VAT: Expenses and benefits, Tax-free childcare, Reclaiming the SDLT supplement

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Last week we take a look at the requirements for reporting expenses and benefits to HMRC for the 2016/17 tax year. We also examined the new Childcare Choices website and the options for tax-free childcare in 2017 and beyond. Finally, we explained how to claim back the stamp duty land tax supplement where a former main residence is sold subsequent to the purchase of a new home.

Below is just an extract from last week’s tax tips email. You can register to receive future copies by following the link on the right (or below, if you’re reading this on a mobile device)

Reclaiming the SDLT supplement

Since 1 April 2016 a stamp duty land tax supplement has been payable on the purchase of second and subsequent residential properties costing more than £40,000. Generally, the supplement is not payable where the main residence is replaced, even if the purchaser ends up with more than one residential property after the purchases has completed. However, where the new main residence is purchased before the former main residence is sold, the supplement is payable initially. However, as long as the sale of the old main residence is completed within three years of the purchase of the new home, the supplement can be reclaimed.

So, what is the procedure for this and what time limits apply?

The repayment can be claimed either online or by post on form SDLT16, which can be completed online and printed off. The SDLT reference for the purchase is required. The claim must be made by the later of three months from the date of completion of the sale of the former residence or 12 months from the filing date of the SDLT return (which is 30 days from the completion of the purchase). It is important these deadlines are not missed or the opportunity to reclaim the supplement will be lost.

VAT: bad debt relief, CGT: irrecoverable loans, Trading and property allowances

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Last week we examined two situations in which tax relief for non-payment of debts or loans, can be claimed, or not. The answers are not obvious. We also examined the two new reliefs which came into force on 1 April, for sundry trading income, and income from property. The tax system is not getting any simpler!

Below is just an extract from last week’s tax tips email. You can register to receive future copies by following the link on the right (or below, if you’re reading this on a mobile device)

Trading and property allowances

As part of his 2016 Budget, George Osborne announced two new flat rate allowances of £1,000 each, which apply to sundry trading and property income from 6 April 2017. Unfortunately, there is very little guidance about these new allowances on gov.uk. We have linked to what there is below.

There is already a property allowance in the form of rent-a-room relief, now worth up to £7,500 per year. However, the new £1,000 property allowance cannot apply to property which qualifies for rent-a-room relief. So an individual can’t claim a tax exemption of £8,500 per year for letting a room in his own home.

However, the same taxpayer can claim £7,500 rent-a-room relief for letting a room to a lodger, and a further £1,000 for letting his driveway as a parking space. The income from letting the driveway doesn’t qualify for rent-a-room relief as the area must be let as residential accommodation to fall under rent-a-room relief.

The other £1,000 trading income allowance covers gross sundry income which could be from a trade, but also from providing services or hiring assets. The taxpayer can choose to deduct the allowance from his gross takings and pay tax on the balance without taking account of tax deductible expenses, or calculate his taxable income in the normal way and ignore the allowance.

Say Jade earns £1,200 from selling the jewellery she makes in her spare time. She can deduct the trading allowance of £1,000 and pay tax on £200, or deduct the cost of the materials which total £1,150, and pay tax on £50.

Neither of the new property or trading allowances can be set against income the taxpayer receives through a partnership, or from his own company, or from a company that employs him or his family members

 

Tax returns for 2016/17, Tax avoidance schemes, Off-plan purchases

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We have some shocking news about tax computations for the 2016/17 personal SA tax returns. We also pass on warnings from HMRC about two tax avoidance schemes which are circulating. Finally, we present some timely tips for advising clients who have bought properties off-plan.

Below is just an extract from last week’s tax tips email. You can register to receive future copies by following the link on the right (or below, if you’re reading this on a mobile device)

Off-plan purchases

When a taxpayer purchases a newly constructed property, he may put down a deposit to reserve the property before it is finished, or even started. This is referred to as buying “off-plan”.

The contract to purchase the property is normally not completed until the property is finished, and at that time the balance of the purchase price must be paid. If the taxpayer can’t pay the balance when requested, he loses the right to complete the contract and acquire the property.

This is what happened to Mr Hardy, who paid a deposit of £72,000 for an apartment in central London, but due to cash-flow problems could not raise the balance of the purchase price when required. He claimed that his lost deposit was a capital loss.

The First-Tier and the Upper-Tier tax tribunals disagreed. Hardy did not acquire an asset when he paid his deposit, and neither did he acquire a contractual right as the contract did not permit him to assign his right to buy the property. His real loss was thus a tax nothing.

