12 April 2013

Loan recycling

Sadly the Inland Revenue have signalled their intent to clamp down on loan recycling with effect from 20 March 2013. The details aren’t available yet, but the Budget made it clear that general provisions to prevent this happening will be introduced soon.

4 April 2013

VAT defaulters campaign

HMRC are focussing on those with VAT Returns in arrears in an effort to bring everything up to date, as they obviously believe that there are huge possible defaults.

7 March 2013

Who is Scottish taxpayer?

Last year HMRC kindly clarified the scope of the forthcoming Scottish rate of income tax. The Scotland Act 2012 inserts new sections 80D-80F into the Scotland Act 1998, which define who will be a Scottish taxpayer.

8 February 2013

National Insurance not due on BiK?

Where a Benefit in Kind arises then there is both a tax charge and a Class 1A National Insurance cost. But can these be waived?

29 January 2013

Vat Outstanding Returns campaign

HMRC has recently announced a VAT campaign to try and bring all VAT registered business into full compliance. All businesses have until the end of February to bring all their outstanding VAT Returns up to date, or to register for VAT if they exceed the registration threshold of £77,000 in taxable sales over the previous 12 months.

20 January 2013

Pensions reform – some Q&As

It is proposed that from April 2017 there will be a single pension set at £144 a week, increasing to £155-£160 in four years’ time. This new ‘single-pension’ will replace the basic state pension, currently £107 per week, and its various top-ups and additional state pensions. However, it will be more difficult to claim the full state pension under the new rules.

20 December 2012

A Scottish “Taxes Management Act”?

The Scottish Government have published a consultation on how they will establish a Scottish Revenue, and the remit of any such body.

4 December 2012

Real Time Information

The real time information (RTI) reporting system for payroll will be introduced from April 2013. Under the RTI regulations, Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) information must be reported electronically to HMRC before any payment is made

2 December 2012

How the “Dutch sandwich” works for Google

“While the day-to-day dealings of Australian firms advertising on Google might be with Google Australia, under the fine print of contracts Australian firms sign with Google, they are actually buying their advertising from an Irish subsidiary of Google.

1 December 2012

Machine Games Duty

If you are a pub, club or hotel are you ready for the new Machine Games Duty? This replaces Amusement Machine Licence Duty, and comes in from 1 February 2013. You are required to be registered before that date, and we have already registered the majority of our affected clients.

20 November 2012

Scotland future tax system

A recent paper by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland discuses the challenges and possible opportunities available to a Scottish Inland Revenue; and is well worth a read.

17 November 2012

Overpaying National Insurance in employment

It is possible to overpay National Insurance even if your only source of income is from employment income.

4 November 2012

US Norway double tax issues

Sue has recently become an expert in the payroll tax issues surrounding employees of US companies operating in Norway.

28 October 2012

New Minimum Wage

From 1 October, the National Minimum Wage changed as note below.

13 September 2012

Partnering with Randstad

Nicolson Accountancy are delighted to announce that we have recently won a contract with one of the UK’s largest recruitment consultancies to provide finance and taxation advice to staff placed by Randstad.

10 September 2012

PAYE payments not properly allocated?

All too often, HMRC seem unable to match payments correctly against the tax period.Sometimes it is the fault of the taxpayer by not giving the correct reference, but the inability of HMRC to match a £10,919.27 PAYE overpayment against an identical underpayment for a different year is highly frustrating.

6 September 2012

P38S – Student tax scheme – scrapped

From April 2013, the student tax certification scheme will be abolished, and students will require to be taxed in the same way as ordinary employees.

27 August 2012

Sexual discrimation

You really can’t make this stuff up. A male nude model has been awarded more than £10,000 in compensation after taking two counts of sexual discrimination to court and subsequently won both. Andrew Rogers, aged 62 was a life model at Weston College, Somerset for 25 years and was made redundant in 2012.

