How elastic is demand for your products?
Many will remember the empty shelves in supermarkets when lock-down commenced March 2020. In particular, the absence of toilet rolls…
Compare this with supplies of TVs and other luxury goods where there was no noticeable absence of supply.
These examples point to a basic economic theory; that a
£50 bike repair voucher scheme launched
The government has launched a new scheme – open to anyone in England – with a bike in need of repair. The Fix your Bike Voucher Scheme is a new initiative that has been championed by the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, to help fix old bikes by offering a £50 bike repair voucher towards the total cost
Business rates review
The government has confirmed that the next business rates revaluation in England will be postponed until April 2023. The government has previously announced that the revaluation that was due in 2021 would be delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic but no date had been announced. The revaluation in
Beware £5,000 company fine
As well as filing accounts with Companies House, there is an important requirement to check that the information Companies House has about your company is correct every year. This is facilitated by the filing of an annual company confirmation statement. The confirmation statement was introduced in
Customs declarations for exporters of goods from 1 January 2021
The Brexit transition period is due to end 31 December 2020. The UK and EU have agreed there will not be any further extensions, although with the COVID-19 outbreak nothing appears certain. As things currently stand, no formal trade deal has been reached with the EU. Consequently, it seems likely
Are you due a tax refund?
HMRC’s annual reconciliation of PAYE for the tax year 2019-20 is well under way. HMRC uses salary and pension information to calculate if you have paid the correct amount of tax. The calculation is usually generated automatically by HMRC’s computer systems on what is known as a P800 form. P800 forms
New measures to tackle promotion of tax avoidance
HMRC has published a series of a consultations together with details of proposed legislative changes to existing anti-avoidance regimes to strengthen HMRC’s ability to further clamp down on the market for tax avoidance.
The proposals include:
ensuring HMRC can effectively issue stop notices to
HMRC to gain new civil information powers
A new measure that will provide HMRC with additional civil information powers is expected to take effect when the Finance Bill 2020-21 receives Royal Assent. The new measure known as a Financial Institution Notice (FIN) will be used to require financial institutions to provide information to HMRC,
VAT option-to-tax changes extended
To accommodate coronavirus disruption HMRC temporarily changed the time limit from 30 to 90 days for notifying a VAT option-to-tax for land and buildings. This extension was set to expire on 30 June 2020 but has been extended to 31 October 2020.
The option to tax rules allows businesses to make an
What are the maximum weekly working hours?
There are working time limits that state the legal maximum weekly working hours that a person has to work. They should not exceed 48 hours a week on average. The maximum hours for under 18’s is fixed at no more than 8 hours a day or 40 hours a week.
The average working hours are calculated over a