Wokingham Accountants
Accountancy may not strike everyone as exciting, but it is fast moving. We’ll keep you informed about issues we think may be of interest or relevance to you.
What can HMRC do if you do not pay your tax bill? HMRC have a range of powers at their disposal to collect unpaid tax. If you are struggling to pay a tax bill, or know that you will not have the funds available to meet an upcoming bill, it is better to take action … Read more
Scammers are becoming increasingly adept at fooling people and a favoured tactic is a letter, a text or an email purporting to be from HMRC, often promising a tax refund in exchange for personal and financial data. During the summer, many taxpayers received a very convincing scam letter which appeared to be from HMRC, seemingly … Read more
There are various reasons why a person may not have told HMRC about the tax that they owe, ranging from a simple oversight to the deliberate evasion of tax. Regardless of the reason, if you have failed to declare income and gains on which tax is due, it is always better to take action to … Read more
If it works correctly, the tax that is collected under PAYE will exactly match the tax that is due for the year. However, in practice, this balance may be disturbed, for example, because benefits included in a tax code change or a wrong tax code is used, and an employed taxpayer may pay too much … Read more
If you are entitled to a refund of tax deducted from savings and investment income, you can claim the refund using form R40 if you do not complete a self-assessment return. If you do complete a Self Assessment tax return, you do not need to make a separate claim as any tax due to you … Read more
As outlined before the election, the new Government is to go ahead with their proposal to impose VAT on school fees. Legislation was published in draft on 29 July, together with a technical note. From 1 January 2025, education services and vocational training supplied by a private school will be liable to VAT at the … Read more
Many wealthy individuals are apparently passing on substantial amounts of their wealth in anticipation of possible changes to inheritance tax (IHT) in Labour’s first Budget on 30 October 2024. This allegedly includes a number of high-profile individuals such as TV presenter Anne Robinson who confirmed that she had passed on £50 million to her children … Read more
The VAT flat rate scheme is a simple VAT scheme for smaller VAT-registered businesses. Rather than pay the difference between the VAT charged to customers and that incurred on business purchases over to HMRC, traders using the flat rate scheme instead pay a fixed percentage of their VAT-inclusive turnover to HMRC. The percentage depends on … Read more
Class 2 National Insurance contributions are flat-rate contributions which for 2023/24 and earlier tax years are payable by the self-employed where their profits exceed the relevant trigger threshold. For 2023/24 and 2022/23, the liability to pay Class 2 contributions arose where profits exceeded the lower profits threshold (set at £12,570 for 2023/24). For those years, … Read more
Children may have their own income. This may be in the form of savings income on accounts that they hold or, for older children, income from a paper round or a Saturday job. Like adults, children have their own set of allowances, including a personal allowance and savings and dividend allowances. However, anti-avoidance provisions apply … Read more
