Do you wear a uniform or protective clothing for work? If so you could get some tax back from HMRC

What is a uniform?

• Specialised clothing that is recognisable as a uniform or identifies you as having a particular occupation, it could be a branded T-shirt or a full on police/nurse uniform
• You are required to wear it at work and clean and repair it yourself  – however if your employer provides this facility you cannot make a claim (even though you might not use the facility)
• It can’t be just clothes in corporate colours
• You cannot claim for the initial purchase

What is protective clothing?

• Hard hats
• Protective boots
• Overalls

How much could I get?

• First of all you must have paid the tax in order to get the relief
• You can choose to claim the actual costs, in which case keep the receipts
• Or you can claim a flat rate based on the nature of your occupation, it is mostly a standard £60 per year allowance but some industries, such as construction, can claim relief an allowance of £120 and airline pilots can claim relief on £1,022
• If you are a basic rate tax payer then you will get 20% of the claim back and higher rate tax payers will get 40%
• The good news is that you can make a claim for the previous 4 years plus the current tax year (although there are some restrictions)

How do I make a claim?

• As part of your Tax Return, or
• There is a simple form P87 which can be filled in online
• But if you are not sure then please contact us  as we can help with confirming your eligibility and give guidance on the amount of the flat rate

If you would like to discuss any of this further please get in touch 0116 2423400 or info@torrwaterfield.co.uk 

Denise Burley, Accounts & Tax 

Would your business benefit from monthly or quarterly management accounts?

Having quality management accounts can be beneficial to your business as they can help you to grow by making it more efficient and hopefully more profitable.

Management accounts are a set of detailed accounts prepared to illustrate the company’s   performance. The goals of the accounts are to provide key financial information which will help with short term financial decisions and in planning for long term development. 

The main advantage of having management accounts is being able to control the business. If you want to make projections, cash flows or be able to be accepted for finance, management accounts are an essential starting point. They will provide you with the up to date information throughout the year to give you accurate feedback of performance. If you find that your business is growing rapidly and want to be able to plan for the future, we recommend that you put in the controls and ways of reporting now to help guide the growth.

Typically, the accounts are prepared on a quarterly basis; it is not uncommon however to have monthly reports supplied to the business.

If you feel that additional guidance is needed as your business starts to grow, then please get in contact with us so we can help you make the right the decisions. Please visit our website for a complete list of our support services Click Here. 

Or contact us on 0116 2423400 or info@torrwaterfield.co.uk 

Eoghan Macilwraith, Accounts & Tax 

 

Autumn Budget – 29 October 2018

So, we already knew about some of the announcements before the chancellor, the Rt. Hon. Philip Hammond MP, spoke yesterday, so much so he even made a joke about toilets and leaks. As ever there was good news and bad news for taxpayers, a full summary is on our website but here are some good news/bad news highlights:

If you are a business…

Good news

• Capital allowances – Annual Investment Allowance (AIA) increasing from £200,000 pa to £1million pa for 2 years from 1 January 2019
• Capital allowances – a new Structures and Buildings Allowance (SBA) for non-residential buildings on eligible construction costs on or after 29 October 2018, this will enable business to claim 2% pa on cost
• The corporation tax rate, as previously announced, will drop to 17% from 2020

Bad news

• Capital allowances – the writing down allowance (WDA) on special rate pools, for things such as cars with CO2 emissions of over 130g/km, reducing from 8% to 6% pa
• Capital allowances – discontinued 100% allowances for energy & water efficient equipment, although you will still be able to claim AIA’s
• National Living Wage (previously National Minimum Wage) for over 25’s increasing from £7.83 per hour to £8.21 (which also has an effect on the auto-enrolment pension contribution cost)

And more bad news for larger companies

• Digital Services Tax – for large digital companies (e.g. Amazon) – 2% on revenues linked to UK
• Corporate capital loss restriction for large companies (from April 2020) – there is already a £5m cap on income losses, this is now extended to capital losses as well
• Employment allowance restricted to businesses below £100,000 employers NIC
• R&D tax credit (cashing in instead of reducing tax bill) capped at 3 times the PAYE & NIC liability
• Off payroll working (IR35) currently in force for public companies will be introduced on private medium and large companies (although not until 2020) – PAYE and NIC will be deducted from the deemed employee and Employers National Insurance will be payable by the company.

