You are currently browsing the Blog - EMS - Business Consultants weblog archives for June, 2011.
27/06/2011 by Geoff.
The Income Tax (Pay As You Earn) (Amendment) Regulations 2011 come into force on 6 April 2011.
At present, when a payment is made to a departed employee after their P45 has been produced, income tax is deducted at basic rate only (and they are responsible for any additional tax) using a “BR” tax code. After 6 April 2011, tax at the full 20%, 40% or 50% rates must be deducted from post-termination payments (using the “0T” tax code).
Written by Sue Gott - one of our HR professionals
Posted in Business interest | No Comments »
27/06/2011 by Geoff.
For those of you uncomfortable with computer jargon phishing is defined in Wikipedia as “a way of attempting to acquire sensitive information such as usernames, passwords and credit card details by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication.”In other words fraudsters are emailing taxpayers and pretending to be HM Revenue & Customs. Some of their antics are becoming quite sophisticated but all are designed to encourage you to part with sensitive personal information; particularly your credit card details!HMRC have confirmed that they would never email taxpayers about any of the following issues, all of which have been the subject of bogus email campaigns.
This is what HMRC have published on their web site:“HMRC will never send notifications of a tax rebate by email, or ask you to disclose personal or payment information by email.You should never disclose your personal and/or payment information in reply to an email that may look like it’s from HMRC, you may well be revealing your details to a fraudulent website.If you have received an email claiming to be from HMRC that you suspect may be fraudulent, please forward it to phishing@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk. However, if you have already given any of your personal information, for example your HMRC User ID, password or National Insurance number, in reply to a suspect email please forward brief details to security.custcon@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk.Please do not disclose any of your personal details or information in the email report to HMRC. However it would help HMRC to investigate if you would tell us the type(s) of information that you disclosed to the suspect website. For example - I gave my Name, Address, Date of Birth, bank card details, HMRC User ID etc.HMRC will attempt to provide a response to all HMRC related phishing emails and take action to remove reported websites.”
Posted in Business interest | 1 Comment »
27/06/2011 by Geoff.
From the 5 April 2012 the most you can accumulate in a pension fund will fall from £1.8m to £1.5m - the so-called lifetime allowance.HMRC have now agreed draft legislation to protect your position if your fund exceeded, or was expected to exceed £1.5m at 5 April 2011.The proposed protection scheme, known as ‘fixed protection’, is designed to benefit individuals with pension savings that are already in excess of £1.5 million, or individuals who believe that their pension savings will exceed £1.5 million (by virtue of investment growth only, without making any additional contributions) by the time that they come to take their benefits.Fixed protection will protect all pension savings up to £1.8 million from the lifetime allowance charge. In effect individuals will be in the same position as they were before these changes. However, fixed protection will only continue to apply where an individual makes no further contributions to any existing defined contribution schemes, or receives no increase in benefit under a defined benefit arrangement above a set level. No new pension arrangements are able to be opened either, unless they are only to receive a transfer of rights.Fixed protection must be applied for by 5 April 2012, and once given, you will be responsible for advising HMRC if you cease to meet the relevant conditions.
Posted in Business interest | No Comments »
27/06/2011 by Geoff.
If your business accounts for VAT under the flat rate scheme, the sale of a second hand car creates an unwelcome complication - the car must be included in the flat rate takings for the period. This means that although there is no VAT charged on the sale, and no VAT would have been reclaimed on the purchase of the vehicle, the business must account for VAT at their normal flat rate on the proceeds of sale.Accordingly if you sell a car for £1,000 and your VAT flat rate percentage is 10%, you will have to pay £100 to the VAT man!If the sale price of the car is considerable, the only possible solution is to exit the flat rate scheme before sale, but this extreme step would only be appropriate if enough cash was at stake. It is not then possible to rejoin the scheme for 12 months.
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16/06/2011 by Geoff.
There have been many small businesses that need money to set up or expand their business and get a negative response from banks when asking for loans. An alternative that is becoming more common is to borrow money from friends or family.This can be a good alternative but it needs setting up professionally or you run the risk of not only losing your business but friends and family as well. Good rules of thumb are:
Posted in Business interest, Tips and Ideas | 1 Comment »
16/06/2011 by Geoff.
The UK’s fastest growing online HR consultancy conducted research of 1,271 tea or coffee drinking Brits in full time employment; in order to gauge how many caffeinated drinks, on average, are consumed at work.It found that the average Briton drinks 4 cups of tea or coffee during a full working day. Total respondents to the poll worked an average of 5 days a week, meaning that each individual drinks an average of 20 cups of hot drinks a week at work alone; equating to 1,040 cups a year.On the grounds that each respondent was aged over 18, and will work until the age of 64; the average Briton in full time employment would therefore drink around 47,840 cups of tea or coffee throughout their working life.With the average coffee/ tea mug holding around 250ml of liquid; this would equate to 11,960 litres of tea or coffee consumed in a life time whilst at work. To put this in perspective, a standard bath tub holds 200 litres of water. This would therefore mean that the average Briton drinks the equivalent of 60 bath tubs of hot drinks throughout their working life!!
Anyone for tea???????
Written by Simone Greasley - HR and Recruitment Consultant
Posted in Business interest | No Comments »
06/06/2011 by Geoff.
There has been a major problem with the regulation wording around the Default Retirement Age. The Government has announced that they are now looking into how the regulations can be amended. We await further instructions next week……………..
Written by Simone Greasley - HR and Recruitment Consultant
Posted in Business interest | No Comments »
06/06/2011 by Geoff.
Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings Ltd is the first company to be convicted of Corporate Manslaughter. At the hearing on 17th February 2011, they were fined £385,000, (which equates to a sum higher than their annual turnover).
Alex Wright was working in a trench on a development site, when it collapsed and he was killed. An extensive joint investigation was carried out by Gloucestershire Police and the Health & Safety Executive.
Written by Simone Greasley - HR and Recruitment Consultant
If you want help avoiding this sort of issue contact us (enquiries@emseff.co.uk)
Posted in Business interest | 1 Comment »
06/06/2011 by Geoff.
You’ve decided to set up your own business (in the market as your employer) so it important to leave on good terms.This needn’t be a minefield but it’s important to do it right to avoid legal and costly penalties. The most common worry your existing employer will have is that you will steal clients. Check your employment contract and employee handbook for any restrictive covenants. There are three main types of these:
· Those that prevent you from approaching clients of your former employer
· Those that prevent you from poaching employees
· Those that prevent you from competing with your former employer generallyPut simply “stick to them”.
A guide to leaving gracefully should include:
Posted in Tips and Ideas | 1 Comment »
06/06/2011 by Geoff.
If you are expecting to pay CGT at the new rate of 28% on all or part of a capital gain on a sale in the current tax year, there may be scope to reduce the rate. This involves making a contribution to your pension scheme or a donation to a charity.It works by reducing your taxable income for all purposes – including the rule that says your rate of CGT is found by adding the gain to your taxable income. If the latter does not exceed the basic rate band of £37,400 it means that some or all of the gain is taxed at 18% instead of 28%.
Posted in Business interest, Tips and Ideas | No Comments »