This week we have two more desks occupied at our Heydon Lodge offices with the return of Ben Heneker and the arrival of Serah Gautrey.

After completing his ACCA qualification early last year, Ben left us in November 2011 to travel the world, visiting the far east, Australasia and North America over a six month period. Ben’s adventures included a skydive, a bungee jump and exploring ice caves in New Zealand, so we are pleased that he made it back in one piece!

We are also pleased to welcome Serah Gautrey to the newly created role of practice manager for the firm. Serah’s wealth of experience in similar roles makes her a safe pair of hands for running the office and streamlining the administrative side of the practice.

For those of you who are employers, the deadline for submission of your P35 annual return for the year ended 5 April 2012 is fast approaching. These and the associated P14 forms for each employer must be submitted to HMRC electronically by 19th May to avoid automatic penalties. If you have not already ‘enrolled’ for HMRC’s PAYE online service, do it now to ensure you have sufficient time to receive the required secure login information in time to submit the forms.

The P11D returns for expenses and benefits are also due, although the deadline for these is 6th July. Contact us if you would like to discuss whether these are required or if you need any help preparing these forms for your employees.

A number of changes to the income tax charge have been announced, which we touched on in the April Tax E-News. We now have more details and here are a few tasters:

• Increase in income tax charge of 1% of list price for 2013/14
• Another 1% increase for 2014/15
• A further 2% increase for 2015/16, and no longer will there be a nil tax charge for an electric company car
• Another 2% increase for 2016/17, but the 3% diesel supplement is due to go
• 100% tax write-off on buying a low emission company car due to end on 31 March 2015, and from April 2013 the maximum emissions to qualify for 100% tax relief goes down to 95 g/km

As always, plenty of notice has been given but forward planning is essential in this area. We are ready to discuss the company car policies with employers of all sizes and with the car users

The Chancellor intends to boost charitable giving by reducing the rate of inheritance tax on estates where at least 10% is left to charity. Rose Phelps of Keystone Law explains the practical implications of this new tax relief.

Keystone Law article

As part of the campaign to help very small businesses cope with tax, HMRC has produced an interactive self-employed ready reckoner to help the newly self-employed budget for their first tax bill. It calculates roughly how much money should be set aside to meet the first tax and Class 4 NIC bill. Class 2a NIC will still need to be paid separately.

The ready reckoner tool is for self-employed people who have no other taxable income and who are entitled to a basic personal allowance. It assumes accounts will be prepared to 5 April each year.

HMRC ready reckoner

We are proud to announce that Heather Tulloch has been awarded a prize for being one of the top achievers in the ICAEW Professional Stage exams. Heather, who has trained with us since completing her degree in 2008, has now completed her qualification and is awaiting admission to the ICAEW as a fully-fledged Chartered Accountant. She was awarded the prize by the Beds, Bucks and Herts ICAEW student society at a recent grand prize-giving ball.

The practice first opened for business on Monday 3rd April 2006 and has not looked back since. We would like to thank all of our clients, staff and business contacts for their continued support, and look forward to many more years of working together

As announced in the Autumn Statement 2011, the Finance Bill 2013 will include an “above the line” tax credit to encourage R&D by larger companies. Although a consultation process will commence shortly it is the Government’s intention to have the scheme operational from April 2013. The minimum rate this will be set at before tax is 9.1%, and will not affect the current credit system for SMEs.

The following changes will also be put into place in the Finance Bill 2012 as stated in Budget 2011:

» increase in rate of relief for SMEs to 225%;

» the limit to the payable credit based on the company’s PAYE/NIC liability to be removed;

» the removal of the minimum expenditure threshold; and

» the abolition of the vaccine research relief for SMEs.

Please contact us if you would like to discuss whether your company may qualify for R&D relief.

Our Spring Budget Summary is now available for download.  It includes details of the key tax data included in George Osborne’s Budget of 21 March. The Chancellor unveiled a range of measures that left no doubt that the ‘age of austerity’ is not yet over – though thanks to a steady stream of pre-Budget announcements and leaks, Mr Osborne had little to offer in the way of surprises.

The Budget highlights included:

• The personal allowance will be increased to £9,205 in 2013/14, but the higher rate threshold will be reduced by £1,025 to £41,450.
• The main rate of corporation tax is reduced from 26% to 24% with effect from next month.
• As expected, from 2013/14 there will be a drop in the higher rate of income tax from 50% to 45%.
• Voluntary cash basis based on turnover for tax on profits of small unincorporated businesses.

We trust that you find this information useful, and please do contact us should you wish to discuss your financial future. 

Please click on the link below to view the PDF of the guide.

Budget 2012 PDF

We are pleased to report that Ashcroft Anthony’s bake sale on Sunday 18^th March raised £90 for Sport Relief. Heather and Angie sold various home-baked treats, which included coffee and walnut cake, chocolate fudge cake, cupcakes and scones, from the Heydon Lodge offices. The Partners have pledged an additional £90 to bring the total raised to £180. All the proceeds will be donated to Sports Relief.