful links are only available to professional members.
Penalties
VAT inspections taking place since 1 April 2009 have been the first to generate penalties under the new regime, in respect of VAT returns submitted since that date. In view of the much higher penalties that can now apply it may be worthwhile......
Sorry - the rest of this item, our practical advice and useful links are only available to professional members.
Tips and troncs
From 1 October 2009 tips, gratuities and services charges cannot form part of the national minimum wage of the staff who receive those payments. This applies even if the service charge is a compulsory part of the customer's bill. HMRC have reissued leaflet E24: Tips, Gratuities, Service Charges and Troncs to explain this point clearly.
If tips are paid directly to the staff member by the customer, no tax is deducted by the employer, but the employee should ........
Sorry - the rest of this item, our practical advice and useful links are only available to professional members.
Spotlight on: Craig Hughes
Craig is happy to travel to meet up and discuss potential opportunities. When working in partnership with accountants on their clients he is flexible how that relationship works in terms of advising the end client - ie it can be a direct or indirect relationship with them.
His profile usefully contains examples of recent projects with which he has been involved. You can see hisfull profile here.
You can see all of the other tax adviser member profiles simply by choosing a topic from our list of over 30 specialisms - or using the free text search bar which you will find at the top right of the screen on every page of the website.
Tax Fun spot
Caitlin Moran recently wrote a piece in the Times explaining why she loves paying tax. The following extract seems worthy of note here:
"Every time I write out a gigantic cheque to the Inland Revenue, I get a bit excited. Woooo! I go. What a seriously grown-up thing to be doing! It's like drinking whisky, buying an engagement ring or chopping down a tree. In a world where nearly other signifier of adulthood - fighting Vikings, dying during childbirth, growing a beard, nurturing your own yeast-culture, having a leg ripped off in an horrific agricultural accident - has been replaced with an unending childhood of telly, jogging bottoms and strawberry-flavoured medicine, writing a bracingly large cheque is pretty much the only adult duty we have left. On this basis alone, I find it exhilarating. I kind of want it to hurt a bit. I feel like The Joker facing down Batman: "Come on - stick National Insurance on top of it! I can handle it! VAT me! VAT ME!"
Items appearing in this 'tax fun' spot are taken from the Accountant-Jokes.com blog - with my permission!
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Remember you can secure your entitlement to the full newsletter each week as well as to discounts and other membership benefits - depending upon which professional membership level you choose. Upgrade now and ensure you don't lose out any longer. Most people find it simple enough to do online. If you have any problems though just call and ask for Morag who will do what she can to assist.
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