If you are an Employee…

Good news

• Personal allowance increasing from £11,850 to £12,500
• Higher rate threshold increasing from £46,350 to £50,000 (these two increases will mean a basic rate tax payer will save £130 pa, a higher rate tax payer £860 pa and an additional rate taxpayer £600 pa)
• National Living Wage for over 25’s increasing from £7.83 per hour to £8.21

Bad news

• Previously announced hikes in car benefits Click here 

Other taxes…

Good news

• Stamp Duty – First time buyers of a qualifying shared ownership in a property of £500,000 or less will get an exemption from SDLT and this is backdated to 22 November 2017 (i.e. you can claim a refund)
• Stamp duty refunds – the time to make a claim for a refund on the 3% supplement on buying your new home before selling your old home, has been extended from 3 months to 12 months from the sale of your old home (although the filing deadline for SDLT returns is reduced to 14 days after the effective rate of transaction)
• Capital Gains – annual exemption increased from £11,700 to £12,000 pa

Bad news

• Rent a room relief – you will actually need to have shared the premises during part of the time you are claiming the relief, effectively excluding income from places like Airbnb
• Entrepreneurs relief – to qualify, the minimum period is extended from 12 months to 24 months
• Capital Gains – private residence relief final period exemption reduced from 18 months to 9 months
• Capital Gains – lettings relief will only apply when the property is in shared ownership with a tenant, in reality this means very few people will qualify and therefore only get private residence relief on sale of their home, however this is subject to consultation and may well change

The above is only a brief summary of the proposed changes. For a more detailed breakdown please visit our website here.

If you have any questions about the budget, or how it will impact you or your business, please contact us on 0116 242 3400 and we will be happy to help.

Denise Burley

VAT on building a new home

If you’re building a new home, you may be able to reclaim the VAT back on the materials used, potentially making a lot of difference to the final costs.

You can apply for a VAT refund on building materials and services if you’re:

• building a new home
• converting a property into a home
• building a non-profit communal residence – e.g. a hospice
• building a property for a charity

The building work and materials have to qualify and you must apply to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) within 3 months of completing the work.

To qualify for the reclaim of VAT, you must meet the following conditions:

• You may claim a VAT refund for building materials that are incorporated into the building and can’t be removed without tools or damaging the building.
• The building must be for one of the following purposes:
• Non-business – you can’t charge a fee for the use of the building
• Charitable, for example a hospice
• Residential, for example a children’s home

What doesn’t qualify?

• building projects in the Channel Islands
• materials or services that don’t have any VAT – for example, they were zero-rated or exempt
• professional or supervisory fees – for example, architects or surveyors
• hiring machinery or equipment
• buildings for business purposes
• buildings that can’t be sold or used separately from another property because of a planning permission condition
• building materials that aren’t permanently attached to or part of the building itself
• fitted furniture, some electrical and gas appliances, carpets or garden ornaments

How to claim

Fill in form 431NB to claim a VAT refund on a new build, or 431C to claim for a conversion.

There are lots of useful guidance notes included with these forms.

For further information or help on the above, please call the office on 0116 242 3400 or emails on info@torrwaterfield.co.uk 

James Yarnall, Accounts 

Is your child about to collect their GCSES? – You need to tell the Tax Man

(A-levels, further education or an approved training course, you MUST tell the taxman if you’re claiming child benefit or risk losing out on thousands of pounds a year)

June was a busy period for students throughout the UK as they completed their GCSE and A-Level exams, but what happens to your child benefits afterwards?

Your Child Benefit stops on 31 August on or after your child’s 16th birthday if they leave education or training. It continues if they stay in approved education or training, but you must tell the Child Benefit Office.

You’ll be sent a letter in your child’s last year at school asking you to confirm their plans.

You must report any change of circumstances to the Child Benefit Office.

‘What If my child continues education or training?’

