Self-employment Income Support Scheme – Update

We have been contacted by HMRC today to say they will start contacting people this week who may be eligible for the scheme.

HMRC will work out if you’re eligible and how much grant you may get but they have created an online tool where you can check eligibility in advance.

The online service to make the claim is not yet available but they have stated you will need your Government Gateway account to access this. If you have not already created a Government Gateway account this can be done as part of checking eligibility online.

Please click on this link to access HMRC’s guidance on the scheme which includes the eligibility tool.

Bounce Back Loan Scheme

The Government have now announced a further loan scheme designed to help the smallest of businesses that have been affected by COVID-19.

The key details are summarised below:

– The scheme will help small and medium-sized businesses to borrow between £2,000 and £50,000 (up to 25% of turnover).

– It will launch on 4 May 2020 and be delivered through accredited lenders.

– The government will guarantee 100% of the loan and there won’t be any fees or interest to pay for the first 12 months.

– Loan terms will be available for up to 6 years and no repayments will be due during the first 12 months.

Further information can be found by clicking the following link.

Job Retention Scheme – Further Details

Updated 18 April 2020

Full guidance can be found on GOV.UK by clicking on the following link.

Some of the key details are as follows:

-The scheme will provide support to employers whose business has been severely affected by COVID-19 by way of a grant towards wages of employees who have been furloughed.

-A portal will be created for employers to claim 80% of furloughed employees usual wages up to £2,500 per month plus associated Employers National Insurance and minimum automatic enrolment employer pension contributions.

-It will be for a 4 month period (previously 3 months) starting from 1st March 2020 and the portal should be open on 20 April.

-It is open to all UK employers who had a PAYE scheme created and started on 19 March 2020 (previously 28 February 2020).

-Employees must have been on the payroll and a RTI submission made on or before 19 March 2020 (previously 28 February 2020).

-Employers should write to their employees confirming that they have been furloughed and this should be for a minimum period of 3 weeks.

-Once furloughed employees can not undertake any work for the employer.

-For salaried employees their last pay prior to 19 March 2020 (previously as at 28 February 2020) should be used to calculate the grant.

-For employees with variable pay, if they have been employed for more than 12 months then the claim can be the higher of, the same month last year or an average of the 19-20 tax year. If they have been employed less than 12 months then it will be an average since they started.

It is now confirmed Directors will be able to use the scheme as long as they meet all the normal eligibility requirements.

Self-employment Income Support Scheme

Further measures were announced on Thursday 26th March to provide financial support to the self-employed. Here is a summary of the detail and eligibility.

-It will provide a grant to self-employed individuals and members of partnerships worth 80% of profits up to a cap of £2,500 per month whose income has been negatively impacted by COVID-19.

-The scheme will run for an initial 3 month period beginning from 1st March.

-Need to have filed a tax return for 2018-19 (and if currently still not filed there is 4 weeks to do so). If you were also self-employed during 2016-17 and 2017-18 profits will be averaged to calculate the grant.

-Will have continued to trade as self-employed during 2019-20, be currently trading other than the effects of COVID-19 and intend to continue to trade into the 2020-21 tax year.

-Have trading profits of less than £50,000.

-More than half of total income was from self-employment.

The scheme will be dealt with by HMRC and there is no need to contact them. They will use existing information to look at eligibility and invite applications when the scheme is operational. The grant will be paid directly into bank accounts and it is expected these will commence from the beginning of June.

COVID-19 Business Rates Grant

Further to our last post regarding Business Support we have become aware of an application form from Newark and Sherwood District Council for the Business Rates Grant. This can be accessed by clicking link here.

We have not been able to find the equivalent for Mansfield District Council but their website does say they should start writing out to applicable businesses this week.

If you are under another local authority please check their website for further information.

 

Temporary Office Closure

Following the Government announcement last night we will from today not be operating from the office. The normal office telephone number will be diverting to Dan’s mobile shortly and we will continue to pick up email as normal.

Our aim is to continue providing key services as close to normal as possible and we will do our best to deal with any other matters or queries as soon as we can.

Best wishes

All the team at Bennetts

COVID-19 Available Support for Business

Following our last post please see below a summary of measures available to support businesses.

 

– a 12 month business rates holiday for all retail, hospitality, leisure and nursery businesses in England

– a small business grant of £10,000 for all businesses in receipt of small business rate relief or rural rate relief

– a grant of £25,000 for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses with property with a rateable value between £15,000 and £51,000

– a job retention scheme which pays 80% of wage costs for workers who would otherwise have been laid off

– support for businesses who are paying statutory sick pay due to COVID-19

– VAT payments which are due between 20.3.20 and 30.6.20 can be deferred until the end of the 2020/21 tax year

– income tax payments which are due by 31.7.20 can be deferred until January 2021

– a business interruption loan scheme

As of today, Monday 23rd March it is our understanding the business interruption scheme is now open. The grants available will be dealt with directly by your local authority and they will write out to businesses directly, this should happen during April. The job retention scheme is to be administered by HMRC and they are currently building a system to operate this, they expect this to be in place for early April. The VAT and income tax payment deferral are automatic and there is no need to contact HMRC.

