Income Tax

Two proposed reliefs to encourage employee-owned companies

The government has unveiled proposals for payroll giving that will enable employers to encourage charitable donations more easily and allow organisations faster access to the sums.

HMRC have launched a challenge to arrangements used by contractors and other professionals to mitigate tax by entering into a contract of employment with an offshore employer while providing their services in the UK.

Participants receive a substantial proportion of the fees for their services in payments said to be loans. The Revenue does not agree that the arrangements succeed in avoiding tax.

The HMRC student loan panel is looking for volunteers to attend a group for customer user process improvement sessions that will be held around the country in early October. They will last for between an hour and 90 minutes.

The panel is interested in speaking to employers and agents who handle the deduction of student loans and self assessment taxpayers with a student loan. 

P Tindale (TC2749)

An employment tribunal at odds with HMRC’s insistence goodwill for medical practitioners cannot be transferred

A new client was substantially in arrears with his accounts and tax returns. These have now been brought up to date and returns been prepared for 2007/08 onwards. There is a loss for 2007/08, but HMRC are refusing to repay the payments on account for that year. Can action be taken to recover the tax?

A solicitor assists employees in recovering unpaid holiday pay from current or former employers on a no win/no fee basis. He recovers his fee from any payment made

More than 1.6m employer PAYE schemes are already now under the real-time information (RTI) system, covering over 40m individual record, according to HMRC. The announcement comes as the department writes to urge another 167,000 firms to join RTI, having missed one or more deadlines for reporting PAYE.

Bosses should contact the Revenue’s employer helpline on 0300 200 3200 if have not reported because they no longer pay staff members, or because their PAYE scheme has closed or is no longer operating.

Is the new expenses set-up for the self-employed easy to use?

Tax credit claimants should take extra care when checking their 2012/13 final award notice, to ensure they do not lose their right to challenge overpayments, the Low Incomes Tax Reform Group (LITRG) has urged.

The charity’s call follows the introduction of two changes that will affect people wanting to dispute tax credits overpayments: HMRC will no longer stop recovery of overpayment while they consider a dispute, and claimants now have only three months to dispute an overpayment. Disputes could be made at any time until the time limit was introduced on 6 April.

Higher incomes parent who have received child benefit this year and do not already complete tax returns must register for self assessment by 5 October to avoid penalties in relation to the high income child benefit charge (HICBC), HMRC have warned.

The department plans to write to 2m higher rate taxpayers, including those affected by recent changes to child benefit, reminding them they will need to complete a self assessment return for 2012/13 if: