Worked for Inland Revenue for 11 years in the 70s and 80s before I saw the light!
Progressed from working for medium sized firms of accountants to starting my own practice in 1996 and havent looked back since, with hubby joining me in partnership 7 years later.
No-one seems to have pointed out that residential lettings are now supposed to be dealt with on a cash basis, not accrual. I switched all of mine over from 2017/2018. The only difficulty I have is that letting agents often send out statements in April showing receipts and payments in March, which get missed but should be included in the earlier year.
I certainly would apply for retrospective exception, having done so in very similar circumstances for a client recently and had it accepted. The key is whether your client knew at the time, or had good reason to believe, that they would not exceed the registration threshold in the 12 months following the month in which they went over it.
I've just been asked by a client what the maximum pension contributions she can make this year will be. She still has an April 30th year end, so her taxable income will be based on the April 2020 accounts but does anyone know if we can include the SEISS grants, which are taxable in 20/21 regardless of her year end?
Low fees don't necessarily mean low quality work. I work from home, so have low overheads and some clients (though not all) assume that means low prices. If I try to charge more, I have found that those clients will go away and do it themselves after one or two years. I am almost certainly undercharging in those cases and it probably doesn't help that I like to explain to the client how I have arrived at the figures, so that they can genuinely say they have "checked" the return if there are any HMRC queries.
Since I wrote this I have been on the phone again and am pleased to say that for once HMRC got something right...although I was cut off yesterday apparently the guy I spoke to did work out what I needed and has arranged for the correct form to be sent out. Now I am just waiting and hoping it gets here in time.
I have been trying since the second week of August to get hold of one of the paper forms for a client who sold his property on 4th August. I have spoken to HMRC 3 times and none of the agents had a clue what I was talking about. The first call did result in a form being sent out but all the client received was a set of CG pages for a tax return. Half the time HMRC are not answering the phones and yesterday I got through after 30 minutes but was cut off while waiting for the officer to come back to me, as he had put me on hold to investigate! How on earth are we supposed to cope with this legislation!
You could save yourself a major headache here by phoning 0300 200 3311 to ask for a paper form. Mine arrived by post today (HMRC said I can make multiple photocopies to use for other clients).
I have been trying since the second week of August to get hold of one of these forms for a client who sold his property on 4th August. I have spoken to HMRC 3 times and none of the agents had a clue what I was talking about. The first call did result in a form being sent out but all the client received was a set of CG pages for a tax return. Half the time HMRC are not answering the phones and yesterday I got through after 30 minutes but was cut off while waiting for the officer to come back to me, as he had put me on hold to investigate! How on earth are we supposed to cope with this legislation!
have tried several times, HMRC said out of date to cancel the return must complete. It's infuriating.
I have the same issue. 2017/2018 and 2018/2019 tax returns issued in March 2020, supposedly to collect Gift Aid tax relief recoverable from a non-taxpayer. We in fact instructed the client to stop the Gift Aid when we found out about it in 2017, so no returns are required. They cancelled the later return on my phone call but insist that the 2017/2018 return must be filed before the appeal (not the return) can be cancelled.
We use Moneysoft too and have come across this issue when claiming EA for the first time part way through a year. I also have access to HMRCs payments and liabilities data and can confirm that it is not backdated in their data, but only included in the month it is actually claimed. However, they do give the whole amount due up to that point. There does not seem to be any way to deal with a part year claim in Moneysoft and so I took the view that if the NI due on the pay for the year was going to be wholly covered by the EA, we would not include it in the CJRS claims.
My answers
No-one seems to have pointed out that residential lettings are now supposed to be dealt with on a cash basis, not accrual. I switched all of mine over from 2017/2018. The only difficulty I have is that letting agents often send out statements in April showing receipts and payments in March, which get missed but should be included in the earlier year.
I certainly would apply for retrospective exception, having done so in very similar circumstances for a client recently and had it accepted. The key is whether your client knew at the time, or had good reason to believe, that they would not exceed the registration threshold in the 12 months following the month in which they went over it.
I've just been asked by a client what the maximum pension contributions she can make this year will be. She still has an April 30th year end, so her taxable income will be based on the April 2020 accounts but does anyone know if we can include the SEISS grants, which are taxable in 20/21 regardless of her year end?
Low fees don't necessarily mean low quality work. I work from home, so have low overheads and some clients (though not all) assume that means low prices. If I try to charge more, I have found that those clients will go away and do it themselves after one or two years. I am almost certainly undercharging in those cases and it probably doesn't help that I like to explain to the client how I have arrived at the figures, so that they can genuinely say they have "checked" the return if there are any HMRC queries.
..and with MTD for landlords looming I will be getting out before April 2022! I'm too old for all this hassle.
Since I wrote this I have been on the phone again and am pleased to say that for once HMRC got something right...although I was cut off yesterday apparently the guy I spoke to did work out what I needed and has arranged for the correct form to be sent out. Now I am just waiting and hoping it gets here in time.
I have been trying since the second week of August to get hold of one of the paper forms for a client who sold his property on 4th August. I have spoken to HMRC 3 times and none of the agents had a clue what I was talking about. The first call did result in a form being sent out but all the client received was a set of CG pages for a tax return. Half the time HMRC are not answering the phones and yesterday I got through after 30 minutes but was cut off while waiting for the officer to come back to me, as he had put me on hold to investigate! How on earth are we supposed to cope with this legislation!
I have been trying since the second week of August to get hold of one of these forms for a client who sold his property on 4th August. I have spoken to HMRC 3 times and none of the agents had a clue what I was talking about. The first call did result in a form being sent out but all the client received was a set of CG pages for a tax return. Half the time HMRC are not answering the phones and yesterday I got through after 30 minutes but was cut off while waiting for the officer to come back to me, as he had put me on hold to investigate! How on earth are we supposed to cope with this legislation!
I have the same issue. 2017/2018 and 2018/2019 tax returns issued in March 2020, supposedly to collect Gift Aid tax relief recoverable from a non-taxpayer. We in fact instructed the client to stop the Gift Aid when we found out about it in 2017, so no returns are required. They cancelled the later return on my phone call but insist that the 2017/2018 return must be filed before the appeal (not the return) can be cancelled.
We use Moneysoft too and have come across this issue when claiming EA for the first time part way through a year. I also have access to HMRCs payments and liabilities data and can confirm that it is not backdated in their data, but only included in the month it is actually claimed. However, they do give the whole amount due up to that point. There does not seem to be any way to deal with a part year claim in Moneysoft and so I took the view that if the NI due on the pay for the year was going to be wholly covered by the EA, we would not include it in the CJRS claims.