Johnson Murkett & Hurst

• END OF PERIOD OF GRACE
  An HMRC concession, ESC B46, was introduced in 1995 and means that HMRC will not issue penalties for late filing of company tax returns or employers’/contractors’ end-of-year returns, provided that they are received by the last working day within seven days of the filing date..........read more
• SAFE MAINTENANCE
  A new European initiative has been launched which highlights the risks during maintenance and repair work and how to avoid them. It is estimated that between 25% and 30% of all manufacturing industry deaths in Britain result from maintenance activity, with common causes of fatalities and major injuries including falls..........read more
• ENERGY EFFICIENT BUILDINGS
  The European Union has published a new energy efficiency Directive for buildings, which sets out rules for the energy performance of both new and existing buildings. This is considered to be an important target area in achieving the EU climate and energy objectives...........read more
• PAY FREEZES AFFECT THE PUBLIC SECTOR…BUT NOT THE PRIVATE SECTOR
  The latest research on pay settlements from Income Data Services (IDS) has found that pay freezes have dropped to the lowest level since January 2009 but that, in the public sector, 35% of pay awards with effective dates in April resulted in pay freezes. The typical pay awards in the private sector rose to 2% in the three months to the end of April 2010......read more
• THE SKY’S THE LIMIT
  Cloud computing allows businesses a way of managing data, hardware and software requirements by using internet-based resources. Documents, emails, customer information, business applications and other assets can be stored online and this makes them accessible from any computer or mobile device with an internet connection and web browser.........read more
• BUSINESS INVESTMENT INCREASES AT FASTEST PACE SINCE 1987
  Investment by UK businesses rose at the fastest rate since 1987 in the first quarter of 2010, according to the Office for National Statistics. Business investment rose by 7.8% compared to the previous quarter but business investment is still 7.7% lower than the same period in 2009.............read more
• SCRAP EXTENSION OF RULES ON WORKING TIME?
  In June, the European Parliament voted in favour of including self-employed lorry drivers within the 2002 Directive on the organisation of the working time of lorry and bus drivers. Previously, self-employed drivers could spend up to 56 hours/week driving as long as they drove no more than 90 hours over a two-week period........read more
• NEW GUIDANCE FOR CHARITIES
  Earlier this year a series of changes were made to the tax rules for charities and Community Amateur Sports Clubs (CASCs). Broadly, the rules are intended to offer UK tax reliefs to EU charities and also allow donations to EU charities to qualify under the Gift Aid scheme...........read more
• NIC HOLIDAY
  The Coalition government intends to introduce a scheme to help new businesses in targeted areas of the UK by allowing a reduction in employers’ national insurance (NIC). For a business commencing within a three-year qualifying period, the employer will not have to pay the first £5,000 of Class 1 employers’ NIC due in the first 12 months..........read more

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