Home > News
Apr 201813

Happy Financial New Year!

The New Year has begun in the financial calendar. This is the time of year where the Government implement the new rules and laws. Changes have been made to your allowances, pension and minimum wage. In our blog we will touch up on the most popular and usually most important changes. Keeping you informed and up to date!
 
Your personal allowance has gone up to £11,850 from £11,500. Your personal allowance is the amount of income you can make before you must pay any tax over. The tax you pay over will depend on which income band you are in.

Income BandTaxable IncomeTax Rate
Personal AllowanceUp to £11,8500%
Basic Rate£11.851 - £46,35020%
Higher Rate£46,351 - £150,00040%
Additional RateOver £150,00045%
 
If your income is over £123,700 then you do not get a personal allowance. Dividends allowance has unfortunately gone down from £5,000 to £2,000. If you own shares in a company and receive dividend you will have to pay tax. You only pay tax if your dividends go above your dividend allowance in the tax year. The tax rate is different for dividends.

Tax BandTax Rate on Dividends over your Allowance
Basic Rate7.5%
Higher Rate32.5%
Additional Rate38.1%
 
There has been changes to the ever-changing employment tax laws. If you employ staff, you will have to adhere to these rules. As there can be heavy fines if the rules are broken. You will have to supply a workplace pension for all staff members that qualify. A percentage of the member of staffs pay is put into the pension scheme automatically every payday. The minimum employer contribution is 2% and the minimum employee contribution is 3%.
 
The national minimum wage and living wage have increased. As an employer you are legally obliged to pay the correct rate to staff. Wage is worked out on the age an employee is. Minimum wage bands are Under 18, 18years-20years, 21-24 years and 25 years old and over.
 
Take a read of our employment law blog where we go in to the finer details of pension contributions and the national minimum wage rates. This is the time of year when company accounts are due as the next financial year rolls over, if you are stuck with yours or want more information on what steps you need to take visit our website on www.crossaccountingservice.co.uk or call us on 02920 653 995
Jan 201805

Self-Assessment

self assessment

Happy New Year to you all, we hope you’ve had a lovely Christmas. It’s the New Year but some things remain the same, and that’s the deadline of 31st January for Self-Assessment returns.

 

Self-Assessment is a system HMRC uses to collect tax. For people who are self-employed, with their own business or others who make additional income. 

The dates for Self-Assessment is 

1st April 2016 to the 31st March 2017. With online returns needed to be submitted by

31st January 2018 and paper returns to have already been submitted by 31st October 2017.

 

The best way to keep the tax bill down is to have your paperwork organised. You will need the actual receipts to claim as expenses. Collate your receipts and keep together as HMRC can ask to see evidence at any time. Another great way is to utilise the ISA savings as any interest received is tax-free. You’ll keep your savings on a tax-free basis for as long as you keep the money in your ISA accounts.

 

Higher rate tax payers benefit from additional tax savings when they contribute in to pension schemes and give to charity.

 

An example of a list of records you will need are;

  •          Business and personal bank statements
  •          Records of income
  •          Records of purchases
  •          P60/P45
  •          Rental Income
  •          Interest Income
  •          Child Benefit and Income Support

 

You need many other records to keep, here at Cross Accounting we give our clients a more in detail list of records which we require from them to complete their tax return. This also includes a reminder of approaching deadlines to ensure not to be penalised. HMRC fine £100 for anyone who misses the 31st January deadline.

 

HMRC have revealed a record number of people are filing for self-assessment this year as the numbers are north of eleven million. If you’re a couple of years behind, then do not worry as you’re not alone, we have taken on a number of clients in this situation, and have supported them and brought them up to date. If you’re not sure if you need to submit a self-assessment or you need to complete a return, you can call us on 02920 653 995 or visit our website on www.crossaccountingservice.co.uk to see how we can assist you. 

Oct 201218

Discount off your first year end

year end

Your year end can cost you more than you think

Preparing your year end accounts can be costly your business – and that’s before you’ve event considered the financial aspect.

