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So far Harris Lacey & Swain has created 2206 blog entries.

UK Government banning the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2030 – is it time for you to embrace electric? 

As a part of his ten point plan to make the UK carbon neutral by 2050, Prime Minister Boris Johnson recently announced the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2030. What does this mean for your business, and the direction of your company vehicle investment? More about the ban The ban will cover petrol and diesel cars and vans, which will no longer be sold past 2030. Initial projections indicated that 2040 was a likely time to implement such a ban, but the Prime Minister's push for what he calls the "Green Industrial Revolution" has seen [...]

By |December 7th, 2020|Blog|
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Gifts to Charity

Where possible taxpayers should “Gift Aid” any payments to charity to provide additional benefit to the charity. Higher rate taxpayers obtain additional tax relief on the grossed up amount donated. For example, where an individual makes a £20 cash donation to charity the charity is able to reclaim a further £5 from HMRC making a gross gift of £25. Where the individual is a 40% higher rate taxpayer he or she is able to claim a further £5 tax relief under self-assessment, reducing the net cost of their donation to £15. Note that the donor is required to make a [...]

By |December 1st, 2020|Blog|
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How about a Virtual Christmas Party?

HMRC are not the Grinch after all. They have recently announced that employers may arrange a “virtual” Christmas party this year and there will be no taxable benefit for employees provided that all staff are invited and the cost per head does not exceed the normal £150 limit. Maybe keep it to a modest affair and let’s have a big bash when the Coronavirus pandemic is over as we are allowed more than one event a year within the £150 limit. Plus Christmas Gifts of up to £50 to Employees Remember that certain gifts to staff at Christmas are also [...]

By |December 1st, 2020|Blog|
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Making a Claim if you are Working from Home

With more of us working from home there is good news from HMRC that employees can now make a claim for tax relief to cover some of their costs while they are working from home.   The previous rule for employees was that there had to be a home working arrangement with their employer under which they were required to work from home on a regular basis to be paid £6 a week tax free (£4 a week up to 5 April 2020). This rule has now been relaxed as a result of COVID-19 so that such arrangements are not [...]

By |December 1st, 2020|Blog, COVID-19 Updates|
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New Penalties For Over claimed CJRS, SEISS and ‘Eat out to Help Out’ Grants

HMRC have announced that they will be imposing penalties of up to 100% of the amounts over claimed on businesses so make sure that your claims are correct. The penalties depend on whether or not the over claim is the result of a deliberate error and whether or not the disclosure was prompted by HMRC. The penalty may be reduced where the taxpayer assists HMRC in correcting the error. Many over claims may be the result of careless errors or a misinterpretation of the rules which have changed many times in the last 9 months so we hope that HMRC [...]

By |December 1st, 2020|Blog, COVID-19 Updates|
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Reference Pay

An employee’s reference pay will depend upon whether or not they were on the payroll and subject to an RTI submission for 2019/20 on or before 19 March 2020. Where that is the case their reference pay will be that used under previous furlough claims. Where the employee has joined since that date or not subject to an RTI submission prior to 19 March the reference pay will generally be that for the last pay period ending before 30 October. There are exceptions to these rules and complications for those working variable hours and with variable rates of pay. We [...]

By |December 1st, 2020|Blog|
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Claim your Furlough Grant by 14th December

We now have further details of the operation of the extension of CJRS “furlough” that will apply from 1 November 2020 through to the end of March 2021. The government support will initially be at the rate of 80% of an employee’s reference pay for hours they are furloughed, subject to a maximum of £2,500 a month. Claims must be made by the 14th of the following month although they can be made up to 14 days in advance. Another key difference from the previous versions of CJRS is that there is no requirement that the employee was on the [...]

By |December 1st, 2020|Blog, COVID-19 Updates|
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Brexit – what actions has the government taken to date?

New Legislation Post-Brexit legislation preparing the UK for life outside EU institutions next year have been drafted or are being reviewed by Parliament. The immigration Bill received Royal Assent last week. This ends freedom of movement on 31 December and replaces it with a new points-based system. If your business relies on EU or other non UK workers then check out the transitional arrangements to 30 June 2021 and the new rules here:https://www.gov.uk/settled-status-eu-citizens-families Last week the Agricultural Bill was debated and eventually passed through Parliament. This removes the Common Agricultural Policy and replaces it with new UK supports for farmers. [...]

By |November 30th, 2020|Blog|
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Brexit update 31 days to go

The UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, UK Chief negotiator David Frost and EU negotiator Michel Barnier continue to offer differing messages to the public about Brexit, some are positive, some ambivalent and occasionally negative remarks about the negotiations. It is hard to see through the comments made and whether we can take them at face value as, after all, there is a negotiation going on. So what can we expect with less than 31 days to go? Firstly, remain positive about the UK and EU reaching some kind of free trade deal or arrangement. It does not benefit anyone for [...]

By |November 30th, 2020|Blog|
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How do I pay my staff and deal with tax, NIC, and pensions?

Payroll is a serious consideration for any business. If you're at the point of taking on employees, it's important that you're able to pay them accurately and reliably on a weekly/monthly basis. Failure to do so could lead to problems with tax, employee dissatisfaction, and even litigation in serious cases. But how do you handle payroll? Taking things online Payroll used to be done manually, but this is a laborious and time-intensive process that the modern business owner just simply doesn't have time for. Advances in accounting software technology mean your payroll can now be handled online. If it's set [...]

By |November 26th, 2020|Blog|
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