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News Stories from TaylorDavis

29 November 2011

Highlights from the November 2011 pre-budget report

• The main rate of corporation tax to be cut from 26% to 25% in Apr 2012 - The Government intend to reduce this further to 23% by 2014
• The planned Jan 2012 3p fuel duty increases had been postponed until Aug 2012, and the planned 2p increased originally planned for Aug 2012 has been cancelled
• Average rise in regulated train fares has been capped at 6%. 1% above inflation but lower than the 8% cap previously expected
• Credit easing programme to underwrite up to £40bn in low interest loans to small and medium sized businesses
• The business rate holiday relief for small firms has been extended to Apr 2013
• £1bn "youth contract" to subsidise six month work placements for up to 410,000 young people
• State pension age will increase to 67 from 2026, 8 years earlier than previously planned
• New mortgage indemnity scheme to help up to 100,000 people buy homes with a 5% deposit

15 September 2011

HMRC have today announced

New national minimum wage rates that take effect from 1 October 2011

• The Adult rate will increase by 15 pence to £6.08 an hour
• The rate for 18-20 year olds will increase by 6 pence to £4.98 an hour
• The rate for 16-17 year olds will increase 4 pence to £2.68 an hour
• The rate for apprentices will increase by 10 pence to £2.60 an hour

There are also new self assessment penalties for late returns and late payments which cime into effect this autumn.

For late self assessment returns, penalties are

• An initial £100 fixed penalty, applied even if there is no tax to pay or if the tax due is paid on time
• After 3 months, additional daily penalties of £10 per day, up to a maximum of £900
• After 6 months, a further penalty of 5% of tax due or £300, whichever is greater
• After 12 months, another 5% or £300 charge, whichever is greater.  Serious cases the penalty after 12 months can be up to 100% of tax unpaid

Penalties for late payment will be

• 5% at 30 days
• Another 5% at 6 months
• A further 5% at 12 months

They have also published the countdown for the abolition of contracting-out on a Defined Contribution basis

12 June 2011

Team TaylorDavis have done it again. We've completed the RBC "Race for the Kids" race in Battersea Park in aide of the Great Ormond Street Hospital. Unfortunately Fay was unable to join due to being on imminent "baby watch". But Abby volunteered to stand and, along with Judy, Chris Hillman, Sam and Tim, we all successfully completed the run around the new Battersea Park course in the pouring rain.

We have raised now raised an amazing grand total of £1906.Many many thanks to everyone who has sponsored our efforts, and for the monies for Great Ormond Street.

Click on one of the thumbnails below to see the slide show of events. And many thanks to Sam for driving us to London, taking photos and generally supporting the team.

Click on the video below to see us warming up for the race

It isn't too late to sponsor the Taylor Davis team.  Just click on the button below and then follow the link to "Sponsor Team". Alternatively give Fay a call in the office for a sponsor form or to pledge a donation.

27 March 2011

Highlights from the March 2011 budget

• Mileage allowance has at long last been increased by 5p to 45 per mile for the first 10,000 miles in each tax year. Miles above this amount remain at 25p per mile.
• Employer and employee NIC contributions go up 1% in April, as announced in last year's
• Personal allowance, before any tax is paid, goes up £1000 this year, as per last year's budget. But this will be increased a further £630 in April 2012. However, the upper rate for 40% tax, will also be reduced by the same amount next year.
• Those earning more than £100,000 per year should be aware that tax free allowances are abated away, £1 for every £2 over this amount. Thus, someone earning £116,000 in 2012 will have no personal allowance.
• Corporation tax for small companines (under £150,000 profit) will reduce to 20% in April 2011. For larger companies, this will be 27% from April 2011 and 26% from 2012.
• The budget repeated the announcement that the amount of money that you can save in a pension, and get tax relief, will be reduced. Previously you could save up to £255,000 per annum, with a £1.8M lifetime limit. This has now been reduced to £50,000 per annum and a maximum of £1.5M.
• The Government has also announced that allowances, reliefs and thresholds will no longer be increased by the Retail Price Index (RPI), changing to the Consumer Price Index (CPI). This is expected to slow down the rate that these will increased.
• This budget has changed Entrepreneur's Relief. The last budget announced that gains upto £5m on the sale of your business would be eligible for 'entrepreneur's relief', reducing the rate to only 10% of the capital gain. This has now been increased to £10M.
• The 2011 Finance Act will allow the taxman to take 'security' for non-payment of PAYE. It means that if HMRC believe a business might go into liquidation or default on PAYE or NICs, they can demand that a specified sum of money be placed in a bank, requiring permission from HMRC before it is accessed.

