Johnson Murkett & Hurst

• BUDGET STATEMENT
  George Osborne presented his second Budget on Wednesday 23 March 2011. In his statement he said that the ‘Budget is about reforming the nation’s economy, so that we have enduring growth and jobs in the future...........read more
• ENTERPRISE INVESTMENT SCHEME (EIS) AND VENTURE CAPITAL TRUSTS (VCTS)
  EIS and VCTs are designed to encourage private individuals to invest in smaller unquoted trading companies which may be perceived as higher risk. While the EIS requires an investment to be made directly into the shares of the company, VCTs operate by indirect investment through a mediated fund.............read more
• CORPORATION TAX RATES
  Legislation will be introduced in Finance Bill 2011 to reduce the main rate of corporation tax from 28% to 26% for the Financial Year commencing 1 April 2011 and then to 25% for the Financial Year commencing 1 April 2012. The main rate of corporation tax generally applies to companies with profits of more than £1.5 million.............read more
• APPROVED MILEAGE ALLOWANCE PAYMENTS (AMAP)
  The AMAP rates can be used to claim the cost of business mileage in an employee’s own vehicle. The rates cover cars, vans, motorcycles and bicycles. Where an employer pays less than the published rates, employees can make a claim for tax relief for the shortfall...........read more
• ENTREPRENEURS’ RELIEF (ER)
  ER was introduced in April 2008. Subject to satisfying certain conditions, including the current lifetime limit of £5 million, capital gains on qualifying business disposals by individuals and certain trustees are eligible for ER. Qualifying gains are liable to CGT at 10%............read more
• RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT (R&D) TAX CREDITS
  Subject to State aid approval, legislation will be introduced in Finance Bill 2011 to increase the rate of the additional deduction for expenditure on R&D for companies that are small or medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from 75% to 100% for expenditure incurred on or after 1 April 2011, giving a total deduction of 200%.............read more
• ENTERPRISE ZONES
  The government announced the location of ten new urban Enterprise Zones within the following Local Enterprise Partnership areas: Birmingham and Solihull; Leeds City Region; Sheffield City Region; Liverpool City Region; Greater Manchester; West of England; Tees Valley; North Eastern; the Black Country; and Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire.......read more
• £1.3 MILLION TAX CREDITS IDENTITY THIEF JAILED
  Olaide (John) Taiwo, aged 35, has been jailed for his part in stealing the identities of at least 350 people and using the identities to submit over 300 fraudulent tax credit claims. A woman who also took part in the fraud was also convicted. She will be sentenced in April............read more
• HMRC LAUNCH BUSINESS RECORDS TOOLS
  HMRC are making available on their website checklists and toolkits which they believe are suitable for the self employed, sole traders and small businesses. The tools have been released in advance of the launch of HMRC’s programme of Business Record Checks scheduled for later this year, which will impose penalties for significant record keeping failures...........read more
• PLUMBERS TAX SAFE PLAN
  HMRC have introduced the Plumbers Tax Safe Plan. This is the latest of HMRC’s disclosure opportunities and follows on from the doctors and dentists disclosure facility. According to the HMRC website: ‘The Plumbers Tax Safe Plan (PTSP) is designed for people working within the plumbing industry'................read more
• FUEL PRICES
  George Osborne presented his second Budget Statement and said: ‘Today’s Budget is about reforming the nation’s economy, so that we have enduring growth and jobs in the future. And it’s about doing what we can to help families with the cost of living and the high oil price. We understand how difficult it is for so many people across our country right now............read more
• HELP FOR SMALL BUSINESSES
  Another Budget announcement was that as part of a raft of measures to help small businesses the current business rates holiday will be extended until October 2012...............read more
• HMRC ONLINE SERVICES UNAVAILABLE
  HMRC are advising taxpayers that unfortunately their online services will be unavailable from Saturday 2 April until 06.00 Wednesday 6 April 2011. This is to allow for IT upgrades. All services will be affected including Corporation Tax, Self Assessment, PAYE and VAT............read more.
• STANDARD RATE OF VAT - UPDATED GUIDANCE
  HMRC have updated their guidance on how to deal with the change in the standard rate of VAT which happened on 4 January 2011. The guidance covers such issues as deposits, credit notes and services which span the change in rate. If you would like any further information please get in touch..............read more
• RETIREMENT AND THE REMOVAL OF THE DEFAULT RETIREMENT AGE
  Acas have updated their guidance on the transitional arrangements which are in place to abolish the default retirement age (DRA). According to the Acas website: ‘The new regulations now make it clear that the transitional arrangements apply to anyone who is 65 or over by 30 September 2011 regardless of when they reached the age of 65...........read more

Back to Latest Newsletter

Previous ENEWS Archives

December 2011 | November 2011 | October 2011 | September 2011 | August 2011 | July 2011 | June 2011 | May 2011 | April 2011 | March 2011 | February 2011