Use the online service to tell the Child Benefit Office that your child is staying in approved education or training after age 16.

Approved education:

Education must be full-time (more than an average of 12 hours a week supervised study or course-related work experience) and can include:

• A levels or similar – eg Pre-U, International Baccalaureate
• Scottish Highers
• NVQs and other vocational qualifications up to level 3
• home education – if started before your child turned 16
• traineeships in England

Courses are not approved if paid for by an employer or ‘advanced’, eg a university degree or BTEC Higher National Certificate.

Approved training should be unpaid and can include:

• Foundation Apprenticeships or Traineeships in Wales
• Employability Fund programmes or Get Ready for Work (if started before 1 April 2013) in Scotland
• United Youth Pilot, Training for Success, Pathways to Success or Collaboration and Innovation Programme in Northern Ireland

Courses that are part of a job contract are not approved.

‘What if my child decides to leave education or training?’

Use the online service (CH459) to tell the Child Benefit Office that your child aged 16 or over has left approved education or training.

When your child leaves approved education or training, payments will stop at the end of February, 31 May, 31 August or 30 November (whichever comes first).

 Temporary breaks

 If there has been a break in your child’s education or training (for example if they change college), you might get Child Benefit during the break. In this case you should tell the Child Benefit Office.

 Apply for an extension

You could get Child Benefit for 20 weeks (called an ‘extension’) if your child leaves approved education or training and either:

• registers with their local careers service, Connexions (or a similar organisation in Northern Ireland, the EU, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein)
• signed up to join the armed forces

To qualify for this, your child must:

• be 16 or 17
• work less than 24 hours a week
• not get certain benefits (eg Income Support)

You must have been entitled to Child Benefit immediately before they left the approved education or training and apply for it within 3 months of them leaving.

Apply for the extension online

If you have any queries regarding this information please feel free to contact a member of TorrWaterfield on 0116 242 3400

Sam Koelling, Accountant

Tax refund scams warning from HMRC

HMRC has issued a warning to taxpayers regarding the latest tax refund scams. These scams are targeting individuals via email and SMS messages.

HMRC is currently processing genuine tax refunds for the 2017/18 tax year and the fraudsters are sending scam messages which claim that taxpayers are entitled to a rebate. These messages go on to request that they provide their personal and account details in order to make their claim.

HMRC is keen to stress that it will only ever inform individuals of a tax refund by post or through their employer, and never via email, text messaging or voicemail.

Commenting on the issue, Treasury Minister Mel Stride said

We know that criminals will try and use events like the end of the financial year, the self assessment deadline, and the issuing of tax refunds to target the public and attempt to get them to reveal their personal data’.

HMRC is advising taxpayers not to click on any links, download any attachments or provide any personal information, and to forward any suspect messages to HMRC.

Please get in touch if you wish to discuss any of this further.

Torrwaterfield – 0116 2423400 info@torrwaterfield.co.uk

Clause 24 in the Finance Act – Is it affecting you?

We have known for some time that Landlords have been hit hard by recent tax changes:

• Clause 24 restricting relief for interest;
• 8% extra capital gains tax;
• 3% extra stamp duty.

Clause 24 of the Finance Act set out restrictions for individuals on claiming loan interest as a cost against property investment income, for individuals it works as follows:

• For the tax year just ended 2017/2018, 75% of the interest can be claimed in full and 25% will get relief at 20%;
• For this tax year just started 2018/19, 50% of the interest can be claimed in full and 50% will get relief at 20%;
• From 6 April next year to 5 April 2020, 25% of the interest can be claimed in full and 75% will get relief at 20%;
• And finally from 6 April 2021, 100% will get only 20% relief.

Essentially Clause 24 removes Interest from the allowable property expenses, and gives you tax relief at 20% instead, so that Higher Rate tax payers will pay more tax.

However, these rules do not apply to companies and therefore they will continue to claim full relief.

If you would like to discuss any of this further please get in touch on 0116 2423400 or info@torrwaterfield.co.uk

Paul Witherington, Accounts & Tax 

P11d returns – Recap on the general principles of what is allowable.