17 February 2011

The team at Taylor Davis are once again taking part in the "RBC Race for The Kids" fun-run in Battersea Park on 12 June.

This year we are being joined by Chris Hillman from Cautrac as well.  We are hoping to raise at least £1000 for the Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity.

If you would like to join Judy and the team, then just let us know.

22 June 2010

Budget highlights from today's emergency budget from the coalition

• VAT will increase to 20% as of 4 January 2011
• Tax credits cut for family incomes over £40,000
• Small company corporation tax will be reduced from 21% to 20% next year
• Capital Gains Tax for higher rate tax payers will be increased to 28% from midnight tonight
• Capital Gains relief for entrepreneurs of 10% to be increased to first £5m
• No change in tobacco, alcohol and fuel duties but the planned increased in duty on cider has been cancelled
• Landline tax has also been scrapped to be funded by alternative means
• Personal Allowances to be increased next year by £1000 to £7475. This will take 880,000 out of the tax system. No increase in the higher rate income tax threshold though
• Basic state pension will be re-linked with state-earning from next April
• Child benefit to be frozen for three years
   
• ... and the Treasury's Euro Preparations Unit has also been dissolved and team members reassigned to other duties

And a few specific details from this emergency budget

• IR35 - The budget did not mention any changes to IR35. However, budget documents confirm that the government want to undertake a comprehensive review of small business taxation to make the need for IR35 redundant.
• National Insurance changes have been left almost unchanged, with a 1% increase for both employers and employeers. Employees will now 12% on earnings up to the higher rate threshold. Employers will now pay 13.8%.  However the threshold when it starts has been increased by £21 per week. Lets ignore the additional relief for new businesses outside London and South East.
• Entrepreneur's tax relief will be increased from £2m to £5m in 2011. But this relief if a life time limit and cannot be used for every business disposal. If you have already been granted entrepreneur's relief, the lifetime limit will be reduced accordingly.
• Flat rate VAT scheme rates will increase on 4 Jan 2011. The current 13% rate will increase to 14.5% and the current 12.5% rate will increase to 14%.
• Tax relief for the video games industry has been scrapped along with the landline tax for the extension of broadband.
• Although personal allowances will be increased by £1000 next April, the government have also said that they will adjust the basic rate top rate (the point at which you pay the higher rate) down to negate the increase for all higher rate tax payers. This implies that higher rate tax will become payable at £42,875 instead of the current £43,875.

6 June 2010

Judy, Fay and Tim successfully completed the RBC "Race for the Kids" race in Battersea Park in aide of the Great Ormond Street Hospital. This took place on Sunday morning, 6 June. Judy and Fay completed the course in an impressive 45 minutes and Tim ran it in 31.

We have now managed to raise £1290 for Great Ormond Street. Many thanks to everyone that sponsored our efforts, and for the monies that are still coming in.

Click on one of the thumbnails below to see the slide show of events. And many thanks to Sam for driving us to London, taking photos and generally supporting the team.

4 June 2010

According to the Adam Smith Institute (ASI), May 30 was tax freedom day in the UK. This is 3 days later than 2009, mainly due to the increase in VAT.

If the government's 2010 expenditure was financed by taxes rather than by loans then tax freedom would be July 8, 38 days later. Click here to read more about what could have been.

15 April 2010

On Wednesday 24 March 2010 the chancellor announced that he was introducing a temporary increase in the level of Small Business Rate Relief (SBRR) available to eligible businesses.

Taylor Davis has clarified this announcement and confirmed that this change will come into effect in October 2010 from 1 October 2010 to 30 September 2011 only.

