HLAS

On 15 March 2023, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt presented his first Budget to Parliament and set out a plan to reduce inflation, grow the economy and get government debt falling all whilst avoiding a recession and tackling labour shortages. Below we set out some of the main points. COST OF LIVING SUPPORT Energy Costs The Energy Price Guarantee (EPG) brings a typical household energy bill in Great Britain down to around £2,500 per year. It has now been announced that the £2,500 EPG will be extended by 3 months to 30th June 2023, before increasing to £3,000 until the end of the EPG [...]

Hull: Hessle-based Yorkshire accountancy firm Harris Lacey and Swain have announced the launch of a new consultancy service called Consilium. The cutting-edge service is led by a cross-disciplinary team and will add to the extensive list of services offered by the firm. Richard Lacey, the Senior Partner at Harris Lacey and Swain, said “Our decision to launch this service is based on frustration at services that are claiming to offer advice usually based on simplistic spreadsheet-based models. “We wanted to offer something genuinely useful and different. “Our highly experienced and effective consultants can make a real difference.” Harris Lacey and [...]

The table below sets out the HMRC advisory reimbursement rates for employees' private mileage using their company car from 1 March 2023. Where full reimbursement is made there is no taxable fuel benefit. The rates for the previous quarter, if different, are in brackets. Note that for hybrid cars you must use the petrol or diesel rate and for fully electric cars the rate is now 9p per mile (8p per mile up to 28 February 2023). You can continue to use the previous rates for up to 1 month from the date the new rates apply.

It’s not too late to undertake some end of year tax planning. If you have available funds, an obvious tax planning point would be to maximise your £20,000 ISA allowances for the 2022/23 tax year. You might also want to consider increasing your pension savings before 5 April 2023, if you have available ‘pension annual allowance’ to obtain tax relief for any additional contributions. The pension annual allowance includes any unused elements from the last three tax years as well. Under the current rules, the government adds to your pension contributions at the 20% basic rate. For instance, if you [...]

As well as charging interest on tax paid late, HMRC may also levy a penalty where there is an error in a tax return. These penalties may be judged as careless or deliberate and the level of penalty will also depend upon whether or not; the taxpayer has been upfront, making unprompted disclosures to correct the error; the error was deliberate; and the error was concealed from HMRC. This matter is topical following the recent sacking of the former Chancellor of the Exchequer and Chairman of the Conservative Party Nadeem Zahawi who was adjudged to have been careless in connection [...]

Following on from the alleged abuse of the Research and Development (R&D) tax relief schemes, particularly the SME tax credit scheme, HMRC have issued “nudge” letters to the directors of over 2,000 claimant companies asking them to check their claims. Here is an extract from the letter:- “As Company Director, it’s important you submit accurate claims for the correct amount of tax relief. If we check a claim and find it’s incorrect, your company might be asked to pay back the full amount. This letter is not a compliance check into your Company Tax Return. It is to help you [...]

With the UK economy flat lining the Chancellor is under pressure to announce measures to stimulate growth. There are even calls for him to cut corporation tax which is scheduled to increase from 1 April 2023. He may also extend the 130% super-deduction for investment in new plant and machinery which is due to end on 31 March. The main focus of the Government continues to be reducing inflation, but Jeremy Hunt may have a few surprises up his sleeve to announce on 15 March. One issue he may address is the large number of workers over 50 taking early [...]

Small and local charities, working with people facing complex issues and barriers, can apply for grant funding from Lloyds Bank Foundation for England and Wales. Specialist charities with an annual income between £25,000 and £500,000 can apply for a three-year, unrestricted grant of up to £75,000. The Foundation will support charities that understand the complexity of the issues people face and are best placed to make a genuine difference to people’s lives. The open themes are: Addiction Asylum Seekers and Refugees Care Leavers Domestic Abuse Homelessness Offending Sexual abuse and exploitation Trafficking and Modern Slavery The deadline for applications is [...]

Over 200 of the world’s highest profile investors, CEOs and financiers are expected to come to the UK in October for a second Global Investment Summit (GIS 23). GIS 23 will aim to raise billions of pounds of high value investment to create jobs across the UK, with a special focus on high tech sectors such as innovation, research, and development. The event will build on the inaugural Global Investment Summit in October 2021, that brought together over 170 CEOs to showcase the UK’s commitment to green investment ahead of COP26. The 2021 Summit secured £9.7 billion of new foreign [...]

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) have updated their guidance to make it easier to find and understand advice on how to protect workers in low temperatures. This includes guidance for working outdoors. It also explains how you can assess the risks to workers and put controls in place to protect them. With low temperatures and less daylight, winter can make surfaces perilous. As a result, slip and trip accidents increase significantly. See: Is it too cold or hot to work? (hse.gov.uk)