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Welcome… To December’s Tax Tips & MYOB News. Have you planned your Christmas function or party yet? Remember the HMRC allow your company to spend up to £150 (in total) per staff member on annual parties. This could be, for example,  split between a summer barbeque and Christmas Party. You don’t need to report to the HMRC is as long as it is:  £150 or less per head  annual  open to all your employees If you need any help just let us know or you can send us a question for our Question and Answer Section.   December 2015 · Our Success with Workplace Pension · Company cars – April 2016 increases · Dividend allowance · HMRC continue with modernisation plans · December Questions and Answers · December Key Tax Dates Our Success with Workplace Pensions top We have now set up Workplace Pension Schemes for all our Business Companion clients (who are employers).  And we haven’t had to charge a set-up fee!  We sorted this out quickly once we heard that the Peoples Pension would be introducing a one-off fee of £300 per client. So thank you to those got us the details needed so quickly to make this happen.  For a comparison we have just received a quote from Aviva (one of the other providers).  They would charge £400 every year – to set up a scheme for one employer and run it for two staff earning £12,500pa each! There are still a few more steps to take.  We may still need to set up contact details with the Pensions Regulator for you, and we will need to assess your workers for eligibility.  But basically you can relax – because we have sorted out the first step of choosing the pension scheme and setting it up for you. So even if you don’t end up having to make pension contributions you know you are ‘compliant’ with the workplace pensions legislation.  And if you do have to make contributions – this will happen fairly seamlessly as part of your payroll process after your staging date. If you’re not one of our clients yet – we will be very happy to help you with your auto enrolment duties – as part of our comprehensive Business Companion Service.   Company cars – April 2016 increases top   Dividend allowance top The financial benefits of driving a company car have continued to erode over recent years, but this benefit remains one of the most popular and potent perks of a job. In general terms, less tax will be payable on ‘greener’ cars, but the tax charges on lower emissions vehicles are set to rise significantly in real terms over the next few years. Two new appropriate percentage bands apply from 2015-16 for cars emitting between zero and 50gkm CO2, and between 51and 75gkm CO2, with the appropriate percentages set at 5% and 9% respectively. For cars emitting 76-94gkm CO2 the appropriate percentage band increased to 13% from 6 April 2015. Finance Act 2014 made further changes to increase these ‘lower emissions’ bands to 7% and 11% respectively from 2016-17. The appropriate percentage for cars with emissions of between 76-94gkm CO2 will rise to 15% from 6 April 2016. Read More The government announced at the summer 2015 Budget, that a new dividend allowance of £5,000 will be introduced from 6 April 2016. Broadly, from that date, it is expected that the existing dividend tax credit will be abolished, a new annual dividend tax allowance of £5,000 will be introduced, and the rates of tax on dividend income will change. The legislation introducing the dividend tax changes has not yet been published and the rules outlined below are therefore still subject to possible change. From April 2016, the 10% non-refundable dividend tax credit that currently attaches to dividends will be abolished, the dividend tax allowance will take effect, and the rates of tax on dividend income exceeding that allowance will be 7.5% for basic rate taxpayers, 32.5% for higher rate taxpayers and 38.1% for additional rate taxpayers. The dividend allowance will be available to anyone who has dividend income. Read More   HMRC continue with modernisation plans top   December Questions and Answers top The recent announcement that HMRC will be replacing local offices with13 large regional centres has alerted the general public to what tax professionals and accountants have known for some time.  That to meet government cost and performance targets, HMRC must cut back on frontline staff and take forward digital interactions with taxpayers and their advisers. The announcement comes at a time when HMRC are also facing criticism over customer service issues. In its report on HMRC’s performance in 2014-15, the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC) recently found that ‘HMRC is still failing to provide an acceptable service to customers and could not tell us when it would be able to do so’. The Committee reported that HMRC only answered 72.5% of calls during 2014-15 (of which only 39% were answered within five minutes) and only 50% in the first six months of 2015, against an unambitious target of 80%. PAC is concerned that ‘customer service levels are so bad that they are having an adverse impact on the collection of tax revenues’. Read More Q. Can I claim for the time I spend repairing my rental property? I own three rental properties and spend a considerable amount of time each year undertaking various necessary repairs. Can I pay myself say, an hourly rate, for the time I spend on the properties and claim a corresponding deduction in my accounts? Answer Q. What is the difference between zero-rated and exempt supplies for VAT? I have recently started running my own business providing training services. HMRC have advised me that VAT is not charged on the type of services I am providing. Does this mean that my services are zero-rated for VAT or actually exempt? Do I need to register for VAT? I am confused! Answer Q. Is medical treatment taxable? One of my most valuable employees has been ill over recent years and as a result has had to take several weeks off work. If I pay for any medical treatment on his behalf, will my employee be liable to tax on it? Answer   December Key Tax Dates top 19/22 – PAYE/NIC, student loan and CIS deductions due for month to 5/12/2015 30 -Deadline for 2014/15 self assessment online returns to be filed if you are an employee and want tax underpaid to be collected by adjustment to your 2016/17 PAYE code (for underpayments of up to £3000 only)   Need Help? top   New Clients Welcome top Please contact us if we can help you with these or any other tax or accounts matters. In addition, if there’s anyone else who you think would benefit from the newsletter, please forward the email to them or ask them to contact us to be added to the newsletter list. If you are not already a client and are interested in becoming one, we would love to discuss how we can help and provide you with a competitive quote for our services. See details of our Business Companion Service.   About Us top Simple Accounting Limited offers a cost effective Business Companion service to business owners who use MYOB, Acclivity, Mamut, Solar Accounts, Quickbooks or Clearbooks. ‘All clients using these software packages can benefit from our support. Visit our website http://www.simpleaccounting.co.uk for a look at the resource on offer.’   If the images do not show. If the images contained within this email do not show correctly please add this email to your safe senders list.

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