Edwin Smith - Chartered Accountants
  • Home
  • About Edwin Smith
  • Accounting Services
  • Contact Edwin Smith

Revised advisory fuel rates 1 September 2015

Posted by: CarolineMeredith on September 1st, 2015

H.M. Revenue and Customs (HMRC) have published the latest advisory fuel rates relating to mileage payments for business travel in company cars. These are as follows:

Engine size Petrol LPG
1400cc or less 11p ↓ 7p ↓
1401cc to 2000cc 14p ↔ 9p ↔
Over 2000cc 21p ↔ 14p ↔

 

Engine size Diesel
1600cc or less 9p ↓
1601cc to 2000cc 11p ↓
Over 2000cc 13p ↓

The changes this quarter are highlighted in red above.

The new rates will be effective from 1 September 2015. However for the first month employers may continue to use the previously published rates if they choose to.

These rates will be reviewed again in August 2015 and any changes made will be effective from 1 September 2015. The revised fuel rates will be published on the fuel rates page on the HMRC website when they are released.

Advisory fuel rates can be used to calculate the following:

  1. Reimbursement to employees of fuel used for business travel in a company car;
  2. Repayment by employees of fuel used for personal travel in a company car;
  3. Allowable input VAT claims on business mileage claims in personal cars made by employees.

A more detailed explanation of the use of these rates is on the HMRC website.

The rates applying for earlier periods are also on the HMRC website.

If you have any questions regarding the use of advisory fuel rates or mileage payments please contact us.

Revised advisory fuel rates 1 March 2015

Posted by: edwinsmith on March 31st, 2015

H.M. Revenue and Customs (HMRC) have published the latest advisory fuel rates relating to mileage payments for business travel in company cars. These are as follows:

Engine size Petrol LPG
1400cc or less 11p ↓ 8p ↓
1401cc to 2000cc 13p ↓ 10p ↓
Over 2000cc 20p ↓ 14p ↓

 

Engine size Diesel
1600cc or less 9p ↓
1601cc to 2000cc 11p ↓
Over 2000cc 16p ↓

The changes this quarter are highlighted in red above.

The new rates will be effective from 1 March 2015. However for the first month employers may continue to use the previously published rates if they choose to.

These rates will be reviewed again in May 2015 and any changes made will be effective from 1 June 2015. The revised fuel rates will be published on the fuel rates page on the HMRC website when they are released.

Advisory fuel rates can be used to calculate the following:

Reimbursement to employees of fuel used for business travel in a company car;
Repayment by employees of fuel used for personal travel in a company car;
Allowable input VAT claims on business mileage claims in personal cars made by employees.
A more detailed explanation of the use of these rates is on the HMRC website.

The rates applying for earlier periods are also on the HMRC website.

If you have any questions regarding the use of advisory fuel rates or mileage payments please contact us.

Revised advisory fuel rates 1 December 2014

Posted by: edwinsmith on January 1st, 2015

H.M. Revenue and Customs (HMRC) have published the latest advisory fuel rates relating to mileage payments for business travel in company cars. These are as follows:

Engine size Petrol LPG
1400cc or less 13p ↓ 9p ↔
1401cc to 2000cc 16p ↔ 11p ↔
Over 2000cc 23p ↓ 16p ↔

Engine size Diesel
1600cc or less 11p ↔
1601cc to 2000cc 13p ↔
Over 2000cc 16p ↓

The changes this quarter are highlighted in red above.

The new rates will be effective from 1 December 2014. However for the first month employers may continue to use the previously published rates if they choose to.

These rates will be reviewed again in February 2015 and any changes made will be effective from 1 March 2015. The revised fuel rates will be published on the fuel rates page on the HMRC website when they are released.

Advisory fuel rates can be used to calculate the following:

Reimbursement to employees of fuel used for business travel in a company car;
Repayment by employees of fuel used for personal travel in a company car;
Allowable input VAT claims on business mileage claims in personal cars made by employees.
A more detailed explanation of the use of these rates is on the HMRC website.

