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Moore Accountancy March 2020 Newsletter
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Moore Accountancy Update



CORONAVIRUS, BUDGET AND WORKING PRACTICES

What a month! March is traditionally a quiet month in the practice as we consolidate work, undertake CPD courses and look at planning for the new tax year.

We have had the joy(!) of IR35 for the private sector and the coronavirus to deal with, as have our clients.

In view of the current situation with Covid-19 and in line with the latest advice, the Moore Accountancy team will predominantly be working from home, starting Monday 23rd March 2020.


We would like to reassure you that we have procedures in place to enable us to continue to provide all our services; but would appreciate your understanding that there may be a longer delay than usual in our responses as many of our staff are parents who are expecting to have young children to work around.
 
If you have missed any of our previous newsletters, then our website has a backlog of them here.
BUDGET 2020

There were lots of items in the budget which should help businesses and individuals over the coming tax year, although there is a worry in the long term as to where the funds are coming from...

Here are some of our highlights:

Businesses
A reminder that HMRC’s “Time to pay” scheme is still in existence. This allows SMEs that cannot afford to pay their tax bills to ask HMRC for an agreement which would suspend debt collection. There is usually a 3.5% interest charge but during the current coronavirus outbreak this will be waived.

Business rates – if you are currently paying rates then an additional relief has been implemented for businesses in the retail, leisure and hospitality sectors for 2020-21, which will affect our restaurant and coffee shop clients.

£3,000 grant - Up to 70,000 of the smallest businesses may be eligible for grants to help meet business costs. Watch this space as it is not yet clear how this will be accessed and what the entitlement criteria actually will be, but the documentation implies it will be for those who currently receive the small business rate relief (SBRR).

SSP – currently employers can not reclaim statutory sick pay paid to ill employees. As a concesion during the coronavirus period, SMEs will be able to reclaim the cost of 14 days of sick pay (just under £200 per employee). There is not yet a mechanism set up by the government to do this, so it could be months before the SSP reclaim can be made

Employees NIC – From 2020/21 NIC thresholds rise to £9,500 pa, meaning a typical employee will pay ~ £104 less than in the 2019/20 tax year. Note that employers NI thresholds and rates are at a lower level of £8,788 (vs £8,632 in the prior year).

Employment allowance increases to £4,000 (was £3,000) for small employers whose NIC liability in the previous tax year was under £100,000.

Individuals
Change to the Entrepreneurs' Relief lifetime limit for Capital Gains Tax - The Entrepreneurs’ Relief lifetime limit is reduced from £10 million to £1 million. This will apply to qualifying disposals made on or after 11 March 2020 and to certain disposals made before 11 March 2020 - see guidance here 

Pensions tax income thresholds – currently individuals with a threshold income of between £110k and £150k are affected by the tapered annual allowance with maximum contributions of £10k each tax year. From April the threshold income will be £200k and the adjusted income will be £240k so less individuals will be affected by the taper. However for those affected the minimum tapered annual allowance is decreased to £4k (from £10k).

Pension life time allowance – this increases in line with CPI to £1,073,100 from 6/4/20

Home working – Currently employees working from home and incurring addiontal household costs can claim £4pw. This will increase to £6pw from April 2020.

CGT/ Disposal of UK properties – important changes to reporting and paying Capital Gains Tax for individuals who dispose of UK property that is not their main place of residence, from April 2020.

Other
Off Payroll working from April 2020 – it was thought that the government may delay or amend the IR35 private sector proposals – however this has not changed. Look at our previous newsletters for guidance on what this may mean for you as a PSC

Electric cars - These are a tax efficient way to remunerate employees from 2020/2021 to 2022/2023. The benefit in kind rates are respectively 0%, 1% and 2% for these three tax years.
For eg, an employee would only pay tax on a £1,000 benefit in respect of the provision of a £50,000 company Tesla in 2022/23. The budget announced that this rate will be frozen until 2024/2025 which is welcome news. 

 
COVID-19

Our offices will remain open with one or two staff members in the office most days.

However we are actively preparing for various eventualities and scenarios, given many of the MA team are working parents who will be affected if schools close.

This includes remote working to help minimise any risk, while keeping the business operating as normally as possible in this difficult time.

We have also updated our business continuity plans, and contacted clients with imminent deadlines.

Please review the following website link for further information on Government support during this period: www.gov.uk/government/news/coronavirus-support-for-employees-benefit-claimants-and-businesses

More advice is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-information-for-the-public  and here

There is no doubt that businesses, employees and landlords will face a period of uncertainty; but it is important to remember that this period will eventually pass.

If you have any questions, please email us at info@mooreaccountancy.co.uk

PERSONAL THANK YOU

I (Sid), would like to say a big thank you to all of you that have asked after me during this last 6 weeks with my dad's illness, and the many of you that have been understanding for any delay in my responding to your emails and calls.

I was glad to have been able to spend the last few weeks popping down to London to see my dad and am heading down again this week for his cremation and religious observancies.

It is times like this that I realise how lucky I am to have a brilliant team to work with, who have been there through the ups and downs; and a great client base who have been supportive of the situation.

Thank you!


KEY DATES

19/03/20 - PAYE & NIC deductions for month ended 29/02/20 (February payroll) 

31/03/20 - Corporation tax due for year to 30/06/19 

05/04/20 - End of the 2019/20 tax year

06/04/20 - Beginning of the 2020/21 tax year

07/04/20 - Final submission of VAT return under MTDfVAT for quarter ending 29/02/20

19/04/20 - PAYE & NIC deductions for month ended 05/04/20  (March payroll) 

30/04/20 - Corporation tax due for year to 31/07/19

For any businesses struggling with payments, please contact HMRC to see if they will agree a Time To Pay arrangement - https://www.gov.uk/difficulties-paying-hmrc
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Moore Accountancy · 1 Northway · Altrincham · Cheshire, WA14 1NN · United Kingdom

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