This is something I have asked questions about on a course that I attended recently. Clearly, whilst fuel and other costs continue to rise, the mileage rate has been the same for as long as I can remember. I believe that taxpayers do have the option of claiming actual costs in place of the 45p or 25p standard rate. However, very few are willing or able to calculate this and the time it takes to do so and use a different rate do not reflect the cost of the time taken to keep the records and make the calculations. I would like to know:
1. When the 45p or 25p rate was first introduced and
2. Where there is the official rules that say actual costs could be claimed in place of the standard rate as I tried to find this and could not locate this.
My experience is that I left school at 16, took 3 years to pass 2 A levels (had a couple of failures!), 9 months full time foundation course in Accountancy, ACA qualified at 23 (first time passes), started my practice aged 27, still in practice 35 years later.
I would 100% support anyone taking this route, recognising that it is not for everybody. The advantage for me was that I had seven years of work experience when I qualified. Those who are graduates have only three.
Yes, times have changed, but I am so happy I left school at 16.
the picture is from Southend-on Sea and the message was being ignored last weekend - it was packed and social distancing was impossible! Had to queue for 20 minutes to buy an ice cream ....
I have a client who owes £235 from a P800 from 2015-16. She has ignored demands to pay so HMRC issued tax return notices for 2016-17 and 2017-18 in September 2019 (without me knowing as her agent). The client never told me so I have not completed these tax returns and got penalties. She was on PAYE both years and thought understandably that she didn't need to complete them In 2018-19 she commenced a self employment and I have a tax Return ready to file by January 31st. Under this UT decision the tax returns were correctly issued. HMRC say to file the tax returns and appeal the penalties. HMRC won't withdraw the notice to file these tax returns.
All this for a £250-£300 fee!! What a waste of everyone's time. BTW her annual income as a carer is £20,000. Out of principle I will do this Pro Bono as she can't afford to pay me.
I can't say I agree with this policy. Most of the Returns I do are straightforward taking a couple of hours to do. I know who those people are and charge a fair fee (say £300 + VAT) for the work. Why should I charge them extra just because they only let me have their records in January? The job doesn't take any longer to do than if I did it in July. Yes, I am busy in January, but not at a level I can't handle. I take a holiday in the sun in February that my extra work in January pays for. My staff do work overtime in December/January and I do pay 1 + 1/2 times for these extra hours. I may invoice an extra 10% but no more.
I always send my invoice with the Accounts or Tax Return I am completing, whether it is January or July. it takes 5 minutes to do the invoice, generally the same fee as the previous year, sometimes a small increase.
Yes things are busy but with rare exceptions Returns sent are always right; they sometimes may be provisional/estimated where the information is not available, with an amended Return filed as soon as it is.
My practice has used Iris products for 18 years - looking forward to our champagne in two years time! I was particularly excited to see Iris Connector. Many clients prefer to use Xero, QuickBooks and even Sage (!) rather than Kashflow. So this CSV import will save us lots of time posting to Accounts Production. Yes Iris is not cheap, but I would rather have a Ferrari than an MG!
From 6 April 2018 – businesses with turnover exceeding the VAT registration threshold, to report income and expenses subject to income tax and class 4 NIC
From 6 April 2019 – businesses with turnover exceeding £10,000, to report income and expenses subject to income tax and class 4 NIC
From 1 April 2019 – all VAT registered businesses, to report income and expenses subject to VAT
From 1 April 2020 – all businesses which pay corporation tax, to report income and expenses subject to corporation tax
i understand the first two and the last one, but can you please explain who falls into the third category?
I have a contractor client who provides his services to a university. He has given one month's notice of termination of the contract last week. He said that about 30 more contractors at the same university had done the same.
My answers
This is something I have asked questions about on a course that I attended recently. Clearly, whilst fuel and other costs continue to rise, the mileage rate has been the same for as long as I can remember. I believe that taxpayers do have the option of claiming actual costs in place of the 45p or 25p standard rate. However, very few are willing or able to calculate this and the time it takes to do so and use a different rate do not reflect the cost of the time taken to keep the records and make the calculations. I would like to know:
1. When the 45p or 25p rate was first introduced and
2. Where there is the official rules that say actual costs could be claimed in place of the standard rate as I tried to find this and could not locate this.
My experience is that I left school at 16, took 3 years to pass 2 A levels (had a couple of failures!), 9 months full time foundation course in Accountancy, ACA qualified at 23 (first time passes), started my practice aged 27, still in practice 35 years later.
I would 100% support anyone taking this route, recognising that it is not for everybody. The advantage for me was that I had seven years of work experience when I qualified. Those who are graduates have only three.
Yes, times have changed, but I am so happy I left school at 16.
This is irrelevant in most cases - VAT registered traders can reclaim VAT on staff meals, so the net cost is the same.
the picture is from Southend-on Sea and the message was being ignored last weekend - it was packed and social distancing was impossible! Had to queue for 20 minutes to buy an ice cream ....
I have a client who owes £235 from a P800 from 2015-16. She has ignored demands to pay so HMRC issued tax return notices for 2016-17 and 2017-18 in September 2019 (without me knowing as her agent). The client never told me so I have not completed these tax returns and got penalties. She was on PAYE both years and thought understandably that she didn't need to complete them In 2018-19 she commenced a self employment and I have a tax Return ready to file by January 31st. Under this UT decision the tax returns were correctly issued. HMRC say to file the tax returns and appeal the penalties. HMRC won't withdraw the notice to file these tax returns.
All this for a £250-£300 fee!! What a waste of everyone's time. BTW her annual income as a carer is £20,000. Out of principle I will do this Pro Bono as she can't afford to pay me.
I can't say I agree with this policy. Most of the Returns I do are straightforward taking a couple of hours to do. I know who those people are and charge a fair fee (say £300 + VAT) for the work. Why should I charge them extra just because they only let me have their records in January? The job doesn't take any longer to do than if I did it in July. Yes, I am busy in January, but not at a level I can't handle. I take a holiday in the sun in February that my extra work in January pays for. My staff do work overtime in December/January and I do pay 1 + 1/2 times for these extra hours. I may invoice an extra 10% but no more.
I always send my invoice with the Accounts or Tax Return I am completing, whether it is January or July. it takes 5 minutes to do the invoice, generally the same fee as the previous year, sometimes a small increase.
Yes things are busy but with rare exceptions Returns sent are always right; they sometimes may be provisional/estimated where the information is not available, with an amended Return filed as soon as it is.
My practice has used Iris products for 18 years - looking forward to our champagne in two years time! I was particularly excited to see Iris Connector. Many clients prefer to use Xero, QuickBooks and even Sage (!) rather than Kashflow. So this CSV import will save us lots of time posting to Accounts Production. Yes Iris is not cheap, but I would rather have a Ferrari than an MG!
From 6 April 2018 – businesses with turnover exceeding the VAT registration threshold, to report income and expenses subject to income tax and class 4 NIC
From 6 April 2019 – businesses with turnover exceeding £10,000, to report income and expenses subject to income tax and class 4 NIC
From 1 April 2019 – all VAT registered businesses, to report income and expenses subject to VAT
From 1 April 2020 – all businesses which pay corporation tax, to report income and expenses subject to corporation tax
i understand the first two and the last one, but can you please explain who falls into the third category?
I have a contractor client who provides his services to a university. He has given one month's notice of termination of the contract last week. He said that about 30 more contractors at the same university had done the same.
What we MUST know is what the ICAEW are doing about this. I think they are doing very little.