12 August 2012

Tax determinations are unappealable

A recent tax case has confirmed that tax determinations are now final documents, and can only be appealed by the submission of the overdue Return. Determinations are issued where Tax Returns are well overdue, and are nothing more than a Revenue guess of the likely tax due.  They are often wildly incorrect, and if they are not appealed within 1 year of issue they become final.

1 August 2012

New Glasgow Office

An award-winning Stornoway accountancy firm run by an entrepreneurial husband and wife team has expanded creating several new jobs with the opening of its new office in Glasgow, at Trinity House, 31 Lynedoch Street, Glasgow.

7 July 2012

Hairdressers who rent chairs – beware of VAT

From 1 October 2012, the Inland Revenue will be trying to change the rules on hairdressers who rent chairs.  The technical rule is that the rules on ‘chair rental’ will change so that it is being specifically included as an ‘exception’ to the ‘exemption’ in the VAT legislation within VATA 1994, Sch 9, Group 1.

22 June 2012

Stornoway Accountants take top award

At a glittering ceremony in the Hilton Hotel, Glasgow, last night (Thursday), Nicolson Accountancy of Stornoway were crowned “Best Small Firm” at the prestigious Scottish Accountancy Awards.

14 June 2012

New Statutory Definition of Residence

In April 2013 there are new rules relating to tax residence that will come into force. Being non-resident can mean that you are not liable to UK Taxes, and for this reason the operation and application of tax law in this area is closely monitored by HMRC, and can often be the subject of huge dispute.

8 June 2012

The new penalty regime

In 2008 the Inland Revenue started the principle of “reasonable care” in filing tax returns. This approach has now been strengthened, formalised and is rigourously applied. The level of penalty depends upon the type of failure; how it comes to light; and some other factors.

5 June 2012

Advisory Fuel Rates from 1 June 2012

There have been changes to the advisory fuel rates from 1 June 2012.The advisory fuel rates have been changed with effect for all journeys undertaken on or after 1 June 2012.

4 June 2012

Volunteer Awards

Nicolson Accountancy are sponsoring the entire 2012 Volunteer Awards in the Western Isles, along with two individual categories of award.

2 June 2012

Another award for Nicolson Accountancy

Nicolson Accountancy has been nominated for the 2012 Scottish Accountancy Awards as one of the Top Small Firms in Scotland.

4 May 2012

Average tax rates of the wealthy

An examination of the raw data produces an extremely interesting analysis of the tax rates of the highest earners in the UK.  (The table may not round to exactly 100%).

2 May 2012

SED claims extended

Until recently a claim to Seafarers Earnings Deduction was restricted to UK residents only. This allowance is available assuming seafarers met all the qualifying conditions, which were primarily that over half the time was spent outside the 12 mile limit over a minimum 365 day period.

20 April 2012

2011 Tax Return still outstanding?

From 1 May 2012, the Inland Revenue will be issuing penalties of £10 per day for any Returns that remain overdue. If you have a Return that is overdue, take action now, and contact Angus, to avoid or minimise the cost.

30 March 2012

VAT Registration and Deregistration thresholds

With effect from 1 April 2012 the VAT Registration threshold has increased from £73,000 to £77,000 and the De-registration threshold from £71,000 to £75,000.

25 February 2012

Prestigious contract win

Nicolson Accountancy have just won an exclusive contract with Nova Subsea AS, a major Norwegian employment agency who operate across the world.

6 February 2012

VAT Flat Rate scheme

Generally you don’t reclaim any of the VAT that you pay on purchases, although you may be able to claim back the VAT on capital assets worth more than £2,000 – see the section in this guide on claiming back VAT on capital assets for the rules and restrictions.

4 January 2012

Business Records Checks

The beginning of the new calendar year has brought familiar communication problems for HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC).

8 December 2011

A recent VAT question

30 November 2011

Regional NIC holidays

The Regional Employer National Insurance Contributions (NICs) Holidayoffers big reductions in employer NICs for new businesses who employ staff and meet certain criteria in specific regions.