HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) have announced an initiative to crack down on VAT rule breakers.

For years PAYE deductions have only been considered ‘late’ if any amount was still outstanding by 19th April following the end of the tax year. Theoretically you could therefore pay nothing during the year and just make a single annual payment. There has been no legal mechanism for penalising people who chose to flaunt the rules in that way. Well now there is.

With the recent budget grabbing all the headlines in the tax press, the new and much harsher penalty regime for Self Assessment Tax Returns has gone largely unnoticed.

With effect from 1st April 2011, there are two significant changes to the way corporation tax is administered by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC).

No surprise that the main topic of conversation in our office today is the budget. We were all expecting a damp squib but were pleasantly surprised by a few points of interest thrown in for good measure.

In the new era of transparency, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) provide a list of the latest tax avoidance schemes which they are focussing their resources on to have shut down.

HMRC’s latest factsheet explains who they consider to be ‘deliberate defaulters’, that’s tax evaders to you and me, and how they intend to monitor them. Most interesting is that even if you come completely clean with your tax affairs you are very likely to be continually monitored by HMRC’s specialist unit for years to come.

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) are not renowned for providing clear and accurate advice but they have recently created a series of new ‘toolkits’ which appear to be bucking that trend.

Hopefully, most people will have filed their Tax Returns by the deadline of 31st January and, also hopefully, most will have paid the tax falling due on that date too.
For those that didn’t, any 2009/10 tax still outstanding after 28th February will be subject to an additional 5% penalty (or surcharge). This is calculated only[...] Read more »

HMRC are reminding employers to be careful that PAYE payments made electronically have been cleared into HMRC’s bank account by the due date. Many employers have taken advantage of the electronic payment option which generally gives a later payment date of 22nd of the month. However HMRC are stressing that where the 22nd falls on a non banking day (weekend or Bank Holiday) that the payment may need to be made earlier to ensure that HMRC has cleared funds by the due date. HMRC need to have received cleared funds by the last bank working day before the 22nd.