Further detail from GOV.UK can be found by clicking here.

COVID-19 Update

In these very uncertain times we would like to assure you we are available for advice and aim to continue in providing the best possible service. Our office remains open and will continue to do so while ever possible.

Should we have to close the office for reasons beyond our control then we have contingency measures in place for the team to work from home. In this event we will still be contactable on the normal office number and have access to email.

We appreciate at present many of you will have immediate concerns about the continuity of your business, paying employees and the help and measures available as announced by the Government. These are continually being updated with further measures due to be announced today. Therefore please contact us directly if you would like to discuss these.

Take care and we hope you all stay healthy.

Making Tax Digital – Update

The commencement of Making Tax Digital for VAT (MTDfV) is now less than a month away. We have been working with our clients over the last few months to bring them up to speed and find the best solution to make sure they are compliant when MTDfV starts.

In recent weeks HMRC has updated their website with a step by step process guide which also includes the link for signing up to MTDfV. Please click here for a link to the webpage.

The key points to remember are that once you have filed your last VAT return under non-MTDfV you then need to sign up for MTDfV as mentioned above and following acknowledgement of this your software will need to be authorised.

This authorisation process will vary from software to software and you may need to speak to your provider on how this is done.

 

Tax Rates/Allowances 2019/20

Based on the Budget announcements of 29 October 2018 please see below some of the main tax rates & allowances for the forthcoming 2019/20 tax year.

Income Tax

Personal allowance £12,500

Starting rate £1-£5,000 20% (the rate on non dividend savings income is 0% where taxable non savings income does not exceed £5,000)

Basic rate £5001-£37,500 20%

Higher rate £37,501-£150,000 40%

Additional rate over £150,000 45%

Notes:

Dividends are subject to different rates of tax. The dividend allowance of £2000 is 0%, dividends above this are taxed at 7.5% for starting/basic rate taxpayers, 32.5% for higher rate taxpayers and 38.1% for additional rate taxpayers.

The basic rate band can be extended by gross Gift Aid donations and most personal pension contributions.

The personal allowance is reduced by £1 for every £2 on income over £100,000.

A high income child benefit charge applies where adjusted net income is in excess of £50,000. The charge is calculated at 1% of the benefit for each £100 of adjusted net income over £50,000 and therefore charges the full amount if adjusted net income exceeds £60,000.

There are differing rates of income tax for Scottish taxpayers which have not been outlined above.

Other allowances:

Married/civil partners transferable allowance £1,250 (available where one partner is a non taxpayer and the other is a basic rate tax payer)

Savings allowance £1,000 (£500 for higher rate tax payers and £nil for additional rate tax payers)

Trading income allowance £1,000 (if gross income is in excess of £1,000 then a deduction of £1,000 permitted if greater than actual expenses)

Property income allowance £1,000 (if gross income is in excess of £1,000 then a deduction of £1,000 permitted if greater than actual expenses)

National Insurance

Self-employed

Class 2 £3.00 per week but can be exempt if profits are below £6,365

Class 4 9% payable on profits between £8,632 and £50,000, 2% payable on profits above £50,000

Employees

Class 1 12% on earnings between £166 and £962 per week, 2% on earnings over £962 per week

Employers

Class 1 13.8% on earnings above £166 per week

Class 1A £13.8%

Voluntary

Class 3 £15 per week

Corporation Tax

Corporation Tax 19%

Tax payable on loans to participators 32.5% (can be recovered once loans have been repaid)

VAT

Compulsory registration if taxable supplies are above £85,000 within the previous 12 months or the next 30 days alone.

Capital Allowances

Plant and machinery

Annual investment allowance 100% (maximum £1m pa from 1.1.2019 to 31.12.2020 (£200,000 pa up to 31.12.2018 and from 1.1.2021)).

Long life assets and integral features 6% (reducing balance basis)

Other assets 18% (reducing balance basis)

First year allowance 100% (only available on certain expenditure)

Cars

CO2 emissions 50 g/km or less 100%

CO2 emissions 51-110 g/km 18% (reducing balance basis)

CO2 emissions over 110 g/km 8% (reducing balance basis)

Structures and buildings

Expenditure on non residential structures and buildings on or after 29.10.2018 2%

Capital Gains Tax

Annual exemption £12,000

Rate payable by basic and starting rate taxpayers 10% (8% surcharge on residential property)

Rate payable by higher and additional rate taxpayers 20% (8% surcharge on residential property)

Entrepreneurs relief lifetime allowance remains at £10m and where entrepreneurs relief applies there is a rate of 10%.

Note: From 6 April 2020 certain disposals of residential property must be reported and the tax paid to HMRC within 30 days of sale. Similar rules for non-residents come into force from 6 April 2019.