News from InAccountancy

HMRC are reminding parents with higher incomes who continued to receive Child Benefit after January 2013 that they must register for Self Assessment by 5 October 2013 to avoid any penalties in relation to the High Income Child Benefit Charge.

Taxpayers who have failed to submit tax returns, previously requested by HMRC, have been offered the opportunity to catch up and settle their arrears.

HMRC have received a number of requests since April 2013 from employers, asking for the status of their PAYE schemes to be changed to ‘annual’ which is only an option where employees are only paid once a year.

HMRC have launched a tax return ‘amnesty’ for those individuals who have been issued with a self assessment tax return or notice to complete a tax return for any year up to 2011/12 and have not completed the return(s).

HMRC have been trialling a new approach to enquiries, known as the Single Compliance Process (SCP).

Under Pensions Auto Enrolment employers will have to automatically enrol eligible workers in a qualifying pension scheme and make pension contributions for those employees. The Auto Enrolment process is being rolled out in stages and the contributions will be increased over time to broadly 8%.

HMRC have published detailed guidance for charities and community amateur sports clubs (CASCs) on the new Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme (GASDS).

HMRC have introduced an optional system of ‘simpler income tax for smaller businesses’ which takes effect from April 2013 for smaller unincorporated businesses.

According to late May data released by the Office of National Statistics (ONS), the UK gross domestic product (GDP) in volume terms was estimated to have increased by 0.3% between the fourth quarter of 2012 and the first quarter of 2013, unrevised from the previous publication.

In May 2013, HM Revenue and Customs reported that an estimated 3.5 million taxpayers were due a tax refund for the year 2012/13, with the average repayment thought to be between £350 and £500.