Summary
This was a Budget for bingo-playing baby-boomers who have not started to draw their private pensions. George Osborne announced some sweeping reforms to the taxation of pensions and halved bingo duty.
The traditional sin taxes on booze and fuel have largely been frozen or even reduced, although tobacco suffers a 2% above inflation tax rise. The new "sins" appear to be; owning a valuable home through a company and operating a high-stakes gaming machine.
Most individuals aged under 67 will feel the benefit of an increase in personal allowance from £10,000 to £10,500 in 2015. A transferable married couples' allowance of £1,050 will also help basic rate taxpayers from April 2015. Savers will enjoy higher tax-free limits for ISAs and premium bonds later this year, plus a cut in tax on savings income from 2015.
Businesses are encouraged to invest in equipment by an increase in the annual investment allowance to £500,000 from April 2014, and reliefs for investing in small trading companies and social enterprises are enhanced. Small and medium sized companies who undertake R&D are also given additional tax relief.
The losers are those who use tax avoidance schemes, as those sinners will have to pay the tax avoided up front. Several other tax loopholes used by groups of companies are blocked, and the rules for VCT schemes are tightened-up to deter abuse.
This newsletter is a summary of some of the key points form the Budget, based on the documents released on 19 March 2014. It is possible that a different position will be shown by the draft legislation which will be published on 27 March 2014. We will keep you informed of any significant developments.
Individuals
Personal Tax Allowance
• For people born after 6 April 1948, the personal tax allowance for 2014/15 is £10,000. This will increase to £10,500 from 6 April 2015.
• For people born on 5 April 1948 or before, the personal tax allowance for 2014/15 is £10,660.
• From April 2015, spouses and civil partners will be able to transfer 10% of their personal allowance to each other, which means £1,050 in 2015/16.
• To be eligible to make or receive the transfer, neither party must be liable to tax at the higher or additional rate.
Income Tax rates and bands 2014/15
• The basic rate of 20% will be charged on income up to £31,865.
• The higher rate of 40% will be charged on income from £31,866 to £150,000.
• The additional rate of 45% will be charged on income over £150,000.
Business Tax
• The main corporation tax rate will be 21% from April 2014, falling to 20% from April 2015.
• From 1st of April 2014 to 31st December 2015 the AIA cap is doubled to £500,000.
Duties
• AIR PASSENGER – From 1 April 2015, the number of destination bands are going to be reduced from four to two, resulting in long haul flights being charged duty at a lower rate. For example, a family of four visiting relatives in the Caribbean or India, flying in economy class, will pay £56 less in duty.
• BEER – The price of a pint will be cut by 1p from 24 March 2014.
• CIDER/SPIRITS – The duty has been frozen for 2014/15.
• WINE/SPARKLING CIDER – The duty rates for wine and sparkling cider exceeding 5.5% in strength will be increased by the rate of inflation, based on the Retail Price Index. This means an increase of 8p to the price of high strength sparkling cider and 6p to the price of a bottle of wine.
• TOBACCO – Duty will rise at 2% above inflation, based on the Retail Price Index, adding 24p to the price of 20 cigarettes.
• FUEL – The rise planned for September has been cancelled.
VAT Registration and Deregistration Limits
With effect from 1st April 2014, the new thresholds will be:
UK taxable supplies:
Registration - £81,000
Deregistration - £79,000
'Relevant Acquisitions' from other EC Member States:
Registration - £81,000
Deregistration - £81,000
Changes from 2014
• VAT treatment of prompt payment discounts given by suppliers
Others
• From 1 July 2014, cash and shares ISAs are to be merged into a New ISA – NISA – with an annual tax-free savings limit of £15,000. Savers will now have complete flexibility over the cash and shares mix within the overall limit of £15,000.
• From April 2015, the starting rate of tax for savings income will be reduced from 10% to nil. The maximum amount of taxable savings income that will be eligible will rise to £5,000 from £2,880.
• From 1 June 2014, the cap on Premium Bonds will rise from £30,000 to £40,000, increasing further to £50,000 in 2015/16. From August 2014, two £1 million prizes per month will be on offer, instead of the current one.
• HMRC is going to be given debt collection powers to recover money direct from the bank and building society accounts, including ISAs, of debtors who owe over £1,000 of tax or tax credit debts. HMRC will use this route after the debtor has been contacted ‘multiple times’. A minimum of £5,000 will be left ‘across’ debtors’ accounts after the debt has been recovered.
• The 36 month tax free period when a person’s main home is sold is reduced to 18 months for most disposals made after 5th April 2014.
• The annual exemption for capital gains tax increases to £11,000 for 2014/15.
• The inheritance tax nil rate band will remain frozen at £325,000 until 2017/18.
