4
Jul, 2024

Statutory redundancy pay

If you have been in the same job for two years or more and are made redundant you will usually be entitled to redundancy money. The legal minimum that you are entitled to receive is known as ‘statutory redundancy pay’. There are exceptions where you are not entitled to statutory redundancy pay, for example, if your employer offers to keep you on or offers you suitable alternative work which you refuse without good reason.

The amount of statutory redundancy pay you are entitled to is dependent on your age and your length of service.

The payment is calculated based on the following calculations:

  • Under 22 – half a week’s pay for each full year of service.
  • Aged 22 to 40 – one week’s pay for each full year of service.
  • Over 41 – one and half week’s pay for each full year of service.

Weekly pay is capped at £700, and the maximum length of service is capped at 20 years. In addition, the maximum statutory redundancy pay you can receive is capped at £21,000 in 2024-25. There are slightly higher maximums in Northern Ireland.

An employer can decide to make a higher payment, or you may be entitled to one as a result of your employment contract.

There is an overall £30,000 limit for redundancy pay which is tax free, regardless of whether this is your statutory redundancy pay or a higher pay-out from your employer.

Source:HM Revenue & Customs | 01-07-2024
4
Jul, 2024

Claim full expensing or 50% FYA

Full expensing allows for a 100% first-year capital allowance for qualifying plant and machinery assets and came into effect last April. To qualify for full expensing, expenditure must be incurred on the provision of “main rate” plant or machinery.

Full expensing is only available to companies subject to Corporation Tax. 

Plant and machinery that may qualify for full expensing includes (but is not limited to):

  • machines such as computers, printers, lathes and planers;
  • office equipment such as desks and chairs;
  • vehicles such as vans, lorries and tractors (but not cars);
  • warehousing equipment such as forklift trucks, pallet trucks, shelving and stackers;
  • tools such as ladders and drills;
  • construction equipment such as excavators, compactors, and bulldozers; and
  • some fixtures such as kitchen and bathroom fittings and fire alarm systems in non-residential property.

Under full expensing, for every pound a company invests, their taxes are cut by up to 25p. For “special rate” expenditure, which does not qualify for full expensing, a 50% first-year allowance (FYA) can be claimed instead.

Businesses can also continue to use the Annual Investment Allowance (AIA) to claim a 100% tax deduction on qualifying expenditure on plant and machinery of up to £1m per year. This includes unincorporated businesses and most partnerships.

Source:HM Government | 01-07-2024
4
Jul, 2024

Late night taxi for an employee

There is no specific requirement for employers to provide employees with transport home. Nevertheless, an employer has a duty of care to their employees, which means that they should take all steps which are reasonably possible to ensure their health, safety and wellbeing.

Ensuring that an employee gets safely home during unsocial working hours could fall within the employer's 'duty of care'. Often in these situations an employer will pay for a late night taxi for an employee to travel home from work. This can also happen where there is a breakdown in a car sharing arrangement.

There is usually a taxable benefit where an employer provides free transport or pays for transport for an employee’s journey between home and a permanent workplace. However, there is a special tax exemption available where employees are required to work late 'occasionally'.

The exemption applies only where the following conditions are satisfied:

  • The employee is required to work later than usual and until 9pm or later.
  • The occasions are irregular.
  • By the time the employee ceases work, either public transport has stopped, or it would not be reasonable to expect the employee to use public transport.
  • The transport is by taxi, hire car or similar private road transport.

There is also an overall maximum allowance of 60 qualifying journeys in a tax year. No tax relief is available where employees work late by choice, where late working is a regular feature of employment or where the employer does not reimburse travel expenses.

Source:HM Revenue & Customs | 01-07-2024
4
Jul, 2024

Income Tax in Scotland

The Scottish rate of income tax (SRIT) is payable on the non-savings and non-dividend income of those defined as Scottish taxpayers.

The definition of a Scottish taxpayer is based on whether the taxpayer has a 'close connection' with Scotland or elsewhere in the UK. The liability to SRIT is not based on nationalist identity, location of work or the source of a person’s income e.g., receiving a salary from a Scottish business.

