In 2020, at the height of disruption to business caused by the pandemic, the government introduced the Bounce Back Loan Scheme. Under this, smaller businesses could apply for a loan ranging from £2,000 to £50,000 (or a maximum of 25% annual turnover) to help cover the costs and lost income that they had been facing. These loans were provided by commercial lenders but were 100% guaranteed by the government. Criticism Concerns were raised around potential abuse of these loans b

Almost 20 million people have been auto-enrolled on to workplace pensions since the scheme was introduced a decade ago. Just under 90% of all eligible employees. The case can be made that many of these individuals would not otherwise have had long-term retirement savings to go along with their state pension to help with their finances as they reach old age. Some, however, have criticised the scheme for reasons which included the decisions around opting-out and the pressure th

HMRC is to accept bulk appeals on late filing penalties if there is a reasonable COVID-19 related excuse. HMRC had previously announced that they would not be issuing late filing penalties for self assessment tax returns for the tax year 2020/2021 if they are filed by the 28th of February 2022. As this deadline has now passed and almost 1.3 million taxpayers did not get their self assessments filed on time, it is expected that HMRC will begin issuing £100 late filing penalty

Making Tax Digital: Helpful Tips Since soaring past the deadlines for self-assessment tax returns, our attention has moved towards our clients who are required to comply with Making Tax Digital for VAT from 1st April 2022. To put it into perspective, the UK has a VAT trader population of around 2.5 million and, of these, around 1.6 million have signed up to Making Tax Digital for VAT already. Including around one third of those who are required to sign up in April 2022. Prior

If you intend this year to be your final year using legacy paper P11D forms, you need to register before the 5th of April 2022 to payroll benefits for the 2022/2023 tax year. As an employer payrolling benefits in kind, you do not need to submit P46 forms to HMRC and simpler tax codes allow HR teams to face less queries from employees regarding their tax deductions. We're here to help you. Speak to us for more information on how we can help your business.

In the Autumn budget, Rishi Sunak announced various key reforms to the way in which business rates are charged which included a plan to revalue property every 3 years from 2023 onwards and basing the business rates on this value. Then, on the 30th November, a technical consultation was published which set out numerous technical changes to make these measures workable. While many have welcomed the use of up-to-date property values, there has been major concern that the burden