P35 Deadline – 19th May 2008
 
The deadline for submitting employers’ year end PAYE Returns for 2007/08 is the 19th May 2008 and penalties will be charged if they are late.  Any clients who have not yet returned signed P35 Returns to us must do so before Monday to ensure that no penalties are charged.
 
The penalties for employers who fail to submit the P35 on time are £100 for each 50 employees concerned.  This penalty is charged each month until the Return has been submitted.
 
Tax free incentive payments are still available to reward small employers who file electronically.  The amount of tax free incentive for filing your 2007/08 P35 online is £100.  For 2008/09 this will reduce to £75.
 
Don't face unnecessary penalties – send back your signed returns on time.

Chancellor’s Announcement
 
Earlier this week, Alistair Darling announced changes to the personal tax system to help basic rate taxpayers affected by the abolition of the 10% starting rate of income tax.
 
The Chancellor announced that the personal allowance for the 2008-09 tax year will be increased by £600 from £5,435 to £6,035, and the threshold at which someone starts to pay higher rate tax will be reduced by £600. This means that the tax payable by higher rate taxpayers will remain the same.  Basic rate taxpayers will see a reduction in their overall 2008/09 tax bill of £120.
 
The Chancellor backdated this announcement to 6th April 2008 with implementation in September 2008.  Pensioners and employed individuals will see an increase in their September pension or net pay of up to £60 and then a reduction each month up to March 2009 of up to £10 from their current tax bills.
 
We will keep you informed of any further changes to the personal tax system.

Construction Industry
Gross payment certificate holders
 
The Revenue have indicated that they will be undertaking random compliance checks once every 12 months for holders of gross payment certificates.  This is known as a Scheduled Review and you will not be informed that this is happening.
 
In this review the Revenue will look at your compliance history for the period of 12 months prior to the date of the review.  They will look to see that all sole traders/partners/directors have completed and returned all required Tax Returns, supplied any information to do with tax that the Revenue may have requested and paid all tax by the due dates (including self assessment, national insurance contributions, PAYE, CIS deductions made from subcontractors).  Failing the compliance check will result in your gross payment status being removed and future payments will then be made after the deduction of 20% tax.  You can only reapply for gross payment status 12 months from the date your status is removed which could result in major cash flow implications for your business. 
 
The Revenue do allow some specific failures however to ensure that you are not at risk of losing your gross payment certificate you must make sure that your paperwork and payments are all up to date and paid on time.

PAYE ADMINISTRATION – Changes from 6th April 2008
 
From 6th April 2008 there are a couple of changes to payroll administration that you need to be aware of:

1. For new starters where a valid P45 is not available a P46 Form must be completed.  If the new starter is paid over £90 per week the P46 should now be sent to the Revenue. This will become compulsory from 6th April 2009.
2. All P45 and P46 Forms submitted to the Revenue should include the employee’s date of birth and gender in addition to their National Insurance number.  Again, this will be made compulsory from April 2009 and from this date incomplete Forms will be rejected by the Revenue.

If you are unsure what information is required or which forms must be obtained/completed when taking on new employees, contact us for a new employee checklist which will ensure that you fulfil the necessary requirements.

VAT Fuel Scale Charges from 1st May 2008
 
The rates for VAT Fuel Scale Charges have changed for VAT accounting periods starting after 1st May 2008.
 
The table can be downloaded from our website by clicking on the following link: VAT Fuel Scale Charges 2008.

CHILDCARE VOUCHERS
 
 Are you interested in rewarding your employees AND saving money?  If so you need to consider whether any of your employees are eligible for childcare vouchers.
 
Childcare vouchers work by giving your employees the vouchers as part of their salary.  Your employees would then use the vouchers to pay for childcare instead of using cash.  Childcare vouchers save money as they are free from tax and national insurance for both the employee and employer.
 
Childcare vouchers can be used to pay for many kinds of childcare including nurseries, playgroups, pre-school, after-school clubs and breakfast clubs, holiday play schemes, nannies and au-pairs.
 
If you want to know more click on the following link www.kiddivouchers.com