Research and Development
Companies can claim enhanced deductions for expenditure on Research and Development projects at rates broadly dependent on the size of the company as follows:
-Small and medium(SME): 225% of qualifying expenditure -Large: 130% of qualifying expenditure
Pensions
The following changes will be introduced from 27 March 2014:
• A person who wishes to take their pension as "draw-down" instead of buying an annuity will have to prove they have £12,000 of other income in retirement, rather than £20,000.
• The capped drawdown withdrawal limit will increase from 120% to 150% of an equivalent annuity.
• The total pension savings which can be taken as a lump sum will increase from £18,000 to £30,000.
• The maximum size of a small pension pot which can be taken as a lump sum (regardless of total pension wealth) will increase from £2,000 to £10,000; and
• The number of personal pots that can be taken under these small pot rules will increase from two to three.
In addition the chancellor proposes to change the rules for defined contribution pension schemes from 2015 so that:
• individuals will have complete freedom in how they access their pension savings;
• buying an annuity will not be a requirement on retirement;
• the 55% tax charge on withdrawing too much from a pension fund will be removed; and
• everyone will be offered free and impartial advice on how to best use their pension savings.
and Finally…
Tax Avoidance
HMRC is going to seek an upfront payment of tax from people who have invested in disputed tax avoidance schemes.
HMRC Investigation Target
HMRC’s compliance yield target – the money it collects from pursuing tax evasion and tax avoidance –
• has been increased to £24.5 billion in 2014/15 and £26.3 billion in 2015/16.
Friday 21 March 2014
Thursday 6 March 2014
VAT on Books and Leaflets
There is no VAT on printed books, booklets, newspapers, and leaflets. Well there is, - its zero-rate VAT, so the customer pays no VAT, but the supplier can reclaim the VAT it pays on purchases.
Printing businesses have to be very clear about which of their products they treat as zero-rated for VAT and which are standard-rated so 20% VAT applies. The VATman likes to come round and check. If you have classified your printed products incorrectly, VAT on the earlier sales (up to four years ago) will have to be paid. It's unlikely that you will be able to recover this extra VAT from your customers.
In a recent case printed card document folders, which were designed to hold other leaflets, were judged to be standard rated for VAT, as was a laminated business card. However, personalised souvenir photo-books were determined to be zero-rated. We can help you decide which of your products should be zero or standard rated for VAT.
Beware; if the book, leaflet or newsletter is provided in an electronic form, standard rate VAT will apply. There is a special exemption for audio-books for the blind which are zero-rated.
Printing businesses have to be very clear about which of their products they treat as zero-rated for VAT and which are standard-rated so 20% VAT applies. The VATman likes to come round and check. If you have classified your printed products incorrectly, VAT on the earlier sales (up to four years ago) will have to be paid. It's unlikely that you will be able to recover this extra VAT from your customers.
In a recent case printed card document folders, which were designed to hold other leaflets, were judged to be standard rated for VAT, as was a laminated business card. However, personalised souvenir photo-books were determined to be zero-rated. We can help you decide which of your products should be zero or standard rated for VAT.
Beware; if the book, leaflet or newsletter is provided in an electronic form, standard rate VAT will apply. There is a special exemption for audio-books for the blind which are zero-rated.
Let Property Campaign
The taxman has launched another 'confess your tax sins' campaign aimed at individuals who have failed to declare rental income they have received from residential properties. This let property campaign (LPC) can't be used by companies that let property or by landlords who let commercial rather than residential properties.
Like other tax disclosure campaigns the taxman promises that you will pay a lower amount of penalties if you disclose under the LPC, but the tax due and interest on late paid tax will have to be paid in full.
If you want to use the LPC to declare income and gains from your let properties, you need to complete a notification form on the HMRC website, or phone the property campaign helpline on 03000 514 479. We can help you with this.
There is no set deadline for asking to use the LPC, but the Taxman is running a taskforce in parallel to the LPC which is targeting tax evasion by residential landlords. So it's a case of "confess before we catch you."
Once you have notified HMRC that you want to use the LPC, you will be given a reference number and be told to make a full disclosure of the previously un-declared income and gains within three months. You will also need to pay all the tax due within the same three month period. If you can't pay all the tax in that time period you must ask HMRC for a "time to pay" arrangement before the deadline arrives. We can help you with this as well.
Like other tax disclosure campaigns the taxman promises that you will pay a lower amount of penalties if you disclose under the LPC, but the tax due and interest on late paid tax will have to be paid in full.
If you want to use the LPC to declare income and gains from your let properties, you need to complete a notification form on the HMRC website, or phone the property campaign helpline on 03000 514 479. We can help you with this.
There is no set deadline for asking to use the LPC, but the Taxman is running a taskforce in parallel to the LPC which is targeting tax evasion by residential landlords. So it's a case of "confess before we catch you."
Once you have notified HMRC that you want to use the LPC, you will be given a reference number and be told to make a full disclosure of the previously un-declared income and gains within three months. You will also need to pay all the tax due within the same three month period. If you can't pay all the tax in that time period you must ask HMRC for a "time to pay" arrangement before the deadline arrives. We can help you with this as well.
