• See your profitability in real time

• Up to date view of your business

• Stay in control of your business

• Allows a business to make informed decisions throughout the year

• A better relationship with your Accountant - bounce ideas of each other and have more contact

• Streamline processes

• Access your accounts anywhere any time

• Make better use of your time

• improve efficiency

The Cooper Curtis team are all Xero Certified advisors, for more information contact us on 0845 303 1144 or email info@coopercurtis.co.uk.

Brian at Tissington Hall, Derbyshire

On Sunday 30th April at 9am, Brian will embark on a challenging 50 mile cycle from Maggie's Oxford to Maggie's Cheltenham in aid of raising money for the fantastic support Maggie's centres offer to people living with cancer and their families. Brian has been training hard since January and here is a recent update from him; 

‘Well, there's less than 2 weeks to go until my 50 miles Charity Cycle ride for Maggie’s Cancer Charity. My training is going well and my cycle team member, Sarah Allen has kindly accompanied me to help spur me along. I cycled 40 miles on the Tissington Trail in Derbyshire 2 weeks ago and completed another 20 miles over the Easter weekend. 

A big thank you to those who have kindly sponsored me so far and there is still time for you to help me reach my £1,000 target for Maggie’s.’

You can donate to Brian's just giving page below, or email him on brian@coopercurtis.co.uk to make an offline donation.

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/CooperCurtis

You may be wondering why you have been sent a notice to complete a tax return, or whether or not you should be completing one for the year.

The list below explains when you need to prepare a self assessment, but should you need any further information, please do not hesitate to contact us; 

• You were self employed at any point of the tax year (runs from 6 April to 5 April)
• You received more than £2,500 of un-taxed income for renting property or from un-taxed savings
• You received dividend income of over £5,000 in the year
• Your investment income was £10,000 or more before tax
• You made a profit from selling a second property or shares and owe Capital Gains Tax
• You are a company director
• Your income was more than £50,000 and you or your partner claimed Child benefit
• You received overseas income and need to pay UK tax on it
• You lived abroad and need to pay tax on your UK income
• Your income was over £100,000 for the tax year
• You were trustee of a trust or registered pension scheme
• If HMRC have issued you with a tax return, you must still complete and submit it

If you would like any advice on whether or not you should be completing a Self Assessment, or would like help completing and filing a tax return, please call 0845 303 1144 or email info@coopercurtis.co.uk 

Post by Caroline

 Please note, all our content is for general guideline only, every case is different and we would recommend speaking to us before taking any action as a result of the content. The content was correct at the time it was published.

Tax-free Trivial Benefits

A little known and underused tax free perk is the trivial benefits exemption.

A benefit provided to an employee is classed as a trivial benefit and therefore tax free for not only them, but a tax deduction for the employer too, provided that;

1. It is less than £50, if given as a voucher it is non cash transferable,
2. It is NOT a reward for services,
3. And, it isn't included in the terms of an employee’s contract.

Examples

Trivial benefits could include, a gift voucher, a bunch of flowers, a meal out for employees under £50 per head.

To avoid the reward for service rule, the benefits could be given for a birthday, or a turkey or bottle of wine at Christmas, the birth of a child or a bereavement.

There is no limit to employees!

HMRC’s legislation does not state how many times per year you can give a trivial benefit to your employees. But be wise! Obviously a £50 gift every working day of the year would ring HMRC's alarm bells so we would advise that any trivial benefits made in the year are made as a gesture rather than a frequent payment.

Does this apply to company directors too?

Yes it does! To limit company directors taking advantage of this tax freebie, HMRC will allow trivial benefits provided to directors up to a value of £300 per year. So that’s a payment up to £50 once every two months. If your spouse is also a director that is another saving of £300 and a potential tax saving of £335 if both higher rate tax payers!

For more information on trivial benefits and other tax saving opportunities, contact Cooper Curtis on 0845 303 1144 or email info@coopercurtis.co.uk

POST BY CAROLINE

Please note, all our content is for general guideline only, every case is different and we would recommend speaking to us before taking any action as a result of the content. The content was correct at the time it was published.

Last week saw Philip Hammond deliver his first Spring Budget as Chancellor. There were a few shock announcements on the day, one being the dividends allowance now reduced to just £2,000 from next year prompting some in-year tax planning for our limited company clients. 

After a heavy backlash from his opposition about tax rises, the chancellor has now abolished his plans to raise the Class 4 National Insurance from April 2018 one week after delivering his budget bringing a sigh of relief to many self-employed people. 

The changes proposed where the contractors IR35 status will be decided by the public body they are contracted with is still going ahead beginning from April 2017. 

If you have any questions regarding any topics covered in the Budget or would like any advice, please give us a call on 0845 303 1144 or email info@coopercurtis.co.uk.

 Please note, all our content is for general guideline only, every case is different and we would recommend speaking to us before taking any action as a result of the content. The content was correct at the time it was published.

In 2015, employment intermediary reports became compulsory for agencies supplying workers and filed on a quarterly basis.

The workers details and payment details are supplied on a simple excel spreadsheet in a format given by HMRC, each quarter, by the 5th of the following month. If no workers were supplied in a particular quarter, a nil report must still be submitted. 

The main reason HMRC brought in this reporting was to satisfy HMRC that PAYE should not have been operated on their payments and to tackle false self-employment.

Failure to submit these reports or submitting an inaccurate report can run into the £1,000's after a third offence so it is paramount that these are submitted with care. 

You will need to sign up to HMRC's unique online service in order to file these reports.

The intermediary report template can be found on our website under Recruitment resources

For more information on intermediary reporting, please contact us on 0845 303 114 or info@coopercurtis.co.uk 

Post by Caroline

Please note, all our content is for general guideline only, every case is different and we would recommend speaking to us before taking any action as a result of the content. The content was correct at the time it was published.