Year End Tax Tips for Businesses 2019/2020

As the end of the tax year approaches, it’s a great time to consider if there are any opportunities to benefit from tax relief. Here are HB’s top tax tips for businesses for the year end – if you want to know more, give the tax team at HB Accountant a call.

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Laughable excuses for late tax returns! You do not want to receive a penalty for not filing in time

You do not want to receive a penalty for not filing your return in time. As you’d expect, most taxpayers provide their Self Assessment tax returns on time with honest information and pay their tax bill on time too. But alongside all these good citizens and business folk with their straightforward tax returns HMRC also receives a raft of laughable excuses as well as some dubious tax-reducing expense claims. Surely no one in our local area of Hertfordshire, Essex and north London would have put these whoppers for late tax returns forward?

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Self Assessment tax return deadline

The deadline for filing your Self Assessment tax returns online is looming on 31 January 2020. Consequently, around 12 million people are required to complete these tax returns. They are mainly those who are self-employed or have more than one source of income. For those people who haven’t filed online before, they’ll need to register first and should allow an extra 20 working days, in other words register by Friday 3 January 2020.

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A Quick Guide to Gift Aid – Are you aware of Tax Relief for Charitable Donations?

Tax Relief for Charitable Donations

Are you aware of Tax Relief for Charitable Donations? If you donate to charity, did you know you can do so tax-free? There are various ways of making tax-relieved gifts to charity – the way in which the relief works depends on whether the donation is made via Gift Aid, as a deduction from wages or a pension via the Payroll Giving Scheme, in a will or whether it is a gift of land or property.

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Buying a property to let – the importance of keeping records from day one

For tax purposes, good record keeping is vital. Without complete and accurate records, it will not be possible to provide correct details of taxable income or to benefit from allowable deductions. Aside from the risk of paying more tax than is necessary, landlords who fail to take their record keeping obligations seriously may also find that they are on the receiving end of a penalty from HMRC.

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Construction services: VAT domestic reverse charge – on hold now for 12 months!

*The reverse charge for contractors has just been put on hold for 12 months!

Yes you read that correctly – HMRC have announced that the Reverse Charge for Contractors has been put on hold for 12 months.

Read more here…

*On 1st October 2019 HMRC’s new VAT domestic reverse charge for construction services was due to come into force, as part of ongoing moves to cut VAT fraud. The new rules require the contractor receiving services and not the sub-contractor who supplied the services to account for the Output VAT due on specific building and construction services. This change means that construction businesses will need to know whether the reverse charge applies. They’ll also need to ensure their accounting processes and IT systems can handle the reverse charge. It’s also recommended that businesses estimate and plan for any impact on cash flow if they are no longer holding Output VAT.

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My top accounting tips for Hoddesdon businesses

1.    Make use of technology

Today, businesses have a myriad of resources available to make managing accountancy records convenient and simple. I’d urge businesses to make the most of cloud computing and automation. This is especially valuable now that the Government’s requirement for Making Tax Digital is a reality for the majority of businesses, and flexible working rights have all increased the demand for secure, flexible ‘on-the-move’ cloud-computing solutions.

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