Budget 2021 Update
It’s an introduction only and should not be used as a definitive guide, since individual circumstances may vary. Specific advice should be obtained, where necessary. The message from the Chancellor was that this is a Budget with three aims: protecting the jobs and livelihoods of the British people strengthening the public finances supporting an investment-led recovery You can read the individual measures and details of some of the numerous consultations below. Rates and allowances 2021/22 2020/2021 £ £ Income tax rates (non-dividend income) 0% lower rate tax – savings rate only Up to 5,000 Up to 5,000 20% basic rate tax 12,571 to 50,270 12,501 to 50,000 40% higher rate tax 50,271 to 150,000 50,001 to 150,000 45% additional rate tax Above 150,000 Above 150,000 Scottish income tax rates (non-dividend income) 19% starting rate tax 12,571 to 14,667 12,501 to 14,585 20% basic rate tax 14,668 to 25,296 14,586 to 25,158 21% intermediate rate tax 25,297 to 43,662 25,159 to 43,430 41% higher rate tax 43,663 to 150,000 43,431 to 150,000 46% top rate Above 150,000 Above 150,000 Personal allowance Personal allowance 12,570 12,500 Capital gains tax annual exempt amount (after personal allowance) These are frozen at £12,300 for individuals and £6,150 for trusts. Dividend allowance The tax-free dividend allowance is unchanged at £2,000. Corporation tax The corporation tax rate will remain at 19% but from April 2023 the applicable corporation tax rates will be 19% and 25%. Businesses with profits of £50,000 or below will still only have to pay 19% under the small profits rate. Grants – restart ‘Restart Grants’ are available in England of up to £6,000 per premises for non-essential retail businesses and up to £18,000 per premises for hospitality, accommodation, leisure, personal care and gym businesses Grants – export The SME Brexit Support Fund grant provides up to £2,000 to help with training or professional advice. Enhanced capital allowances: super deduction This introduces increased reliefs for expenditure on plant and machinery. For qualifying expenditures incurred from 1 April 2021 up to and including 31 March 2023, companies can claim in the period of investment: a super-deduction providing allowances of 130% on most new plant and machinery investments that ordinarily qualify for 18% main-rate writing-down allowances a first-year allowance of 50% on most new plant and machinery investments that ordinarily qualify for 6% special rate writing down allowances Annual investment allowance (AIA) Companies will be able to claim £1m as AIA for expenditure incurred from 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2021. The announcement was made in November and before the ‘super deduction’. Apprenticeship funding Apprenticeship incentive payments for employers will increase to £3,000 per new hire until September 2021. Making tax digital (MTD) There were no announcements on MTD except that the government will publish an evaluation on the introduction of MTD for VAT, expected on 23 March. VAT 2021/22 2020/21 £ £ VAT Standard rate 20% 20% Registration threshold 85,000 85,000 Deregistration threshold 83,000 83,000 The VAT registration and deregistration thresholds will not change for a further period of two years from 1 April 2022. The reduced rate of VAT of 5% to the hospitality, holiday accommodation and attractions sector is extended until 30 September 2021. After this date, the VAT rate will be 12.5% to the end...
read moreSpring Statement 2019
What you need to know: Making Tax Digital Philip Hammond reinforced that the mandatory digital record keeping for businesses with annual revenues above the VAT threshold (£85,000) will come into force from 1st April 2019. He called this an “important first step in this modernisation of the tax system to which the Government remains committed”. The Chancellor has also confirmed that the Government will adopt a “light touch approach” to all penalties relating to MTD for VAT in the first year of implementation. This approach is reserved for individuals and small businesses that are “doing their best to comply”, with no filing or record-keeping penalties due to be issued within the first 12 months. Mr Hammond said that the focus for MTD for VAT will be on “supporting businesses to transition”. Apprenticeships updates to apprenticeship reforms announced at Budget that mean from April 1st employers will see the co-investment rate they pay cut by a half from 10% to 5%, at the same time as levy-paying employers are able to share more levy funds across their supply chains, with the maximum amount rising from 10% to 25% Finance The statement alongside the Spring Statement said: “The government stands ready to deliver its commitment in all circumstances to provide additional funding to the British Business Bank for venture and growth capital, as we leave the European Union and our relationship with the European Investment Fund...