HMRC’s guidance states that for the vast majority of individuals, the question of whether or not they are a Scottish taxpayer will be a simple one – they will either live in Scotland and thus be a Scottish taxpayer or live elsewhere in the UK and not be a Scottish taxpayer. 

If a taxpayer moves to or from Scotland from elsewhere in the UK, then their tax liability for the tax year in question will be based on where they spent the most time in the relevant tax year. Scottish taxpayer status applies for a whole tax year. It is not possible to be a Scottish taxpayer for part of a tax year.

Residents may also need to pay Scottish Income Tax if they live in a home in Scotland and also have a home elsewhere in the UK. In this case, residents will need to identify which is their main home based on published guidance and the facts on the ground. Taxpayers may also be liable to SRIT if they do not have a home and stay in Scotland regularly, for example stay offshore or in hotels.

Source:The Scottish Government | 01-07-2024
4
Jul, 2024

What your tax code means

The letters in your tax code signify your entitlement (or not) to the annual tax free personal allowance. The tax codes are updated annually and help employers work out how much tax to deduct from an employee’s pay packet. 

The basic personal allowance for the current (and next) tax year is £12,570. The corresponding tax code for an employee entitled to the standard tax-free Personal Allowance 1257L. This is the most common tax code and is used for most people with one job and no untaxed income, unpaid tax or taxable benefits (for example the use of a company car).

There are a range of numbers and letters that can appear in your tax code. For example, there are letters that show when an employee is claiming the marriage allowance (M) or where their income or pension is taxed using the Scottish rates (S). If your tax code numbers are changed this usually means your personal allowance has been reduced.

There are also emergency tax codes (W1 or M1) which can be used if a new employee does not have a P45. These codes mean that an employee’s tax calculation is based on what they are paid in the current pay period.

If your tax code has a 'K' at the beginning this means that deductions due for company benefits, state pension or tax owed from previous years are greater than your personal allowance. However, the tax deduction for each pay period cannot be more than half your pre-tax pay or pension.

It is important to check your tax code to ensure the correct information is being used. If you have any queries we can help, or you can check with your employer or HMRC.

Source:HM Revenue & Customs | 01-07-2024
4
Jul, 2024

CGT Incorporation Relief

Where a taxpayer owns a business as a sole trader or in partnership, a capital gain will be deemed to arise if the business is converted into a company by reference to the market value of the business assets including goodwill. This could give rise to a chargeable gain based on the difference between the market value of the assets and their original cost.

However, in most cases the incorporation of the business will be done in such a way as to satisfy the conditions necessary to secure incorporation relief. One condition is that the entire business with the whole of its assets (or the whole of its assets other than cash) must be transferred as a going concern wholly or partly in exchange for shares in the new company.

It is important to note that where the necessary conditions are met, incorporation relief is given automatically and there is no need to make a claim. The relief works by reducing the base cost of the new assets by a proportion of the gain arising from the disposal of the old assets.

Although the relief is automatic it is possible to make an election in writing for incorporation relief not to apply. An election must be made before the second anniversary of 31 January next following the tax year in which the transfer took place e.g., an election in respect of a transfer made in the current 2024-25 tax year must be made by 31 January 2028. The election deadline is reduced by one year if the shares are disposed of in the year following that in which the business was incorporated.