However, HMRC do have their cake and eat it on this issue when the taxpayer is a non-resident buying a residential property. In that case, if the taxpayer does dispose of his right to buy the property off-plan, that disposal is subject to non-resident CGT. Also, the start date for any apportionment of a residential period starts from the acquisition of the off-plan right, not from the completion of the property.

Our CGT experts can help with this tricky area.

Deregister for VAT, IR35 for public sector contracts, Penalty notices

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Our most recent email contained tips on how to manage a smooth withdrawal from VAT for those clients who are only VAT registered in order to take advantage of that scheme. Clients who have contracts for services with public sector bodies need advice about the new IR35 rules, so we examined the HMRC guidance in this area. Finally, we shared a warning about inaccurate penalty notices.

Below we share just part of one of the above 3 tax tips – see the side boxes on this page to learn how you could subscribe to receive the full 3 tax tips every week.

Penalty notices

HMRC has a number of legacy computer systems, which don’t always talk to each other effectively. This has caused problems with class 2 NIC liabilities disappearing from taxpayers’ records, as we reported in our newsletter on 8 December 2016.

A work around invented by HMRC staff is to issue a temporary NI number for the taxpayer, so class 2 NIC can be paid alongside his SA income tax liability. However, in some cases the temporary NI number has triggered the creation of a duplicate UTR number for the taxpayer.

When the taxpayer’s 2015/16 tax return was submitted only one of their UTR numbers recorded the receipt of that return, so the HMRC computer has issued a late filing penalty for the other duplicate UTR number. What a mess! Your only option is to appeal against the incorrect penalty notice.

The HMRC computer also has its calendar in a knot. The £100 late filing notices for 2015/16 SA returns should have been dated 22 February, but were actually dated 15 February, and did not arrive with taxpayers until early March. If you have only just received a penalty notice for your client, you can submit a late appeal. A mistake by HMRC in the detail of the penalty notice – such as with the issue date, should be accepted as a reasonable excuse of making a late appeal.

Budget fallout, MTD timetable, Employment status tool

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The recent Budget contained three announcements which will impact small businesses from April 2018 concerning; national insurance (since amended), the dividend allowance, and MTD reporting. Our most recent email covered all three points in more detail. We also shared news of HMRC’s relaunched employment status tool. It’s not as useful as it might be.

`Below we share just part of one of the above 3 tax tips – see the side boxes on this page to learn how you could subscribe to receive the full 3 tax tips every week.

Employment status tool

For the last 17 years, individuals who provide their own services through an intermediary, and the businesses who engage them, have struggled with the intermediaries legislation known as IR35. The key issue is how to determine whether a particular engagement is within the IR35 rules.

From 6 April 2017 the burden of deciding whether the worker is caught by IR35 falls on engagers in the public sector, rather than the personal service company. Engagers in the private sector are not affected for now.

To help the public sector body make this decision HMRC has produced a new employment status service (ESS) tool. This is an enhanced version of the employment status indicator (ESI), which could not be used for IR35 checking purposes.

The new ESS tool can be used by the any of the parties to the contract; the worker, the agency or the engager. It’s use not restricted to contracts involving a public body.

The ESS will provide one of three answers:

  • inside the IR35 legislation
  • outside the IR35 legislation
  • unable to determine the tax status of this engagement

The third option is not much use to anyone. However, the first two answers may be helpful as HMRC has promised to be bound by the decision of the tool, if accurate information was provided when answering the ESS questions.

The problem is that the ESS tool itself is not very accurate in its analysis. It doesn’t cope with the situation where the worker has multiple concurrent customers. It also doesn’t question how the work is done, which is a key indicator of whether the engager controls the worker. The ESS tool also fails to address the question of mutuality of obligations between the worker and engager.

The use of the ESS tool is anonymous, so you can test it without fear of your answers being recorded on an HMRC file with your name on it. If you get the desired result, record that alongside the questions you submitted. If you don’t get the desired result, and you are not a public body, ask our employment status experts for a more nuanced opinion.

VAT flat rate scheme, Cash basis for landlords, Tax tables and rates corrected

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HMRC has announced further restrictions for limited cost traders who use the VAT flat rate scheme, as we explained in our most recent tax tips. Individual landlords could suffer an additional restriction on loan interest, if they don’t opt out of the new cash basis for property businesses. Finally, beware of inaccurate tax tables – HMRC has corrected two tables recently concerning tax thresholds and mileage rates.