In finding, organising and making sense of your paperwork and records, there are time costs, emotional costs (usually stress!) and work-life balance costs to consider.

15% off your year end with us

Cross Accounting Services can help on all fronts. We love year end and so as a thank you from us, we’re offering 15% off your first year end fees with us.

So, you get to spend time doing the things you love at a reduced all round cost – and we get to spend time doing the things we love, thanks to you!

Call Nicola on 029 2065 3995 and quote reference CA15 to receive your discount or email her asking for more information also quoting CA15 Closing date 31 March 2014

User Menu

Autumn Budget 2018
Home > News
Nov 201802

Autumn Budget 2018

The Budget 2018 has been released. The chancellor has put together how money will be spent for the forthcoming future. It is looking positive as there are predictions that the economy will grow as the forecast for 2019 raised from 1.3% to 1.6% and annual forecasts raised to 1.4% in 2020 and 2021, 1.5% in 2022 and 1.6% in 2023.

 

This Government has prioritised getting people into work as the best way to help people is to provide them with stability and a pay packet every month. Since 2010 over 3.3 million more people are in work and predicting 800,000 more jobs by 2023.

 

To provide the jobs, you will need businesses, and therefore the Chancellor has vowed to back another 10,000 entrepreneurs by extending Start-Up Loans funding to 2021 and following representations from the FSB, extending the New Enterprise Allowance. Which will provide mentoring and support for benefit claimants to get their business ideas off the ground.

UK to be in the digital era

Digital Platforms delivering search engines, social media, and online marketplaces have changed our lives. Digital platform businesses can generate substantial value in the UK without paying tax here in respect of that business and to make this fair, there has been an introduction of UK Digital Services Tax.

This will be a narrowly-targeted tax on the UK-generated revenues of specific digital platform business models. It will be carefully designed to ensure it is established tech giants – rather than the tech start-ups - that shoulder the burden of this new tax.

The Digital Services Tax will only be paid by companies which are profitable, and which generate at least £500m a year in global revenues in the business lines in scope.

The tax will come into effect in April 2020 and is expected to raise over £400m a year.

Help for the High Street

There is also support for the High Street retail businesses. With many small retail businesses struggling to cope with the high fixed costs of Business rates, in 2016 there was an introduction of business rates relief measures worth £12bn.

Going further, at the next revaluation in 2021, rateable values will adjust to reflect changes in rental values. This will help retail businesses as for the next two years, up to that Revaluation, for all retailers in England with a rateable value of £51,000 or less, this will cut their business rates bill by one third.

That’s an annual saving of up to £8,000 for up to 90% of all independent shops, pubs, restaurants and cafes.

Stamp Duty and Housing

The Budget is committed to keeping family homes out of Capital Gains Tax, but some aspects of Private Residence Relief extend it beyond that objective and is to provide relief for people who are not using the home as their main residence.

From April 2020 Lettings Relief will be limited to properties where the owner is in shared occupancy with the tenant and reduce the final period exemption from 18 months to 9 months.

All first-time buyers purchasing shared equity homes of up to £500,000 will be eligible for first-time buyers’ relief, an increase since the last budget abolished Stamp Duty for first-time Buyers on properties up to £300,000. This relief will be made retrospective so any first-time buyer who has made such a purchase since the last Budget will benefit.

Personal Allowance Thresholds

Delivering higher wages for those in work is core to the chancellor. The poorest 20% have seen their real incomes grow faster than the richest 20% and the proportion of jobs that are low paid is at its lowest level for 20 years. This is largely due to the National Living Wage introduced in 2016.

From April the National Living Wage will rise again, by 4.9%, from £7.83 to £8.21, handing a full-time worker a further £690 annual pay increase, with the ultimate objective of ending low pay in the UK.

In April 2018, the personal allowance is the current of £11,850 and £46,350 for the Higher Rate Threshold. However, from April 2019 the Personal Allowance is raised to £12,500 and the Higher Rate Threshold to £50,000, a year earlier than planned.

A tax cut for 32 million people and £130 in the pocket of a typical basic rate taxpayer.

Tags:
Comments are closed

User Menu