HLAS

The Digital Economy Act 2017 gave the government data sharing powers that allow it to combat fraud committed against the public sector. A statutory review, which was published last week, shows that taxpayers have been saved £137 million because of these data sharing powers. The review showed that the Act has enabled more than 100 data sharing pilots across both local authorities and governments or agencies. The savings were categorised as £99.5 million from identifying Covid-19 loan scheme fraud, £14.9 million from fraud identified in council tax and housing benefit systems, £5.1 million from identifying companies that were fraudulently misstating [...]

In business, staying ahead of, or at least up with, the curve is crucial for success. Over recent years, one of the revolutionary tools that has transformed the way businesses manage their finances is cloud accounting. Cloud accounting offers many benefits over traditional, on-premise accounting systems. Let’s discuss some of them. What are the benefits of cloud accounting? Accessibility Traditional accounting systems often tie businesses to a specific location, requiring users to be physically present in the office to be able to access financial data. Cloud accounting frees a business from this constraint. It gives users access to real-time financial [...]

Salih Ozhot from North London has been given a suspended prison sentence of 2 years for applying for a Bounce Back loan in 2020 for his business but then using the funds personally. He is also required to repay the £50,000 he borrowed in full at the rate of £500 per month. Insolvency Service Investigators found that Mr Ozhot had withdrawn £19,000 within one week of receiving the loan. Their analysis of subsequent transactions showed that he used the money for personal rather than business reasons. Mr Ozhot was declared bankrupt in October 2021. The Insolvency Service described Mr Ozhot’s [...]

The National Cyber Security Centre have issued some new guidance on “Using online services safely.” To avoid having to set up and manage their own IT infrastructure, many small businesses use online or cloud services. For instance, these might include email, online storage, online accounting and managing of invoicing, website hosting, and social media. The guidance is designed to help small businesses reduce the likelihood of cyber attacks when using these services. The guidance provides help on: Choosing a good service, Backing up critical data, Protecting the domain name you use for your website and email addresses, Creating separate user [...]

A new Economic Crime Unit has been launched by the Environment Agency. Its role is to tackle money laundering and carry out financial investigations in the waste sector. The Environment Agency has already been targeting waste crime with its Financial Investigations Team, and this new Unit will build on that work. The Unit will be made up of two teams: the Asset Denial Team and the Money Laundering Investigations Team. The Asset Denial Team will focus on account freezing orders, cash seizures, pre-charge restraints and confiscations. The Money Laundering Investigations Team will be involved in conducting dedicated money laundering investigations [...]

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) have recently published updated their guidance on how to identify tax scams made by phone, email, or text. They advise that if you receive a phone call, email, or text message that purports to be from HMRC, it is likely to be fake if it: rushes you; is threatening; is unexpected; asks for personal information, such as bank details; tells you to transfer money; or offers a refund, tax rebate or grant. HMRC also confirm what they will and won’t do if they contact you. By phone: HMRC will never threaten arrest or leave a [...]

We are now within the final two months of the tax year, and for many businesses, the end of the tax year is also the end of the business’s financial year. This can be a good time to review your business tax planning to ensure that you minimise tax. Assessing profit extraction methods Particularly for limited companies, profit extraction methods can be a key part of tax planning. Whether it involves salaries, bonuses, dividends, or a combination of these, choosing the right strategy can significantly impact tax liabilities. Optimising the method and timing of when you extract profits can mitigate [...]

You might wish to consider bringing forward capital gains to before 6 April 2024 where you haven’t used your £6,000 CGT annual exemption. This exempt amount reduces to just £3,000 for gains made in 2024/25.

2022/23 income tax, CGT, class 2 and 4 NIC liabilities should have been paid by 31 January 2024 unless you have agreed a payment plan with HMRC. Note that if the balance is still unpaid at the end of February 2024, a 5% surcharge penalty is added in addition to the normal interest charge unless a payment plan has been agreed.

The table below sets out the HMRC advisory fuel rates from 1 March 2024. These are the suggested reimbursement rates for employees' private mileage using their company car. Where the employer does not pay for any fuel for the company car, these are the amounts that can be reimbursed in respect of business journeys without the amount being taxable on the employee. Where there has been a change the previous rate is shown in brackets. You can also continue to use the previous rates for up to 1 month from the date the new rates apply. Note that for hybrid [...]