read moreMaking Tax Digital for VAT
If your accountant hasn’t mentioned this yet, then you really ought to have a new accountant. Does this affect me? Are you VAT registered? Then if so, yes. This does affect you and you need to be considering whether you will be compliant in time. What is it? Making Tax Digital for VAT requires VAT registered businesses with taxable turnover above the VAT registration threshold to keep records in digital form and file their VAT Returns using software. It is increasingly common for business records and accounts to be kept digitally, in a software program on a computer or tablet, or in a smartphone application, or maintained through such a device and stored using a cloud-based application. The difference under Making Tax Digital is that the software which businesses use must be capable of keeping and maintaining the records specified in the regulations, preparing their VAT Returns using the information maintained in those digital records and communicating with HMRC digitally via our Application Programming Interface (API) platform. If your digital records are up to date, software will be able to collate and prepare your return for you. It will then show the return to you and ask you to declare that it is correct and confirm that you want to submit it to HMRC. Once you have submitted your return you will receive confirmation through your software that it has been received. Not all software is compliant, contact us to find out if your current software will be compliant and whether you need to take any additional step. When does this start? With effect from 1 April 2019, if your taxable turnover is above the VAT registration threshold you must follow the rules set out in this notice. If your taxable turnover subsequently falls below the threshold you will need to continue to follow the Making Tax Digital rules, unless you deregister from VAT or meet other exemption criteria (see paragraph 2.2 of this notice). Only businesses with taxable turnover that has never exceeded the VAT registration threshold (currently £85,000) will be exempt from Making Tax Digital. You will therefore need to keep an eye on your taxable turnover, especially if you think it is close to the VAT registration threshold. The Making Tax Digital rules apply from your first VAT period starting on or after 1 April 2019. A ‘VAT period’ is the inclusive dates covered by your VAT Return. Here are some examples. Example 1 – Existing business with taxable turnover above the VAT registration threshold on 1 April 2019 A business submits a quarterly return covering the period 1 March to 31 May 2019. The business taxable turnover exceeds the VAT registration threshold and therefore the business will need to comply with Making Tax Digital rules for the period starting 1 June 2019. Example 2 – Business with a taxable turnover above the Making Tax Digital threshold at the point they need to register for VAT A business that is not registered for VAT is required to register from September 2019 because the taxable turnover over the previous 12 months has exceeded the VAT registration threshold. The business must follow the rules in this notice for all VAT Returns they are subsequently required to make as their taxable turnover was above the VAT threshold when they...
read moreNew HMRC Penalties
Making Tax Digital (MTD) New points based penalty model HMRC have been exploring changes to the penalty system for late submission failures under Making Tax Digital (MTD). They have now decided to adopt a points based model with the draft legislation expected in summer 2018. This will see the introduction of a system where late submission of a return or of the filing obligations under MTD attract points. A penalty will be charged for every failure to provide a submission on time once points have been accumulated up to a certain threshold. Penalty thresholds The penalty thresholds will be: Submission frequency penalty threshold Annual 2 points Quarterly 4 points Monthly 5 points Good compliance points reset After a period of good compliance, the government is ‘minded’ to use the following periods of good compliance before resetting penalty points back to zero. Submission frequency good compliance period Annual 2 submissions Quarterly 4 submissions Monthly 5 submissions Both the accumulation of points and any subsequent penalties will be fully appealable. When will this start? April 2019 sees the start of mandatory reporting of VAT obligations for all VAT registered businesses with a turnover in excess of £85,000. A 12 month soft landing period will follow, before the new points system commences in 2020. This will then be rolled out across the other taxes. What will the penalties be? The actual penalty amount has yet to be announced. Watch this space, once we know more details we’ll be sure to share...
read moreTax Guide 2017/2018
Great news, our tax guide for 2017/2018 is online and can be downloaded here: Courtley West tax guide 2017 2018 If you have any questions or we can help you in anyway way, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
read moreChanges to Making Tax Digital
We’re very pleased with HMRC’s announced changes to the roll-out of its Making Tax Digital scheme, which was due to go live from April 2018. The proposed scheme was far reaching and due to be implemented in a short timescale, however due to concerns from business owners, accounting professionals and software developers, HMRC have made a number of changes to the Making Tax Digital Scheme. Businesses that trade above the VAT threshold will now only have to keep records digitally for VAT purposes and only from 2019. Businesses will now no longer be asked to keep digital records or update HMRC quarterly for taxes other than VAT until at least 2020, instead of 2018 as originally proposed. Smaller business will be able to file digitally for other taxes on a voluntary basis. While we are skeptical of HMRC’s agenda we do believe that the taxpayer and the accounting industry should be given time to adapt to new methods of compliance regarding record-keeping. At Courtley West, we are comfortable with all the popular cloud platforms for record keeping and so you can be assured that when the MTD (Making Tax Digital) scheme goes live, we will be best placed to support...
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