Furnished Holiday Lets and VAT

Posted on 14th July 2022 by Solutions Accountancy

The furnished holiday let (FHL) rules allow holiday lettings of properties that meet certain conditions to be treated as a trade for some specific tax purposes. As an FHL is treated as a business, it is important to remember that VAT must be accounted for on furnished holiday lettings once the VAT registration threshold is surpassed.

This means that all FHL income would be subject to VAT at the 20% standard rate once the VAT registration threshold, currently £85,000, is breached. Anyone with an FHL with gross rentals exceeding £85,000 in the previous 12 months or expected to exceed £85,000 in the next 30 days is required to register for VAT. If the owners of an FHL business already hold a VAT registration in relation to other business activity, then the FHL income would be subject to VAT from the start. Of course, VAT registration may offer some benefits in allowing for the VAT recovery on refurbishment, maintenance and day-to-day running costs associated with the property in question.

In order to qualify as a furnished holiday letting, the following criteria need to be met:

The property must be let on a commercial basis with a view to the realisation of profits. Second homes or properties that are only let occasionally or to family and friends do not qualify.
The property must be located in the UK, or in a country within the EEA.
The property must be furnished. This means that there must be sufficient furniture provided for normal occupation and your visitors must be entitled to use the furniture.

In addition, the property must pass the following 3 occupancy conditions.

Pattern of occupation condition. The property must not be used for more than 155 days for longer term occupation (i.e. a continuous period of more than 31 days).
The availability condition. The property must be available for commercial letting at commercial rates for at least 30 weeks (210 days) per year.
The letting condition. The property must be let for at least 15 weeks (105 days) per year and home owners should be able to demonstrate the income from these lettings.

Joining the MTD ITSA pilot

Posted on 14th July 2022 by Solutions Accountancy

Some businesses and agents are already keeping digital records and providing updates to HMRC as part of a live pilot to test and develop the Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax Self Assessment (ITSA). Under the pilot, qualifying landlords and sole traders (or their agents) can use software to keep digital records and send Income Tax updates instead of filing a Self-Assessment tax return.

The full introduction of MTD for ITSA is expected to start from 6 April 2024. The rules will initially apply to taxpayers who file ITSA returns with business or property income over £10,000 annually. General partnerships will not be required to join MTD for ITSA until a year later, in April 2025. A new system of penalties for the late filing and late payment of tax for ITSA will also apply.

HMRC’s guidance on who can use the pilot has been updated. We have listed the main categories of who can and can’t join the pilot below:

You can voluntarily sign up for the service if all of the following apply:

you’re a UK resident,
you’re already registered for Self Assessment,
your accounting period aligns to the tax year — for example, 6 April 2021 to 5 April 2022,
you have submitted at least one Self Assessment tax return,
you’re keeping digital records,
one or more of the following were included in your last return: an existing self-employment income, a UK property source, a foreign property source.
you’re up to date with your tax records — for example, you have no outstanding tax liabilities.

You cannot sign up yet if you:

need to report income from any other sources,
have an Income Tax charge — for example, high income Child Benefit charges or certain pension tax charges,
have a payment arrangement,
do not have an up to date address with HMRC,
are a partner in a partnership,
are currently, or are going to be, bankrupt or insolvent,
are a Minister of religion, Lloyds underwriter or foster carer,
have a third party capacitor, this includes (but is not limited to): trusted helpers, insolvency practitioners, nominees and solicitors.

The option to sign-up as an individual for MTD for ITSA is currently only available to individuals using a recognised provider offering software that is compatible with MTD for ITSA.

