Newsletter - winter 2018

Christmas & New Year office closure dates

The office will close for the seasonal holiday:

Friday 21st December at 1.00pm

and re-open on

Wednesday 2nd January 2019

at 8.30am.

We would like to take this opportunity

to wish all our clients a very

“Merry Christmas & a Happy & Healthy New Year”

Staff Christmas meal – office closure

The office will be closed between 11.30am – 2.30pm

Wednesday 19th December for our staff Christmas meal

Apologies for any inconvenience caused

TAX

Time is running out

Have we completed your 2018 self-assessment tax return yet?

If you have not yet supplied us with your records

please do so ASAP

Additional fees may be incurred for late processing of your return

The deadline date for filing of your return is 31 January 2019

Any returns not filed by this date receive an automatic HMRC late filing penalty irrespective if any tax is due

Please note that your tax liability must be cleared funds with

HMRC by 31 January 2019

OneClick – Chappell’s Client Portal

What is it?

OneClick Messages & Documents allows us to exchange messages, files and information online securely with our clients, (previously known as Client Portal). It is an easy to use electronic document exchange and communication application, designed to help us work more closely with you.

Using the latest secure encryption standards, it allows you to send messages and view documents from wherever you are and from any device, and we can send documents to you for approval (or rejection) instantly.

The introduction of the new GDPR regulations in May 2018 means that new rules regarding data protection will impact EVERY organisation that handles personal data.

Keeping data safe and private is of paramount importance, especially when communicated electronically. The need for encrypted client communication means that emails will no longer suffice.

What do I need to do?

Over the past couple of months you will have received an email from us inviting you to create your workspace log in. The email will have a link to an activation screen, where you will be asked to set your log in credentials.

You will also need an activation code which will have been sent to you via an SMS message to your mobile phone.

If you have not received the email, activation code or in any way unsure of what to do, please do not hesitate to contact us on 01373 826506.

NATIONAL INSURANCE AND THE SELF-EMPLOYED

The planned abolition of Class 2 National Insurance contributions and the associated reform of Class 4 contributions, due to take effect from 6 April 2019, will not now go ahead during the current Parliament. This means that if you are a self-employed earner, you will continue to pay Class 2 contributions in 2019/20 on profits in excess of the small profits threshold and Class 4 contributions on profits in excess of the lower profits limit.

If you are a self-employed earner with profits below the small profits threshold, you will still be able to pay Class 2 contributions voluntarily. This is cheap option to maintain your contributions record if you do not have the 35 qualifying years needed to qualify for the full single-tier state pension. At 2018/19 rates, voluntary Class 2 contributions cost £2.95 per week, whereas voluntary Class 3 contributions are £14.65 per week.

MAKING TAX DIGITAL FOR VAT

The start date for Making Tax Digital (MTD) for VAT is fast approaching. If you are a VAT-registered business with turnover in excess of the VAT registration threshold of £85,000, you will need to comply with the requirements of MTD for VAT from the start of your first VAT accounting period beginning on or after 1 April 2019. If you are VAT registered but your VATable turnover is below £85,000, you can choose whether to join in, but if you do there is no going back and once in MTD for VAT you will need to stay within MTD for VAT as long as you remain VAT registered.

Under MTD for VAT you must keep certain VAT records digitally and send your VAT returns to HMRC using software that is MTD-compatible. You will no longer be able to use HMRC’s VAT Online service to file your VAT return. Your adviser can still file your VAT returns on your behalf.

CHECK YOUR END OF YEAR TAX RECONCILIATION

If you have received a PAYE end of year reconciliation (P800) or simple assessment (PA302) you may wish to check with your adviser that it is correct.

At the end of the tax year, HMRC reconcile PAYE tax records and will send you a tax calculation if there is an overpayment or an underpayment. This can either a P800 tax calculation or a PA302 simple assessment.

It is important to check that the calculation is correct, rather than just assume that it is – HMRC do make errors. Problems may arise where estimated figures have been used or where data from your employer’s submissions have not fed through to your records correctly.

ADVISORY FUEL RATE FOR ELECTRIC VEHICLES

From 1 September 2018 a new advisory fuel rate of 4 pence per mile applies to electric vehicles. This means that if your employees have electric company cars and they meet the cost of electricity for business journeys, you will be able to reimburse them at a rate of 4 pence per mile without triggering a tax liability

or having to report the payment to HMRC. If, however, the payment exceeds 4 pence per mile, any excess over that amount is taxable and you must report the profit element to HMRC on the employee’s P11D or deal with it through the payroll.

