The Shrewsbury Accountants Blog – Taxassist Accountants in Sundorne

September 14, 2011

TaxAssist Accountants in Shrewsbury are offering a free business benchmark report

Filed under: accounting, limited company, owner-managed businesses, shropshire, small business — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , — taxassistshrewsbury @ 2:27 pm

One of the questions clients often ask me when reviewing their accounts is “how do my results compare against other businesses in the same industry?” It is a very good question and one that we can answer with our benchmarking service.

Benchmarking allows an organisation to compare itself against the competition, the market, either nationally or internationally, or against similar businesses in terms of size or turnover.

Once you discover areas of under performance against other organisations, you can investigate why and set in motion improvement strategies.

You are then in a position to benchmark your own current performance against past performance. You are also able to measure which improvement strategies are successful and which are not.

Over time, benchmarking should demonstrate a steady increase in performance in the areas measured.

We are now encouraging our clients to take advantage of a free one page performance evaluation report (normally £200) on completion of their next set of accounts. This offer is also open to new clients.

An example of the report is shown below:  Free business bench-marking report

September 13, 2011

Nigel from TaxAssist Accountants in Shrewsbury issues a reminder about tax-free subsistence payments

Filed under: accounting, owner-managed businesses, shropshire, small business — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , — taxassistshrewsbury @ 4:21 pm

We thought it would be useful to remind our avid readers about the HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) benchmark scale rates for subsistence. All employers can use these rates to re-imburse employees for daily subsistence costs without any liability to tax and NI.

The new scale rates do not apply to overnight stays.

As long as the employee has incurred subsistence expenses while travelling on an allowable business journey, employers will be able to make tax and NICs free subsistence payments up to the advisory rates.

Employers wishing to use the benchmark scale rates for subsistence payments will simply need to notify HMRC of their intention by ticking the appropriate statement/box on form P11DX before starting to use the system. The rates that can be used will be:

Breakfast rate (irregular early starters only) – A rate of up to £5.00 may be paid where a worker leaves home earlier than usual and before 6.00 am and incurs a cost on breakfast taken away from his home.

One meal rate (Five hour rate) – A rate of up to £5.00 may be paid where the worker has been away from his home/normal place of work for a period of at least five hours and has incurred a cost on a meal.

Two meal rate (Ten hour rate) – A rate of up to £10.00 may be paid where the worker has been away from his home/normal place of work for a period of at least ten hours and has incurred a cost on a meal or meals.

Late evening meal rate (irregular late finishers only) – A rate of up to £15.00 may be paid where the employee has to work later than usual, finishes work after 8.00 pm having worked his normal day and has to buy a meal which he would usually have at home.

If the employee is paid an allowance under the five or ten hour rule, the late meal allowance could still be paid if he finishes work after 8.00 pm and buys a meal that he would usually have at home.

There are a number of qualifying conditions which we would be happy to advise on. A dispensation must be applied for using form P11DX available from HMRC. These rates also only apply when travelling on company business or to a temporary place of work. They are no available when a journey is from home to work or vice versa.

September 5, 2011

Nigel from TaxAssist Accountants in Shrewsbury answers some common questions about income tax payments

Filed under: accounting, owner-managed businesses, shropshire, small business, tax, tax administration — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , — taxassistshrewsbury @ 10:48 am

Reducing tax payments

Q: I have just paid my July tax bill. But am I right in thinking this payment is roughly based on last year’s (2010) accounts? My business’ profits for 2011 are definitely down on last year, so is there any way I can reduce my payments?

A: Yes you are right; the July payment is based on your previous year’s tax liability. There are in fact two ways that you can reduce your tax payments to take account of a reduction in profits.

Firstly, you can submit form SA303 to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC). On this form, you must estimate what you think your tax liability for 2011 will actually be and why it has fallen from last year. The form must be submitted by 31 January following the tax year, i.e. a SA303 for a 2010/11 tax return must be submitted by 31 January 2012. Be aware that if you reduce your payments too low, HMRC will levy interest- but you can amend a SA303 if you discover this in time.

Alternatively, you could just prepare and submit your tax return. This will then trigger the comparison of these estimated payments (called Payments on Account), with your actual tax liability. So any over or underpayment will be calculated.

Please feel free to contact your us if you would like some help with the completion of a SA303 or your tax return.

 

Late tax payment

Q: I received my statement from HMRC in August- which was after the 31 July when the payment was actually due! Will I now be charged penalties and interest?

A: If you received your self assessment statement in August- after the deadline of 31 July had passed- then you will not be charged penalties or interest.

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) issued a statement admitting that there were such a large number of statements that they would be unable to issue them during July as normal.

As a result, HMRC have advised taxpayers who received their statements in August to settle their bills as soon as possible and if their payments are received before 27 September, they will not charge interest.

If you would like any more tax advice, please feel free to us

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