BUSINESS TRAVEL

As we approach the time when employers have to deal with P11d returns, it is worth having a recap on the general principles of what is allowable.

Travel expenses have specific tests which must be satisfied in order for an employee to gain a deduction. These rules are different from the general rule for deductibility of expenses in that they do not need to be incurred “wholly and exclusively”. This is because with any business travel there are likely to be elements of mixed or private purpose, e.g. meals on trips or overnight accommodation. Meals and overnight accommodation come under the heading of “subsistence” and these follow the rules on business travel.

In order for travel expense to be allowable, it must satisfy one of two tests. Either

• It is ‘necessarily incurred in the performance of duties’ or
• The travel is ‘for necessary attendance’

Allowable business travel expenses include the actual costs of travel, the subsistence expenditure and other associated costs that are incurred as part of the cost of making the journey. They consist of expenses you are obliged to incur in performing your duties. Tax relief is not normally available on travel costs relating to commuting to and from the normal place of work, or private travel. There are some special rules on Worksite Travel Costs however, where exceptions occur that should be considered.

Road Travel – Use of Private Vehicles

You may claim a cost per mile for allowable business journeys in your own vehicle.  There is a distinction between the first 10,000 miles in any tax year and subsequent miles. The 2018 allowable mileage rates that may be claimed are as follows:

Type of Vehicle	Motorcar	Motorcycle – all	Cycle
First 10000 Miles	45p per mile	24p per mile	20p per mile
10000+ Miles	25p per mile	24p per mile	20p per mile

You must retain valid VAT fuel receipts to support your claim. There is currently no HMRC requirement to state the fuel type.

Road Travel – Use of a Hire Car

Occasionally you may need to hire a car, either for a specific journey or if your own car is being serviced or repaired. If you regularly use your personal car for business travel and claim mileage rates you cannot claim the cost of the hire car, you should continue to claim the authorised mileage rates.

If you don’t use your personal car for business and you hire a car in your own name for business journeys for short term use, the hire costs and fuel are an allowable expense. If the hire car is used for personal use a proportion of the hire costs will be disallowable.

Hiring a car abroad specifically for business purposes is an allowable expense and the hire costs and fuel can be claimed.

Rail or Air Travel

The cost of train or airfares for business-related journeys is allowable. Additional costs such as excess baggage claims are also allowable if they are incurred in the performance of your duties and have no personal element.

Other Allowable Travel Costs

Allowable travel costs include bridge, tunnel and road tolls, bus and taxi fares, car-parking charges and congestion charges provided they have been incurred on a business trip.

Overseas Travel Costs

The cost of overseas travel is allowable where you are obliged to incur the expense in the performance of your duties.

Accommodation

The cost of hotel accommodation for nights spent away from home on business may be claimed. The cost of maintaining a rental property may also be allowable provided that use of the property is necessary for business purposes, and a permanent residence is being maintained elsewhere within the UK where a regular pattern of commuting back to that residence is evident. Where a rental property is not used exclusively for business purposes the proportion of costs relating to the period of private usage is not allowable. In such cases it will be necessary to determine the appropriate split of private and business usage and claim only for the business use.

The cost of accommodation in relation to site work is allowable if the period of time at the site is both expected to be no more than 24 months in total, including any time spent on-site prior to the current contract and in fact does not exceed 24 months. The “40% rule” also applies here; claims can be made for accommodation at/near a temporary workplace but never near a permanent workplace.

Incidental Overnight Expenses Allowance

On a business trip you may incur personal costs such as private telephone calls, laundry, newspapers or the cost of childcare. HMRC regards these as personal rather than business expenditure and are not allowable. However, if you are staying overnight while either away on business or on allowable work-related training, you are entitled to claim a subsistence allowance.

There are two Incidental Overnight Expenses Allowance rates: £5 per night in the UK and £10 per night overseas (including Eire). No receipts need to be produced. These allowances can only be claimed in relation to an overnight stay, for example, on a business trip in the UK lasting 5 days with 4 overnight stays, £20 can be claimed.