Business Journeys - Sole Traders
A number of self-employed businesses have been waiting for a tax case to be decided which turned on the question of "what is a business journey?" The test case concerned a doctor who was both employed by the NHS and self-employed as a private consultant.
The Upper Tax Tribunal decided that the doctor's self-employed work started when he arrived at his private clinic, so the travel between his home and the clinic was not a business journey. This was in spite of the fact the doctor had an office at his home where he prepared his treatment plans.
So what does this mean for you as self-employed person who travels to various sites to work? The taxman will argue that your work only starts when you reach your customer's site and any business activity performed at your home-office is irrelevant. This would restrict your allowable travel costs to journeys between customers and deny a deduction for travelling from your home to the first customer of the day.
The key is determining where your "place of business" is located, and whether the activity undertaken at the home-office is wholly and exclusively undertaken for the purpose of your business. As ever it will come down to the evidence you can produce.
Can you show that the activities you perform at your home must be performed at that location? For example: contacting suppliers, drawing up quotes, or scrutinising plans. Also can you provide evidence of the time you spend working exclusively on your business at your home, perhaps by records in your business diary?
We can help you record the details the taxman will want to see in order to prove you do start work at home, and not when you reach you first customer of the day.
The Upper Tax Tribunal decided that the doctor's self-employed work started when he arrived at his private clinic, so the travel between his home and the clinic was not a business journey. This was in spite of the fact the doctor had an office at his home where he prepared his treatment plans.
So what does this mean for you as self-employed person who travels to various sites to work? The taxman will argue that your work only starts when you reach your customer's site and any business activity performed at your home-office is irrelevant. This would restrict your allowable travel costs to journeys between customers and deny a deduction for travelling from your home to the first customer of the day.
The key is determining where your "place of business" is located, and whether the activity undertaken at the home-office is wholly and exclusively undertaken for the purpose of your business. As ever it will come down to the evidence you can produce.
Can you show that the activities you perform at your home must be performed at that location? For example: contacting suppliers, drawing up quotes, or scrutinising plans. Also can you provide evidence of the time you spend working exclusively on your business at your home, perhaps by records in your business diary?
We can help you record the details the taxman will want to see in order to prove you do start work at home, and not when you reach you first customer of the day.
Real Time Information (RTI) Penalties
HMRC has experienced significant problems in reconciling amounts of PAYE due from employers, to the amounts reported under real time information (RTI). As a result some of the automatic RTI penalties which were to apply from 6 April 2014, will now apply from:
- October 2014 for late filing of in-year RTI reports; and
- April 2015 for late payment of in-year PAYE due.
If you are late with filing your last RTI report (known as the final submission for the year) for 2013/14, a £100 penalty will apply. This penalty continues to mount-up at £100 per month, or part month, for each batch of 50 employees on the payroll, until the final submission is received by HMRC.
The full payment summary (FPS) for the last tax month will normally be your final submission for the tax year. This FPS should be submitted on or before the last pay day in the tax year, or by 5 April 2014 where you take advantage of the concession for small businesses.
You should not submit forms P35 or P14 for 2013/14 as the information on those forms is included on the final FPS or EPS submitted for the tax year.
If no employees are paid in the final tax month of the year you should submit an employer payment summary (EPS) as the final submission for the year. This EPS should reach HMRC by 19 April 2014. The EPS can also be used as the final submission if the last FPS for the year was not marked as the final submission for the year.
We can help you with the end of year payroll procedures if you are uncertain about what you need to do.
For clients who take advantage of our payroll services we will be contacting you in the next week to gather the final information we need to process your final year end submissions.
- October 2014 for late filing of in-year RTI reports; and
- April 2015 for late payment of in-year PAYE due.
If you are late with filing your last RTI report (known as the final submission for the year) for 2013/14, a £100 penalty will apply. This penalty continues to mount-up at £100 per month, or part month, for each batch of 50 employees on the payroll, until the final submission is received by HMRC.
The full payment summary (FPS) for the last tax month will normally be your final submission for the tax year. This FPS should be submitted on or before the last pay day in the tax year, or by 5 April 2014 where you take advantage of the concession for small businesses.
You should not submit forms P35 or P14 for 2013/14 as the information on those forms is included on the final FPS or EPS submitted for the tax year.
If no employees are paid in the final tax month of the year you should submit an employer payment summary (EPS) as the final submission for the year. This EPS should reach HMRC by 19 April 2014. The EPS can also be used as the final submission if the last FPS for the year was not marked as the final submission for the year.
We can help you with the end of year payroll procedures if you are uncertain about what you need to do.
For clients who take advantage of our payroll services we will be contacting you in the next week to gather the final information we need to process your final year end submissions.
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