Below we share just part of one of the above 3 tax tips – see the side boxes on this page to learn how you could subscribe to receive the full 3 tax tips every week.

VAT flat rate scheme

We are not suggesting that HMRC are making up the rules as they go along, but their webinar on the flat rate scheme (FRS) included an additional condition, which isn’t in the new version of the FRS leaflet (Notice 733).

Limited cost traders (LCT) must use a FRS percentage of 16.5%, rather than the normal flat rate for their trade sector. To avoid being categorised as a LCT, the business must purchase at least £250 of relevant goods in the VAT period, and the value of those goods must also be equal to or exceed 2% of the gross sales for the same period.

The draft legislation excludes the following from “relevant goods”:

  • Capital items (which HMRC say is anything expected to have a useful life of more than one year).
  • Road fuel and motor parts (except for businesses in the transport sector e.g. road haulage and hire cars).
  • Food and drink for employees and business proprietor.
  • The three new exclusions from relevant goods are:
  • Goods for resale, leasing, letting or hiring out if the main business activity doesn’t ordinarily consist of selling, leasing, letting or hiring out such goods.
  • Goods that the trader intends to re-sell or hire out, unless selling or hiring is the main business activity.
  • Goods for disposal as promotional items, gifts or donations.

The first two bullet points are set out in paragraphs 4.4 to 4.6 of the latest version of Notice 733, but the third one was announced in the HMRC webinar on 1 March 2017.

The new conditions are designed to prevent businesses buying goods, which are not related to its main trade, just to avoid being categorised as a LCT. These new rules may generate lots or arguments about what is the trader’s “main business activity”. Our VAT experts will be happy to discuss how these new conditions will apply to your client.

Apprenticeship levy, Immigration skills charge, Appealing penalties

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Two new levies come into effect on 6 April 2017: the apprenticeship levy and the immigration skills charge. These can apply to smaller employers as well as larger ones. In our latest tax tips we outlined the principles for both of these new taxes. There are also two developments relating to how penalties can be calculated and appealed.

Below we share just part of one of the above 3 tax tips – see the side boxes on this page to learn how you could subscribe to receive the full 3 tax tips every week.

Appealing penalties

The tax penalty system contains two broad categories of penalties; those for late filing or late payment which increase according to the delay in filing or payment, and behavioural penalties which relate to errors in documents, failure to notify and under-assessment by HMRC.

Late filing or payment

These penalties are based on the period of delay of the filing or tax payment, which is easy to quantify. The second element of the penalty is either a fixed charge or the tax liability. It is always worth checking that both of these elements have been correctly measured before they were included in the penalty calculation, as HMRC does make mistakes.

If the calculation is correct, the taxpayer must demonstrate a reasonable excuse for the delay as grounds for an appeal against the penalty. You can help your client frame their story which supports the reasonable excuse, and suggest which documents need to be retained to send to HMRC, should they undertake an internal review of the appeal.

The factors making up the reasonable excuse can include the actions or inactions of HMRC, as demonstrated in the VAT surcharge case of MOC (Scotland) Ltd v HMRC. In that case the company received such poor service from HMRC that the tribunal decided the taxpayer did have reasonable excuse for late payment.

The taxpayer can now make an online appeal against late filing or late payment penalties relating to their 2015/16 SA return. You can’t submit an online appeal on behalf of your client, as the online mechanism hasn’t been opened up to tax agents. However, you can still submit a paper appeal for your client using the form SA370.

Behavioural penalties

The first element of a behavioural penalty is a percentage based on whether the taxpayer’s mistake was careless, deliberate, or deliberate and concealed, which is further adjusted depending on how the error was disclosed. This percentage is multiplied by the potential lost revenue (PLR).

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Our tax enquiry experts can help you check whether penalties for tax return mistakes can be challenged or reduced.

Business rates, Changes to VED, VAT flat rate scheme

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Our latest tax tips considered three tax changes which will come into effect on 1 April 2017. They are: revaluations for business rates, new rates of VED (car tax), and new rules for limited costs traders who use the VAT flat rate scheme. There is still time to plan for all of these changes, and to advise your clients to take action before April, if necessary.

Below we share just part of one of the above 3 tax tips – see the side boxes on this page to learn how you could subscribe to receive the full 3 tax tips every month.

Business rates

Where a property is used for business purposes, the local authority assesses the property for business rates. The amount of tax payable for each property is a combination of its rateable value, and the applicable multiplier for the area where the property is located, less any special reliefs.