Apparently, eligible business ratepayers will pay no rates on properties with rateable values up to £6000, with tapered relief of between 100% and 0% for properties with rateable values between £6001 and £12000.

6 April 2010

The team at Taylor Davis are taking part in the "RBC Race for The Kids" fun-run in Battersea Park on 6 June. We are hoping to raise at least £1000 for the Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity. If you would like to join Judy and the team, then just let us know.

If you would like to sponsor the Taylor Davis team, and help us get to our target amount, then please just click on the button below and then follow the link to "Sponsor Team". Alternatively give Fay a call in the office for a sponsor form or to pledge a donation.

26 March 2010

Wednesday 24 March 2010 saw the last budget statement before the general election. The budget had both good and bad points for small businesses.

The good points

• Stamp duty for first time buyers on properties up to £250,000 has been suspended for two years. This only applies to genuine first-time buyers, who will have to certify that they have never owned a property before.
• Small company's corporation tax has remained unchanged at 21%.
• Annual investment allowance has been increased from £50,000 to £100,000 for small companies.
• Doubling of entrepreneur's relief (for companies that qualify) and no change to Capital Gains Tax.
• VAT rate has remained unchanged. However we understand that thresholds for VAT registration has been increased to £70,000 from 1 April 2010.
• And the government has created new tax relief for companies that design, sell or market video games!

The not so good points

• Tax bands and allowances have remained unchanged effectively this a tax increase.
• Employer, employee and self employed national insurance rates will be increased a further 1% from April 2011.
• From 6 April 2010, a new higher rate of tax applies to incomes of £150,000 or more. Personal allowances are also withdrawn for those with incomes over £100,000.
• The Government has also announced (in the "Red Book" published at the same time as the budget) that they are again looking at the use of trust and other arrangements used to avoid tax and NIC payments.
• From April 2011, tax relief on pension contributions for income over £150,000 will be reduced to 20%.
• From April 2010 penalties now apply for late payment of VAT. The penalty can be as high as 13% of the late paid VAT. Those with a record of late payment will now be required to provide "financial security" to HMRC and failure to do so will become a criminal offence.
• From 1 October 2010 a new 50p broadband tax will be levied on all landlines.
• April 2010 sees the abolition of rules that allow furnished holiday lettings to be treated as trade rather than an investment. 
• The Government continues to look at the construction industry and is questioning the employment status of sub-contractors. Their "test of deemed employment" is under going further work and will be completed at a later date.

19 March 2010

Congratulation to Judy who has today been granted fellow membership of AAT. This has been awarded in recognition of her professionalism, experience and expertise and her continued involvement as treasurer of the local branch of AAT.

17 March 2010

Please wish a very warm welcome to our new 'Head of Security'. Known professionally as Mr Bumble, he also answers to the name of Mr Bumble.  He brings a lot of expertise to the team including worrying stuffed toys, eco friendly shredding of paper products, loud annoying noises and eating of biscuits.  He can sometimes be seen walking the corridors upstairs checking the file rooms and other offices. 

6 March 2010

We are undertaking a bit of a make-over of the website, adding photographs of the team, profiles and more details. More to follow. Click here to see the profiles and team photographs

26 January 2009

The HMRC have announced changes to interest rates applied to tax refunds and late tax.

Interest on refunds of overpaid tax or on tax paid early will now be at 0%.  The rate for late corporation tax will be 2.5% and the rate for income tax, VAT and most other taxes will be 3.5%

August 2009

Judy recently presented to the local AAT organisation in the Willis Faber building in Ipswich.

20 January 2009

The HMRC announced on the 15 January 2009 that it now accepts payment of tax by credit card.

If you are having difficulties paying your tax, the HMRC's Business Payment Support Scheme might help. Through this you may be able to set up alternative agreed payment arrangements.  The phone number is 0845 302 1435

12 January 2009

The deadline for filing Self Assessment returns is 31 January 2009.

The HMRC have issued a warning about recent tax scams. There is a self assessment tax scam being circulated involving emails and phone calls purporting to be from HMRC and asking for bank or credit card details for a tax refund. HMRC would not inform customers of a tax rebate via email.

26 November 2008