ELECTRIC CHARGING POINTS

No fuel benefit charge arises if you provide electric charging points for your employees to use to charge an electric company car. HMRC do not regard the provision of electricity to power a company car as a ‘fuel’ and consequently there is no fuel benefit charge if you meet the cost of electricity for employees’ private journeys in an electric company car.

With backdated effect from 6 April 2018, a new exemption is being introduced which prevents an income tax charge from arising if an employee uses an employer provided charging point to charge their own electric or hybrid car, or one in which they are a passenger. However, the exemption only applies to electric charging points provided at or near the workplace and is dependent on charging facilities being available to all employees who wish to make use of them. However, if you have more than one site, you do not need to provide a charging point at each of them for the exemption to apply.

ELECTRIC CARS

From 2020/21 new company car bands are being introduced which will significantly lower the benefit in kind tax charge for electric company cars. The benefit in kind tax charge for electric cars and those with emissions of between 0 and 50g/km is currently 13% of its list price; this is to increase to 16% for 2019/20. However, from 2020/21, the charge for zero emission cars will drop to 2%, whereas that for cars in the 1 to 50g/km band will depend on the electric range of the car, as set out in the table below:

CO2 emissions Electric range Appropriate percentage

0g/km 2%

1–50g/km 130 miles or more 2%

70 to 129 miles 5%

40 to 69 miles 8%

30 to 39 miles 12%

Less than 30 miles 14%

Looking ahead, the potential tax savings to the employee from choosing an electric car are significant. The reduction in the charge will also reduce the amount of Class 1A National Insurance that you, as an employer, will pay.

NEW EMPLOYER NIC CHARGE ON TERMINATION PAYMENTS

The tax rules for taxing termination payments made to employees were reformed from 6 April 2018. From that date, only termination payments in excess of those that the employee would have received had they worked their notice period benefit from the £30,000 tax-free threshold – it no longer matters whether a payment in lieu of notice (PILON) is contractual or not. Redundancy payments remain tax-free but count towards the threshold. Termination payments in excess of the £30,000 threshold are taxable.

From 6 April 2019, while termination payments will remain NIC-free for employees, a new Class 1A (employer-only charge) will apply to the extent that the threshold is exceeded. The charge will be 13.8% of the excess over £30,000.

REQUIREMENT TO CHECK SCALE RATE PAYMENTS TO BE ABOLISHED

Where benchmark scale rates are used to pay or reimburse qualifying subsistence payments to employees, you currently need to obtain evidence from the employee, for example a receipt, of the amount that has been spent. However, this burden is to be removed from 6 April 2019, and from that date you will no longer need to check employee’s receipts when paying or reimbursing amounts using the benchmark scale rates.

REDUCED DIVIDEND ALLOWANCE FOR 2018/19

For 2018/19 the dividend allowance is set at £2,000 – a reduction from £5,000 for 2017/18. The reduction in the allowance will affect your profit extraction strategy if you have a personal or family company. Where the company has retained (post-tax) profits, these can be extracted in the form of dividends.

All taxpayers regardless of the rate at which they pay tax are entitled to the dividend allowance. This is beneficial in extracting profits from a family company as it provides a route for extracting dividends without triggering a further tax liability in the hands of the recipient. Dividends covered by the allowance are taxed at a zero rate.

The reduction in the dividend allowance has reduced the profits that can be extracted tax-free via this route. For example, in a family company with four shareholders, in 2017/18 it was possible to pay £20,000 out in dividends before any dividend tax was payable; for 2018/19 it is only possible to extract £8,000 tax-free in this way.

RENT-A-ROOM RELIEF – NEW QUALIFYING CONDITION

Rent-a-room relief allows you to let out one or more furnished rooms in your own home and enjoy rental income of up to £7,500 tax-free per year. However, the ability to use the relief to shelter income from short terms lets (for example via Airbnb or similar) is to be curtailed from 6 April 2019.

From that date, a new condition is to be introduced which will mean that rent-a-room relief will only be available if there is at least one night of overlap during the let where you or a member of your household also sleep in the property. This will affect you if you let out your property while you are away.

PENSION ANNUAL ALLOWANCE

You can make tax-relieved contributions to a registered pension scheme up to the higher of £3,600 and 100% of earnings as long as the contributions that you make do not exceed your available annual allowance. For 2018/19, the annual allowance is set at £40,000; however, if you are a high earner, your allowance may be reduced. If you do not use all your available annual allowance in a tax year, you can carry forward unused allowances for up to three years.

If you have income of more than £150,000, your annual allowance may be abated. Where this is the case, the allowance is reduced by £1 for every £2 by which income exceeds £150,000, subject to retaining a minimum allowance of £10,000.