Our offices will be closed from 2pm on Friday 23rd December 2011 and reopen at 9am on Tuesday 3rd January 2012.

If you have an urgent enquiry during the Christmas holiday please telephone 07866 440950.

Also ensure that EU VAT returns for 2010 are submitted this week

For more information and advice call 01543 273830 and speak to our tax consultant.

The new penalties for late payment of payroll taxes are determined by the number of defaults (ie late payments) in a tax year. The first default does not attract a penalty if it is the only late payment in the year. However if there are further defaults, the penalty is:

When there are 2, 3 or 4 defaults in a tax year the penalty is of 1% of the total of the defaults (including the first)
When there are 5, 6 or 7 defaults the penalty is 2% of the total of the defaults,
When there are 8, 9 or 10 defaults the penalty is 3% of the total amount of the defaults, and
For 11 or more defaults the penalty is 4% of the total defaults.
Any amounts that are unpaid more than six months after the penalty date are liable to 5%, and a further penalty of 5% applies after 12 months. Higher penalties are due when the amounts relate to periods of six months or more.

Some businesses will clearly be due to pay a penalty for late payments in the 2010/11 tax year, but it is not until; after the last payment for the year was due (19th or 22 April) that it is possible to determine the number of defaults in a year and therefore the rate of penalty.

HMRC indicated that the penalty would be applied on a risk assessed basis for 2010/11, but it is not absolutely clear what this means. For example, a client who has paid £500 per month for 11 months, followed by £45,128 in April to top up his year’s payments is clearly abusing the system, but HMRC would not be able to identify the precise amounts paid late without inspecting the records, as the final payment for the period ending 5 April 2011 is not late, but it is not clear how much of the final payment relates to April.

Other PAYE penalties
From 6 April 2011, most employers must now file the in-year forms (P45/leavers and P46/joiners) as well as end-year returns (P14s and P35s) by internet. If you do not file online when required to do so, HMRC may charge penalties from £100 up to a maximum of £3,000 depending on the number of forms that should have been filed online. It is likely that small employers (those with less than 50 staff) will be warned first this year before a penalty is charged.

Therefore, if you receive a copy of a PAYE code number for the year 2010-2011 or 2011-2012, please call Steve Denny on 01543 273 830.

Approximately 40% of all small and medium sized businesses (about 2,000,000) are guilty of poor record keeping according to the Revenue and they plan to check 50,000 a year starting in the second half of 2011.

The Revenue have been highly criticised for this action as small businesses need support and advice rather than being threatened with fines.  Such behaviour will hinder the business growth and job creation necessary to drive sustained economic recovery.

Outsourcing your bookkeeping to MAS Associates will prevent your business being at risk from Revenue checks and possible fines.  Call today on 01543 273 830 and safe-guard your business.

The existing rule that a personal/trust late filing penalty would be the lower of £100 and the balance of tax due will be replaced.

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 MAS Associates are specialist tax advisors.  We can ensure your tax return is filed on time every year therefore giving you peace of mind that you will never be liable for late payment penalties.

Call now on 01543 273 830 and speak to Steve Denny our tax consultant.

Plumbing professionals and members of associated trades who have tax to pay can come forward by 31 May 2011 to tell HM Revenue & Customs of their intention to disclose what they owe.

If they make a full disclosure, most face a low penalty rate of 10%, with a maximum of 20%.They have until 31 August 2011 to make their disclosures and arrange for payment to be made.

After that date  HMRC  will carry out targeted investigations aimed at those who have failed to come forward. Substantial penalties or even criminal prosecution could follow.

The plumbers’ tax safe plan (PTSP) is the first initiative in a campaign focused on tradespeople. It is designed to make it easy for those in the plumbing industry to put their tax affairs right.

MAS Associates are Tax Specialists & will ensure you are NOT fined.  Call today on 01543 273 830 & see how we can help you.

From 1 April 2011, all company tax returns for periods ending after 31 March 2010 must be filed online. For the vast majority of corporation tax customers, this means submitting the computations and accounts that are part of the return using iXBRL, which ‘tags’ information in the return.  This means PDF files, Excel spreadsheets & paper copies will NOT be accepted.

Trust MAS Associates with all your company accounts  & CT600 Corporation Tax Returns as we guarantee that WE are iXBRL ready.