Incidental Overnight Expenses Allowances in relation to site work are claimable if the overnight stay is associated with a period of time at a site that is both expected to be no more than 24 months in total, including any time spent on-site prior to the current contract, and in fact does not exceed 24 months. The “40% rule” also applies here; claims can be made for accommodation at/near a temporary workplace but never near a permanent workplace.

Meals

When staying overnight meals are an allowable expense. Food and drink must have been purchased after the journey commenced. As a result of this rule costs incurred in preparing a pre-packed lunch are not allowable expenses. The levels of costs that are generally acceptable to HMRC are as follows and claims need to be supported with a valid receipt:

• Breakfast or lunch: £15 in London and £10 outside London
• Dinner: £40 in London and £30 outside London

HMRC accepts that reasonable costs of alcoholic beverages with a meal may be claimed. Where you have dined with work associates, only the proportion of the total cost that pertains to you as the director is allowable unless the purpose of the meal is business entertaining. Appropriate identification and explanation of the receipts must be provided in English when submitted in relation to meals overseas.

If you would like to discuss any of this further then please get in touch 0116 2423400 or info@torrwaterfield.co.uk 

Nish Bathia, Director 

P11Ds – Return of Expenses and Benefits

It is that time of year again when your organisation’s P11D forms will need to be prepared and submitted to the Inland Revenue. The most common entries being the car or van benefit, with or without fuel for private use.

In addition to the above, directors/employees are sometimes provided with private health insurance.  The best way of dealing with this is to ensure that the contract is between the employer and the insurance company and therefore the amount is treated as a benefit in kind and reported on a P11D 

However, sometimes the employer will offer to pay the employee’s personal medical insurance directly.  In this case the contract for the health insurance will be between the insurance company and the director/employee and the payment is treated very differently to the above.  If the company pays the bill on behalf of the employee the amount is entered onto the P11D for tax purposes but is dealt with through the payroll for National Insurance.  This, as you can imagine, gets very messy.

This does not just apply to medical insurance but also any contract in the director/employee’s name that the employer settles on behalf of the director/employee.  Another common one that springs to mind is a mobile phone bill. 

The moral of the above is to set up medical insurance/mobile phone contracts between the employer and the supplier directly which simplifies the treatment of dealing with the whole reporting process.

The above is just a small part of the P11D system so please get in touch if you require any help. 0116 24243400 or info@torrwaterfield.co.uk

Julia Harrison , Tax Manager 

Why has my tax code changed?

“How do I know if my tax code is correct?”

Your tax code is used by your employer to calculate how much tax needs to be deducted from your pay. HMRC tells your employer which code to use to collect the right amount of tax from you. You can check your income tax online to see what your tax code is, how your tax code has been worked out and how much tax you have paid and are likely to pay in the coming months.

“What does my tax code actually mean?”

Your tax code represents how much tax free income you have for that tax year, for example the standard tax code for the 2018/19 tax year is 1185L and this means you have a tax free income of £11,850.

“What does the letter in my tax code mean?”

The letter in your tax code represents your situation and how that affects your tax free income, for example:

• L = You’re entitled to the standard tax free allowance.
• M & N = Marriage Allowance, this means you have either transferred or received personal allowance to or from your partner.
• 0T = Your personal allowance has been used up or you’ve started a new job and your employer doesn’t have all of your starter details.

To see the full list on the HMRC website please click here.

“Why is there a W1/M1 at the end of my tax code?”

The W1/M1 means that the tax code is non-cumulative; in these cases tax will be calculated purely based on the taxable pay for that pay period. Each pay day is treated as if it is the first week or month of the tax year. All previous pay and tax are ignored.

There are a few reasons you may have been put on this type of code, for example:

• Started a new job
• Getting Company benefits or state pension
• Becoming employed after being self employed

These tax codes are generally temporary and you or your employer can update this.

“How do I change my tax code?”

 You can use the HMRC online services to tell HMRC about any missing or incorrect information. They will then update this by sending you and your employer a P6 tax coding notice. If you can’t use the online services you can call HMRC on 0300 200 3300 and they will help guide you through and get your tax code updated.

If you would like to discuss this further then please get in touch on 0116 242 3400.

Polly Dennis, Payroll Assistant