Tax Diary August/September 2022

Posted on 12th July 2022 by Solutions Accountancy

1 August 2022 – Due date for corporation tax due for the year ended 31 October 2021.

19 August 2022 – PAYE and NIC deductions due for month ended 5 August 2022. (If you pay your tax electronically the due date is 22 August 2022)

19 August 2022 – Filing deadline for the CIS300 monthly return for the month ended 5 August 2022.

19 August 2022 – CIS tax deducted for the month ended 5 August 2022 is payable by today.

1 September 2022 – Due date for corporation tax due for the year ended 30 November 2021.

19 September 2022 – PAYE and NIC deductions due for month ended 5 September 2022. (If you pay your tax electronically the due date is 22 September 2022)

19 September 2022 – Filing deadline for the CIS300 monthly return for the month ended 5 September 2022.

19 September 2022 – CIS tax deducted for the month ended 5 September 2022 is payable by today.

Tax credits renewal deadline reminder

Posted on 7th July 2022 by Solutions Accountancy

31 July 2022 is the final day for families and individuals that receive tax credits to tell HMRC about any changes to their circumstances or income and to renew their tax credit. As in previous years, there is likely to be a huge last-minute rush and it may be difficult to contact HMRC by phone. Renewing a claim online (either on the HMRC APP or GOV.UK) is the preferred method. It is also possible to renew by post or phone. At the beginning of July, there were still 323,700 claims that had to be renewed.

Once the deadline has expired, anyone who has not yet renewed their tax credits should still ensure they do so as soon as possible as otherwise their payments may be stopped, and monies received since last April may have to be repaid. We would strongly advise any of our readers still to renew their tax credits to do so as a matter of urgency.

Over 2.1 million renewal packs were sent out by HMRC between late April and early June. A renewal is required if the pack has a red line across the first page and it says, 'reply now'. If the pack has a black line and says ‘check now’, recipients will need to check the details are correct. If the details are correct the tax credit awards will be renewed automatically.

Taxpayers need to notify HMRC where there have been changes to the living arrangements, childcare costs, number of hours worked and salary (increase or decrease). Details of previous year's income also need to be completed on the form to allow HMRC to check if the correct tax credits have been paid.

Childcare top-up to cover summer activities

Posted on 7th July 2022 by Solutions Accountancy

As the school holidays fast approach, many parents face having to organise extra school holiday childcare over the summer months. Working families can use the Tax-Free Childcare (TFC) scheme to help if they have children aged up to 11 years old (17 for those with certain disabilities).

The TFC scheme helps support working families with their childcare costs and can be used to pay for accredited holiday clubs, childminders or sports activities during the school holidays. There are many registered childcare providers including school, football, art and tennis clubs signed up across the UK. Parents can pay into their account regularly and save up their TFC allowance to use during school holidays.

The TFC scheme provides for a government top-up on parental contributions. For every £8 contributed by parents an additional £2 top up payment will be funded by Government up to a maximum total of £10,000 per child per year. This will give parents an annual savings of up to £2,000 per child (and up to £4,000 for disabled children until the age of 17) in childcare costs.

The TFC scheme is open to all qualifying parents including the self-employed and those on a minimum wage. The scheme is also available to parents on paid sick leave as well as those on paid and unpaid statutory maternity, paternity and adoption leave. In order to be eligible to use the scheme parents will have to be in work at least 16 hours per week and earn at least the National Minimum Wage or Living Wage. If either parent earns more than £100,000, both parents are unable to use the scheme.

Pensions triple lock to be reinstated

Posted on 7th July 2022 by Solutions Accountancy

The triple lock guarantee on pensions that was suspended for the current 2022-23 tax year is to be restored from April 2023. In September 2021, the government announced that its triple lock guarantee on pensions was to be abandoned for one year due to unprecedented fluctuations to earnings caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The triple lock guarantee was first introduced in 2010 and had remained in place until April 2022. The guarantee had seen the full yearly State Pension increase by over £2,050 in this period. The triple lock is the mechanism used to calculate increases to the state pension each year. Under the triple lock guarantees the basic state pension rises by whichever is the highest out of average earnings growth, inflation or 2.5%.

The confirmation that the government will reinstate the triple lock from April 2023 means that the state pension increase will be based on the reading of the consumer price index (CPI) for September 2022. Based on current forecasts this is likely to be significantly higher than the forecast inflation rate for 2023-24 and likely to be in the range of a 10% increase.

The change was announced in Parliament by the Chief Secretary to the Treasury and remains subject to the Secretary of State’s review. This decision will bring some cheer to many of those in receipt of the State Pension especially following the changes this tax year and the inflationary pressures affecting the real value of their pension.