The rates applying for earlier periods are also on the HMRC website.

If you have any questions regarding the use of advisory fuel rates or mileage payments please contact us.

Revised advisory fuel rates 1 September 2014

Posted by: edwinsmith on September 5th, 2014

H.M. Revenue and Customs (HMRC) have published the latest advisory fuel rates relating to mileage payments for business travel in company cars. These are as follows:

Engine size Petrol LPG
1400cc or less 14p ↔ 9p
1401cc to 2000cc 16p ↔ 11p ↔
Over 2000cc 24p ↔ 16p ↔

 

Engine size Diesel
1600cc or less 11p ↓
1601cc to 2000cc 13p ↓
Over 2000cc 17p ↔

 

The changes this quarter are highlighted in red above.

The new rates will be effective from 1 September 2014. However for the first month employers may continue to use the previously published rates if they choose to.

These rates will be reviewed again in November 2014 and any changes made will be effective from 1 December 2014. The revised fuel rates will be published on the fuel rates page on the HMRC website when they are released.

Advisory fuel rates can be used to calculate the following:

  1. Reimbursement to employees of fuel used for business travel in a company car;
  2. Repayment by employees of fuel used for personal travel in a company car;
  3. Allowable input VAT claims on business mileage claims in personal cars made by employees.

A more detailed explanation of the use of these rates is on the HMRC website.

The rates applying for earlier periods are also on the HMRC website.

If you have any questions regarding the use of advisory fuel rates or mileage payments please contact us.

Filed under: Business, Company, Employers, PAYE, VAT

National minimum wage rate from 1 October 2014

Posted by: edwinsmith on August 21st, 2014

There are changes to the national minimum wage (NMW) rates in some categories from 1 October 2014. The new rates per hour are as follows with the current rates shown in brackets:

  1. £6.50 (£6.31) - the main rate for workers aged 21 and over
  2. £5.13 (£5.03) - the 18-20 rate
  3. £3.79 (£3.72) - the 16-17 rate for workers above school leaving age but under 18
  4. £2.73 (£2.68) - the apprentice rate, for apprentices under 19 or 19 or over and in the first year of their apprenticeship

If you have any queries please contact us

Changing your business address or name? Who and how to notify.

Posted by: edwinsmith on August 11th, 2014

LIMITED COMPANIES – change of registered office

If you are changing your registered office address you need to complete form AD01.  This can either be done on line at Companies House or by post.  The corporation tax department of HMRC gather data from Companies House on change of registered address and so it should filter through to the corporation tax office.  However, it would be advisable to check with them that it has been updated.

BUSINESSES WITH AN HMRC ONLINE BUSINESS TAX DASHBOARD

The dashboard can be used to update three business taxes.

  1. Corporation tax or self-assessment
  2. PAYE for employers
  3. VAT

If you do not have a business dashboard account but you are registered on line for corporation tax, VAT or PAYE then you can use your on line account to register a change of business address.  Please note the corporation tax office will not accept a change in the registered office address as this needs to be done through Companies House first as mentioned above.  Agents on line accounts do not have the facility for informing HMRC of a change of address.

If you do not have an on line account then you will need to inform HMRC for the following taxes as follows:-

VAT 

Complete form VAT484, section 1, and forward to HMRC at the address shown on the form.  This form can be downloaded from the HMRC website.

PAYE

Employers should write to HMRC at the following address:-

H.M. Revenue and Customs – Customer Operations Employer Office, BP 4102, Chillingham House, Benton Park View, NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE, NE98 1ZZ.

 

Further information can be obtained on HMRC website or please contact us.

After your staging date and ongoing activities

Posted by: edwinsmith on August 4th, 2014

Declaration to the Pensions Regulator

You will need to make an online declaration of compliance (registration) to the regulator about how you've complied with your employer duties within five calendar months of your staging date. This is a legal requirement to submit this information and therefore you may face enforcement action and incur a fine if you do not provide the information required.

