AW Accountant in Kent

Is my tax code right?

A tax code or what HMRC call a PAYE Coding Notice is the means by which your tax free allowance is allocated to the pay for your job if you are an employee.  Every month a portion of your income will not be taxed, and the rest will be taxed at the basic rate of 20% for the next £37k then 40% and 50% thereafter (for 2010/11) depending on how high your income is.  Many employees and employers will be aware of the number of tax code notices issued early in 2010 and with many of these being incorrect many people are concerned as to whether this is correct.  read more

March Budget 2010

The key budget announcements follow, we can of course expect another post election budget when more significant changes may be made such as the much vaunted increase in VAT:
For business

• The Annual Investment Allowance (AIA) will be increased to £100k pa for expenditure incurred on or after 1 April 2010 (companies) and 6 April 2010 (unincorporated businesses).
• No changes have been made to the main and small companies’ rates of corporation tax which for 2010 remain at 28% and 21% respectively.
• A 100% first year allowance will be available for new zero-emission goods vehicles for a five year period from 1 April 2010 (companies) and 6 April 2010 (unincorporated businesses)..
• Business rates cut for one year from October meaning a tax reduction for more than 1/2 million small businesses in England and 345,000 will pay no business rates at all.

For individuals

• The lifetime allowance for entrepreneurs’ relief has been increased to £2m and may be claimed for disposals made on or after 6 April 2010.  Capital gains tax rate remains at 18%. read more

Get advice and plan early for the most tax opportunities

I have just signed up a client who has a limited company which he set up over a year ago although he did not start trading until the current tax tax.  From previous posts you will be aware that one of my recommendations for the biggest tax saving opportunities read more

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-12-13

• RT @BookMarkLee: RT @louhowells: @alexholyroar Twitter dos and don’ts in Taxation mag http://bit.ly/4xwCJ2- all professionals should read #
• Widening plans for A21 between Tonbridge and Pembury http://bit.ly/4paHOp – Been talking about it since I was at school!! #
• @JonnieJensen In all seriousness I hope you get it sorted out quick, nothing like a family crisis to remind you who the important ones are in reply to JonnieJensen #
• @JonnieJensen £350 sounds cheap for a new wife in reply to JonnieJensen #
• Testimonial for the website and another business to deal with from the same client. #
• Off to see some clients and deliver some Christmas cards. Good PR trip #
• @charmermark They are doing some great work, I chatted with Marianne and the others when I taught them on ITQ course in London in reply to charmermark #
• Advising client regarding underpaid tax due to wrong tax code being applied by previous employer #
• HMRC Business Payments Support Service approves 220k tax payment plans rejects only 6k http://ow.ly/IH2x #
• Waiting with interest government £200 boiler scheme criteria, we may be able to benefit. #
• 1st secondary school parents evening, daughter doing really well, excellent reports. Obviously gets it from her parents. #
• RT @Generic_JamminRT @RogerHighfieldUK science budget cut by £600million – A dark, dark day for British science http://bit.ly/8DoOMk#pbr09 #
• #PBR09 A summary of the Pre Budget Report is now available on the blog page of my new website. Check out http://bit.ly/8vRX01 #
• A summary of the Pre Budget Report is now available on the blog page of my new website. Check out http://bit.ly/8vRX01 #
• #PBR09 IHT threshold to remain at £325k next year (was going up to £350k) #
• #PBR09 Banker bashing – banks will be charged a one off levy of 50% on bonuses over 25k – expected to raise £0.5billlion #
• #PBR09 “Fair” tax increased will repay the debt #
• #PBR09 Growth rates expected to be (as previously forecast) 1.5% 2010, 3.5% 2011/12 #
• #PBR09 Child and disability benefits to incr by 2.5% too #
• #PBR Basic state pension increase by 2.5% (in time of negative inflation) #
• #PBR under 24s unemployed for 6 months will receive guaranteed training and more support for over 50s #
• #PBR Small co corporation tax rate stays same #
• #PBR Empty commercial property relief continues #
• #PBR Confirms VAT will increase to 17.5% from 1 Jan, no other changes planned for VAT #
• #PBR UK economy to start growing by turn of the year #
• Advised client on UK residency for self and company #
• Electricity meter man here, will be down for 15 minutes, just enough time to boil the kettle first! Back soon #
• Pre budget report will affect everyone, will Tweet details. Electricity meter being changed today no doubt at same time as speech! #
• Dormant company accounts and Annual Return completed for a client wanting to retain a business name at Companies House #
• Emailed pdfs to client in France lost their content, so much for electronic communication. Ideas anyone? #
• Under new Companies Act you have to advise Co House which country you live in and log the date of the change – more bureaucracy! #
• @sbartholomew Look forward to having a face2face chat at next #tuttle. Thanks for the offer of passing my details on. in reply to sbartholomew #
• @sbartholomew And finally good for me as I can keep busy throughout year! Anyone looking for accounts or tax returns pls call now! in reply to sbartholomew #
• @sbartholomew Also can be useful for #tax planning as you are not restricted by accounts and personal tax having same year end in reply to sbartholomew #
• @sbartholomew Dec year end good if business works in calendar years ie started Jan or seasonal business (farming). Works best for Ltd cos in reply to sbartholomew #
• ..then potential client with an interesting history at Companies House, late returns and accounts – needs someone on their case, is it me?? #
• Visiting client with Dec 09 year end to have a look at accounts so far and see if any tax planning poss #
• Good to meet @fellowcreative @davidbahai @becomeknown @kentpictures and others at #Tuttle 101. A pity my sch tweet on Hootsuite #fail ed #
• @fellowcreative Just about on my way to #Tuttle.101 9:30am http://bit.ly/69GxYL in reply to fellowcreative #