Tax if living abroad and selling UK home

Posted on 7th July 2022 by Solutions Accountancy

One of the most often used and valuable of the Capital Gains Tax (CGT) exemptions arises on the sale of the family home. In general, there is no CGT to pay on a property that has been used as the main family residence. An investment property which has never been used will not qualify. This relief from CGT is commonly known as private residence relief or PRR.

The rules are different if you live abroad. A CGT charge on the sale of UK residential property by non-UK residents was introduced in April 2015. Only the amount of the overall gain relating to the period after 5 April 2015 is chargeable to tax. In certain circumstances PRR may apply where the property is the owner’s only or main residence.

A UK non-resident that sells UK residential property needs to deliver a non-resident CGT (NRCGT) return and pay any CGT within 60 days of selling a relevant property. The return must be made whether or not there is any NRCGT to be paid and even if there is a loss on the disposal, or where the taxpayer is due to report the disposal on their Self-Assessment tax return.

There are penalties for failing to file the NRCGT return within the deadline as well as for failing to pay any tax due on time.

Standards for tax agents

Posted on 7th July 2022 by Solutions Accountancy

HMRC last published guidance on the standard for agents in January 2018 (updating the first set of standards published in February 2016). The standard applies to all tax agents who transact with HMRC and to any professional who advises or acts on behalf of others in relation to their tax affairs. HMRC’s guidance sets out what agents can expect from HMRC and vice versa.

What to expect from HMRC

If a taxpayer wants an agent to deal with HMRC on their behalf, HMRC will deal with that agent courteously and professionally. HMRC want to provide agents with a service that is fair, accurate and based on mutual trust and respect. HMRC also want to make it as easy as possible for agents to get things right.

What HMRC expects from an agent

HMRC expects all agents who want to interact with HMRC to meet the HMRC standard which requires all tax agents to maintain high standards that promote tax compliance.

This includes that the agents demonstrate:

Integrity,
Professional competence and due care,
Professional behaviour,
They meet specific standards when advising on tax planning.

The largest accountancy and tax professional bodies share a standard known as ‘Professional Conduct in Relation to Taxation’ (PCRT). Where agents meet the PCRT standard, HMRC does not envisage that their standards will place further onerous requirements on agents.

National Insurance for company directors

Posted on 7th July 2022 by Solutions Accountancy

Directors are classed as employees and pay National Insurance on annual income from salary and bonuses that exceeds the Primary Threshold. The annual threshold is pro-rated this year following the increase to £12,570 from 6 July 2022 (£9,880 from 6 April 2022 – 5 July 2022).

Many director shareholders take a minimum salary and any balance of remuneration as dividends. This tends to reduce National Insurance Contributions (NICs), and in some case Income Tax. The planning strategy is to pay a salary at a level that qualifies the director for state benefits, including the State Pension, but does not involve payment of any NICs.

A director’s liability to NI is worked out based on their annual (or pro-rata annual) earnings. This differs from regular employees whose liability is calculated based on their actual pay period usually weekly or monthly. Payments on account of a director’s NICs can be made in a similar way as for employees, however, an annual adjustment must be made at the end of the tax year.

Directors, who are first appointed during a tax year, are only entitled to a pro rata annual earnings band which depends on the actual date appointed and the amount of time remaining in the tax year. Care needs to be taken in these circumstances not to incur an unexpected liability to pay NIC.

There are a number of considerations to consider when setting the most tax/NIC efficient salary.

Potential tax demand scam

Posted on 30th June 2022 by Solutions Accountancy

The Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) is a well-known organisation that provides independent advice to the government on simplifying the UK tax system.

The OTS has issued a press release to warn of a potential new tax scam that is using the OTS logo.

The press release reads as follows:

We have been made aware of people receiving correspondence using the Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) logo and signatures to request payment of ‘tax’. The OTS is not a tax collection agency, and the correspondence is not legitimate.

If you receive any demand for payment of any kind claiming to be from the OTS, you should report it to the National Cyber Security Centre by forwarding the email to report@phishing.gov.uk.

When the OTS was established, it was as a temporary office of HM Treasury, but Finance Act 2016 confirmed the government’s decision to provide for the permanent establishment of the OTS in statute.