You will need to provide information like the details of the pension scheme you've used for automatic enrolment and how many people you've automatically enrolled into it. Even if you haven't automatically enrolled anyone, you'll still need to complete a declaration.

If your declaration deadline falls on a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday, you can provide your declaration on the next working day.

Maintain records

Certain records must be kept about your staff and about the pension scheme. Some of these will be kept by the pension scheme, some must be kept by the employer. These include:

  1. Names and addresses of staff you've automatically enrolled.
  2. The contributions payable to the pension scheme and when they were paid.
  3. Any opt-in or opt-out notices you receive.
  4. Name and address of the pension scheme.
  5. Employer pension scheme reference or pension scheme registry number.

Keeping records is good governance and is proof that you've carried out your duties.  It is important that you know what these records are and where to get them from as you may be asked to produce them in the future.  You should therefore decide in advance how to store them so they can be easily accessed.  These records must be kept for a specified time, which in most cases is six years.

Ongoing tasks

Once your employees have been automatically enrolled, the following activities will become part of your normal regular business operations:

  1. Deducting and paying contributions into the pensions scheme.
  2. Processing opt outs promptly (where applicable).
  3. Processing opt-in requests promptly if an employee chooses to join the pension scheme.
  4. Assessing and enrolling new starters if they are eligible for the scheme.
  5. Monitoring existing employees’ age and earnings to ensure that any changes which affect their eligibility are appropriately dealt with.  A table of the main categories of worker and their entitlement can be found on our publications page.

This is the final installment in a series of articles regarding auto enrolment as detailed on our Employer Action Plan. Previous installments detailed below:

1         Know your staging date

2         -

3         - Develop an initial plan

4         - Know your workforce

5         -Check processes and software

6         - Review your pension arrangements

7         -Communicate to staff

8         -On or just after your staging date

9         -How to automatically enrol your staff

For more information on pensions or to discuss your auto enrolment action plan please contact us .  

 

Auto enrolment – how to automatically enrol your staff

Posted by: edwinsmith on July 28th, 2014

In order to automatically enrol your staff into the pension scheme, you'll need to provide the scheme with whatever information they need to get their membership up and running.

As a minimum, you’ll need to provide the following information for each staff member to set up the membership

  1. -        name,
  2. -        postal address,
  3. -        date of birth
  4. -        and National Insurance number

Your pension scheme provider should tell you what additional information they will need in order to make en employee an active member and you will need to provide this information to them in writing, which can include email.

If you are automatically enrolling a lot of staff at the same time (at staging or after postponement), it may take the provider longer than usual to make all of them active members, so it would be a good idea to find out how long the provider expects to take creating active membership for your staff after you have given them the information they need.

Before you staging date you should agree with the pension provider the contributions rates and the due dates for payment of contributions.  Information on the minimum contributions and due dates for payment can be found at on the Pensions Regulator website

You will also need to find out whether the pension deductions should be made from the employees’ gross or net pay (this will vary depending on the pension scheme provider).

You should also discuss with the provider how they handle ‘opt-outs’ (including how an employee can obtain the opt-out notice), and what the provider will need from you in order to process ‘opt-ins’ and joiners to the scheme.

You'll need to assess the ages and earnings of each member of staff on your staging date and you will have 6 weeks to automatically enrol anyone who’s eligible (or 1 month from the end of the postponement period, if applicable)

Active scheme membership must take effect from the date they first became eligible for automatic enrolment.  This means that contributions will be due and you must calculate them from that date. Before the end of the six week period after staff first become eligible for automatic enrolment, you must write to everyone you have automatically enrolled about the scheme, the contribution rates and about their right to opt out.

