The new Penalties for late SA Tax Returns are:

* An initial £100 fixed penalty, which will now apply 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 the tax due, or £300, whichever is greater.
* After 12 months, another 5% or £300 charge, whichever is greater. In serious cases, the penalty after 12 months can be up to 100% of the tax due.

New Penalties for paying late are 5% of the tax unpaid at:

- 30 days,
- 6 months, and
- 12 months.

Interest will also be charged in addition to these penalties.

If you are worried about your SA Tax Return submission, or anything else to do with your tax due, please don’t hesitate to contact us here at Accounting Solutions.

The e mails usually include a link to a cloned replica of the HMRC website and then ask for the recipient’s credit or debit card details. There were 24,000 such emails reported to HMRC in August 2011 alone.

HMRC will never send an e mail asking for such details and if you receive one, you should forward it immediately to HMRC at phishing@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk before deleting it. HMRC say that it is helping to shut down around 100 scam websites every month.

* the rate for workers aged 21 and over increases to £6.08 per hour.
* the 18-20 year old rate increases to £4.98 per hour.
* the 16-17 rate for workers above school leaving age, but under 18, increases to £3.68 per hour.
* the apprentice rate, for those under 19 or 19 or over and in the first year of their apprenticeship increases to £2.60 per hour.

If you need any help with National Minimum Wages or any other payroll related issue, please don’t hesitate to contact us here at Accounting Solutions for assistance.

So far, BBA say that 200 customers and former bank staff have signed up to provide mentoring but the Government has promised that the scheme will eventually give entrepreneurs access to up to 40,000. Other organisations believed to be involved include the IoD, Prince’s Trust, British Chamber of Commerce and the Federtion of Small Businesses.

However, we understand that UK Business Advisors (UKBA) have announced that they will not be joining the MentorSME scheme after “carrying out a full investigation of the government proposals”.

One of the reasons given by UKBA is that “the terms of the mentoring programme are all about mentoring and specifically excludes giving any actual business advice to a business owner”. UKBA said that whilst non-specific personal mentoring may be of help to some business owners, it believes actual practical hands-on help specific to that business is far more valuable. They also say another reason for not becoming involved is the scheme’s emphasis on “free mentoring”. UKBA believe that “you get what you pay for” because their experience has shown that committed business owners value paid-for advice from real business experts.

Where they find records are not up to the required standard, they are advising the business of this and then seem to be following up in three to six months, to satisfy themselves that the changes they recommended are being implemented. Our Fee Protection Advisers are telling us that if changes haven’t been implemented they are then giving penalties out – the maximum of which is £3,000!

If you would like any help and advice on what and how to keep correct records, please don’t hesitate to contact us here at Accounting Solutions.

Here at Accounting Solutions, we have recently had a case where HMRC searched Land Registry data to find properties owned by a client of ours that had not been declared on the tax return. This search included properties owned jointly by our client and third parties.

If you own property and rent it out, or are considering selling it, and would like any help and advice, please don’t hesitate to contact us here at Accounting Solutions in Johnstown.

This does not concern anything submitted electronically via HMRC on-line services, but rather submission made by post, such as cheque payments or paper submissions. HMRC’s habit of assuming that any payment or return received late must have been sent late has been shown up by some recent tribunal verdicts:

The Hornslea case in March hung on HMRC’s lack of evidence to support its contention that the taxpayer has posted his returns late.

At the end of three cases decided in April, the QC decided that tax penalties demand the equivalent right to fair trial and “beyond reasonable doubt” evidential requirements as a criminal trial.

In the case of Ballysillan Community Forum, the HMRC had levied a £400 penalty for late P35 submission. The judge in this case noted that HMRC had provided no evidence to back its claim that the return had been filed late, except to assert that its computers do not get it wrong and that if there was no record of a P35 on the system, the appellant cannot have been informed that it had been successfully filed.

“That demonstrates a touching faith in computers,” the QC commented. “My task is straightforward. I have to decide whether HMRC has proved so as to make me sure that the necessary filing did not take place… I have no hesitation in rejecting that proposition and I equally have no hesitation in accepting the truthfulness of the witnesses on behalf of the appellant.”

These cases prove that HMRC cannot always be right and if you receive a late penalty for a submission you know you sent on time, you should get in touch with HMRC and ask them for proof.

Or, you can ask us to help with your accounts and submissions and we will ensure nothing is ever late anyway – thus avoiding one big headache!

- offer a bribe,
- accept a bribe,
- bribe a foreign official.

The Government has published guidance on how employers can take measures to prevent bribery taking place. One of these measures is the implementation of an anti-bribery policy to support an organisations anti-bribery ethos. If you would like help with providing such a policy for your business, please get in touch with us and we will pass your details to Mike Henshaw, Employment Law Specialist, who will be able to assist in this or any other employment matter.

The online marketplaces campaign will focus on people who buy and sell goods as a trade or business and who fail to pay the tax owed. They are going to use HMRC software to search the internet for traders who may have failed to pay the right tax.

If you feel you are behind with your tax affairs and want to get straight, Accounting Solutions can help. Just get in touch with us and we will do what we can to help.