Although the tax is paid to the local authority, the multiplier (rate per pound of property value), is determined by national governments. Business rates are a devolved issue, so different multipliers are set in; England, Greater London, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The multipliers due to apply from 1 April 2017 have generally been reduced compared to 2016/17. This is to off-set the effect of increases in rateable values from the same date. The revaluation exercise was undertaken in April 2015, and is based on the amount the property could be let for. As the previous revaluation was untaken in 2008, just before the recession, some rateable values will have changed significantly.

In the next few weeks your clients should receive notices of their new business rates for 2017/18. You should first check whether a relief is due, such as for; small premises, essential services in a rural area, agricultural or religious buildings, used by a charity, or used by start-up in an enterprise zone. If a relief hasn’t been given where it is due, the business should contact the local authority which issued the rates bill.

Where the rateable value of the property seems to be wrong, the business can appeal to the Valuation Office Agency, which is a branch of HMRC.

Payrolling of benefits in kind, Public sector contracts, Pension scheme surcharges and IR35

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In our most recent tax tips note we examined two more issues which you may need to discuss with your clients before 6 April 2017: payrolling of benefits, and contracts for services provided to the public sector. We also looked at traps concerning pension savings and how to access them. Don’t let your clients get tripped up by the complex rules in this area.

Below we share just part of one of the above 3 tax tips – see the side boxes on this page to learn how you could subscribe to receive the full 3 tax tips every month.

Payrolling of benefits in kind

Some employers have been taxing certain benefits in kind through the payroll (known as “payrolling”) for some years. From 6 April 2016 payrolling became a statutory choice for all employers, as we explained in our newsletter on 11 February 2016.

When benefits are payrolled they don’t have to be reported on the form P11D after the end of the tax year, and the employee’s PAYE code doesn’t have to be altered during the year. Where a company car is payrolled the employer is not required to submit a P46(car) during the tax year.

As employees are likely to be in receipt of benefits in kind before payrolling of the benefit starts, HMRC need to know which employees and which benefits are to be payrolled before the start of the tax year. HMRC will then amend the PAYE codes of those employees to take out the benefit in kind, otherwise the employee would be taxed twice on the same benefit.

To inform HMRC of the detail of which employees and which benefits are to be payrolled, this data needs to be submitted to HMRC using an online service set up for this purpose. The employer has to do this, as facilities for agents have not been built into this service. Ideally this information needs to reach HMRC well in advance of the beginning of the tax year, to allow sufficient time for the 2017/18 PAYE codes to be altered.

HMRC are hosting three short interactive webinars to explain payrolling on 16, 17 and 21 February. Please note that the article on payrolling in the latest Employer Bulletin (issue 64) contains some inaccuracies. Our employment tax experts are happy to answer any of your questions regarding payrolling.

Pensions protection and advice, MTD: Accounting periods and commencement, Scottish tax bands

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In last week’s tax tips email we noted that you had just under eight weeks to review all the tax elections which need to be submitted by 5 April 2017. One of those elections is required to protect the taxpayer’s pensions Lifetime Allowance, which can be expensive if ignored. Now is also a good time to review your client’s accounting year end. Would they be better off changing their accounting date to 31 March to prepare for MTD reporting obligations? Finally, we reviewed the Scottish tax bands for 2017/18. Below we provide an extract of the second of the 3 tax tips we shared last week:

MTD: Accounting periods and commencement

Let’s take a closer look at exactly when MTD reporting requirements will start. We know the Government is insisting that unincorporated businesses, who are not exempt from MTD (turnover £10,000 or less – not confirmed), or permitted to defer for a year (turnover limit TBA) will commence MTD reporting from April 2018.

The draft legislation makes it clear that commencement of MTD reporting will be tied to the business accounting period (see new TMA 1970, Sch A1, para 14). This says that the regulations will not impose a requirement on a person or partnership…in respect of any period of account beginning before the tax year 2018/19.

This means a business with an accounting period that starts on 1 April will not be required to make MTD quarterly reports until the period that starts 1 April 2019. Its first quarterly report covers the three months to 30 June 2019 and will have to be submitted by 31 July 2019.

Conversely, an unincorporated business which draws up accounts to align with the tax year, will have to commence MTD quarterly reporting from 6 April 2018. Its first quarterly report will cover the three months to 5 July 2018 and will be due to be submitted by 5 August 2018. Perhaps your clients want to consider changing their accounting date to 31 March. The business will need to comply with the rules for changing accounting basis period (see BIM81045), but this could be an opportunity to use any overlap relief which arose on commencement of the business. Unincorporated property lettings businesses are required to draw up accounts to the tax year end.