Tips:

  1. You must not say or do anything that could be viewed as influencing any of your staff to opt out of your pension scheme. This is referred to as 'inducement' which is a breach of the law and could result in fines.
  2. It’s important your staff records are up to date – make sure you hold all their latest information. You should carry out this data check as part of your general preparations for automatic enrolment.
  3. Keep records of who you've enrolled as you will need to make a declaration to the Pensions Regulator on how many you've enrolled into which scheme.

This is the ninth installment in a series of articles regarding auto enrolment as detailed on our Employer Action Plan. Previous installments detailed below:

1 – Know your staging date

2 -

3 -

4 –

5-

6-

7-

8-

For more information on pensions or to discuss your auto enrolment action plan please contact us.

 

 

Auto enrolment -on or just after your staging date

Posted by: edwinsmith on July 21st, 2014

Your staging date is when the automatic enrolment duties come into force for your business.  On this date you must assess your workforce in order to know which staff must be automatically enrolled and which staff have a right to opt in or join your pension scheme. By this stage, you should have the necessary systems in place to generate this information automatically.

It is possible to use postponement on your staging date to delay automatic enrolment for some or all staff for up to three months. This means you won’t need to assess them to identify what duties you have for them until the last day of the postponement period, at which point you must automatically enrol any who are eligible.

You will also need to make a declaration to the pensions regulator taking account of everyone who worked for you on your staging date. The declaration will include details of how many people were automatically enrolled, how many were already in an existing pension scheme you provide, and what you did for anyone else in your employment. You’ll still need to complete your declaration even if you didn’t have to automatically enrol any of your staff.

At staging or when postponement ends, your key duties are to:

  1. Automatically enrol all staff who are eligible and make them active members of your pension scheme – you have 6 weeks from your staging date (or the day after postponement) to do this.
  2. Write to each member of staff to tell them how automatic enrolment affects them, or that you have postponed them – you have 1 month from your staging date to do this.
  3. Submit a declaration online to tell the pensions regulator how you’ve complied with your duties – you have 5 months from your staging date to do this.

This is the eighth installment in a series of articles regarding auto enrolment as detailed on our Employer Action Plan. Previous installments detailed below:

1 – Know your staging date

2 -

3 -

4 –

5-

6-

7-

 For more information on pensions or to discuss your auto enrolment action plan please contact us.

 

Repayment claims for limited company subcontractors

Posted by: edwinsmith on July 14th, 2014

As a reminder (see last year’s article Companies-that-have-cis-deductions-on-their-own-income-and-claiming-repayments ) a claim must be made in writing for a repayment where a limited company has ended the tax year with CIS tax owing to them under the PAYE (RTI) system and the company is not able to recover the tax against PAYE/NIC /CIS tax payments due in the current year. The company must have made the Final Employer payment Summary (EPS) and all associated Full payment Submissions (FPS) for year in respect of claim.

The HMRC CIS repayment claim help card details the information that should be provided with repayment claim which should be sent to the address below.

PAYE Employer Office

Room BP4102

Benton Park View

Newcastle Upon Tyne

NE98 1ZZ

In previous years there have been delays in repayments made being made by HMRC but the help card mentions that CIS repayment claims will be processed within 25 days of HMRC receiving claim in writing and the claim matches the information held by HMRC.

A repayment can be set off against other HMRC liabilities of the company such as corporation tax, VAT etc but this request must be made in the tax repayment claim with the appropriate tax references (see help card link above).

If there are sufficient PAYE/NIC deductions in the following year to which the claim relates then it would be easier to claim the tax repayment by reducing the PAYE/NIC liability payments for that year.

Where a limited company is subject to the deduction of CIS tax from its subcontractor income then it should be considered if an application appropriate for gross payment status. A company would need to meet the criteria for three tests for business, turnover and compliance –see HMRC - Payments under CIS - gross or under deduction.

Please contact us for further advice or assistance in respect of CIS tax repayment claims.

Filed under: Company, Employers, PAYE