Welcome to Moore Stephens’ Business Alert Service, designed to help you keep up-to-date with business and tax legislation. To receive these Business Alerts automatically, email businessalerts@moorestephens.com with your name and company details.
18 March 2010
More New Tax Penalties
The “late notification” penalty applies to anyone who has an obligation in law to notify HMRC about a liability to a tax and who fails to do so by the relevant date. This penalty can apply to those who are late registering their business for VAT, or individuals who have taxable income and fail to notify HMRC so that a tax return can be issued in timely fashion. The penalty can be reduced when the failure is put right by the taxpayer coming forward voluntarily to correct the position, and can be reduced to nil if this is done without prompting and quite soon after the failure occurred. If you are in any doubt about your tax obligations we can advise you – just speak to your usual contact.
Making up your NI Contributions?
Normally, Class 3 voluntary contributions must be paid within six years of the end of the tax year to which they are to apply. However, the tax years 1996-97 to 2001-02 were subject to an extended deadline as HMRC did not adequately notify people who had gaps in their contributions during that period. As notifications were very late, an extended deadline of 5 April 2010 was ste for all years 1996-97 to 2001-02. This deadline expires very soon, so if you wish to make up your contributions, you will need to ensure that HMRC received payment by 1 April (2 – 5th being the Easter weekend).
New “Fit Notes”
Doctors are to be encouraged to state whether an employee who might previously have been signed off as sick might be fit for work if the employer makes suitable modifications to working arrangements. The Government believes that employees should be encouraged to return to work as soon as possible, and that employers should be encouraged to make suitable arrangements so that employees come back into the workplace as soon as possible. Hence the new certificates which will state either that the employee is unfit for work or make suggestions and recommendations about how the employee might return to work. They come into use on 6 April 2010.
We believe the information in this Business Alert to be correct at the time it was sent, but cannot accept any responsibility for any loss occasioned to any person as a result of action or refraining from action as a result of any item herein.