Income Tax

Lack of formal records is not always fatal to a claim for tax-free mileage allowance

New PAYE payment booklets for 2014/15 will be issued between 14 December 2013 and 31 March 2014, HMRC have said, with the result that the department will be unable to issue the 2013/14 equivalents.

Requests for a 2013/14 booklet made between 14 December 2013 and 17 January 2014 will be settled by 27 January 2014. Requests made from 20 January 2014 will be handled normally.

Employers who have a payment to make by19 December 2013 and/or 19 January 2014 should use the online facilities to make payment if they do not have a payslip, said the Revenue.

HMRC seek views on revamped direct collection rules

National Insurance; capital gains tax; social investment tax relief; creative industries; avoidance; Charity Commission

HMRC guidance on the gift aid small donations scheme in relation to mergers of charities or community amateur sports clubs (CASCs) does not include specific reference to time limits – but they exist for new organisations to notify the tax authority if they want to take over a claims history after a merger.

The newly created body must make its application at least 60 days before its first gift aid claim or within 90 days after the date on which the current organisation began to carry on the activities of the previous one, whichever falls earlier.

D McWhinnie (TC2977)

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Harding v CRC, Upper Tribunal (Tax and Chancery Chamber)

HMRC have announced new fuel rates for company cars (below), to be applied to all journeys on or after 1 December 2013 until further notice.

Employers may use either the previous or new figures for one month from the date of change, and can make or require supplementary payments but are under no obligation to do either. Petrol hybrid cars are treated as petrol for this purpose.

The amounts can be used for VAT, but employers will need to retain receipts, the Revenue warned.

An international sportsman owns a retail shop in the UK, but spends only about 100 days in the country each year. He lives with his mother when in the UK. The shop is managed on his behalf, and he has increasing sponsorship income

HMRC have published two draft documents as part of the National Insurance (NI) Contributions Bill: arrangements for claiming the employment allowance from 6 April 2014, and regulations for offshore employers and oil and gas workers on the UK continental shelf.

The arrangements set out how employers will be able to claim the allowance of up to £2,000 against their secondary class 1 NI liability.

A client works as a surveyor, his income substantially from one customer