Source:HM Revenue & Customs | 01-07-2024
1
Jul, 2024

Tax Diary August/September 2024

1 August 2024 – Due date for corporation tax due for the year ended 31 October 2023.

19 August 2024 – PAYE and NIC deductions due for month ended 5 August 2024. (If you pay your tax electronically the due date is 22 August 2024)

19 August 2024 – Filing deadline for the CIS300 monthly return for the month ended 5 August 2024. 

19 August 2024 – CIS tax deducted for the month ended 5 August 2024 is payable by today.

1 September 2024 – Due date for corporation tax due for the year ended 30 November 2023.

19 September 2024 – PAYE and NIC deductions due for month ended 5 September 2024. (If you pay your tax electronically the due date is 22 September 2024)

19 September 2024 – Filing deadline for the CIS300 monthly return for the month ended 5 September 2024. 

19 September 2024 – CIS tax deducted for the month ended 5 September 2024 is payable by today.

Source:HM Revenue & Customs | 30-06-2024
1
Jul, 2024

Extracting profits from a small, limited company

It is pretty much universally accepted that shareholders (usually directors) of small companies take out their remuneration as a small salary – a salary pitched high enough to secure NIC benefits but not high enough to that employee NIC contributions are payable – and any balance as dividends.

Unless directors have the need for remuneration in excess of the current basic rate Income Tax band (set at £50,270 for 2024-25) then salary plus dividends should be set at a level that does not exceed this limit.

But there are other ways that director/shareholders can extract profits from their company. They include:

  • Interest can be paid to directors if they have credit balances on loans made to their companies. In some cases, this interest will be covered by the Personal Savings Allowance.
  • If directors have loaned assets other than property to the company there may be an option to charge the company a rent for the use of these assets. Isolated rentals up to a maximum £1,000 a tax year should be free of any tax payment.

Directors can also choose to leave accumulated profits and cash balances inside their companies and build up these reserves as rainy day funds. Dividends can be taken from accumulated reserves (after corporation tax has been paid) even if the company has ceased trading.

If you would like to revisit your present strategy for extracting profits, or your longer term exit planning from your business, please call so we can consider your options.

Source:Other | 30-06-2024
1
Jul, 2024

Translation

If you receive documents from overseas customers or suppliers and you need to translate text into English, have you used Google Translate?

It’s a free, but incredibly powerful facility.

You can select to translate:

  • Individual blocks of text that you add to view in alternate languages.
  • Images with text.
  • Documents.
  • And really useful, websites. Use this to view overseas sites in English or an English site in a non-English language.

Especially useful if you need to translate contracts to ensure you fully understand terms and conditions.

And if you are courting an overseas customer use this facility to generate your website into a local language and then send the translated link to your customer. Alternatively, add links to your website so casual overseas visitors can see your site in a local language.

But beware, before taking commercial decisions based on Google Translate translations, best to have the translated copy proof-read by a local advisor to make sure there are no ambiguities. Similarly, have a translated websites read by a fluent person to reveal any errors in translation.

Google’s own reply to the question – ‘Is Google Translate reliable?’ is:

Since its inception in 2006, it has become one of the top-rated machine translation (MT) tools, currently supporting 133 languages, having added 24 in 2022. Accuracy varies depending on language pair and content type, though some reports show Google Translate reaching 94% accuracy.

Source:Other | 30-06-2024
27
Jun, 2024

Private rental deposits

There are special rules under the Tenancy Deposit Scheme that limits the amount of deposit that landlords in England can request. There are also further limitations on what landlords and agents can charge tenants.

If you are renting a residential property you may have to pay a deposit before you move in.

The maximum deposit your landlord can ask for is:

  • up to 5 weeks’ rent if the rent for the year is less than £50,000 
  • up to 6 weeks’ rent if the rent for the year is £50,000 or more

They can also ask for a holding deposit to reserve a property. This can be up to one week’s rent.

If you are unable to afford the deposit, you may qualify for help from your local council. The council can tell you if you are eligible for:

  • rent or deposit guarantee schemes;
  • a discretionary housing payment if you get Housing Benefit or Universal Credit;
  • local schemes to prevent homelessness; and
  • if you are receiving certain benefits you may also be able to get a Budgeting Loan, or a Budgeting Advance if you are receiving Universal Credit.

In England, your landlord must keep your deposit safe using a government-approved tenancy deposit protection scheme if both of the following apply:

  • you have an assured shorthold tenancy (AST); or
  • your landlord took your deposit on or after 6 April 2007.
Source:Other | 23-06-2024