A Tax Rhyme for Xmas by Mitch Young

Good morning, Mitch Young, the young dynamic accountant from LJD

Where we are committed to saving our clients hassle and money

Leading up to Xmas you may have some spare time

So think about your tax return over a glass of mulled wine

It is important you are not late in submitting the return to HMRC

Because if you do you will face a significant penalty

Even if you have no tax, they will now charge you £100 pounds

3 months late and a 5% surcharge, how do you think that sounds?

And after that it could go up to £10 a day

So make sure you give me a call I will keep the tax man away

Furthermore if you know a private tutor don’t forget they must declare

All their private earnings by 5^th Jan or face a right old scare

If you get your tax return into me within the next 28 days

I can complete this for you on time and offer you tax advice in lots of different ways

So listen out over Xmas for your friends and family talking about tax

When you hear the magic word give them my phone number, email or even my fax

Surely this rhyme proves accountants can also be fun

Wishing you happy holidays from LJD and Mitch Young

Xmas Tax Tips

Over the past week I have been snowed in. No, not by snow by 100's of tax returns! I still have around 150 to complete by the end of January and no doubt I will be working over the festive period. However this is the name of the game when it comes to tax and it is Xmas I have made sure I spend some time preparing my tax tips blog just for you. So here are 5 tax tips for xmas:

1. It is very important that you are all aware that new penalties will apply for tax return that is submitted after the 31 January deadline. An initial £100 fixed penalty, will apply even if there is no tax to pay. After 3 months additional penalties of £10 a day, up to £900 and after 6 months a further 5% of the tax due! Get them in

2. Make sure those who of you provide a service on a self - employed basis have a water tight contract. For example important factors to include within a contract are mutuality, control and the right to organise a substitute.

3. Remember if you are a partner in a partnership you will have to complete a specific partnership tax return as well as filling in the partnership pages of your personal self assessment tax return.

4. I have mentioned before about some of the tax benefits of sharing income evenly between husband and wife however a new opportunity has recently come to my attention in this regard. If a partnership is created between husband and wife, and say the wife is designated as a sleeping partner, i.e. she does no work at all for the business, she is able to receive whatever share of the profits is desired and will incur no national insurance liability on her income whatsoever. This means that (depending on the overall profit) it makes probably sense to give the wife the majority of the profits as there is no national insurance for her whereas there is for the husband

5. A final reminder for Private tutors and coaches that you have less than a month to tell HMRC about any tax you may owe for not declaring your private work income. Under the tax catch up plan, teachers with previously undisclosed earnings must register by 6 January 2012 to benefit from the terms of the offer.

I wish you all a very merry Xmas and a happy and healthy new year and remember if you have not got your loved one a present yet how about a voucher from me to complete their tax return.


Mitch the Tax Man
mitch@ljd.uk.com

Friday's Tax Tips - Episode 3

I have had an excellent week. I have taken on 3 newly self employed clients and one landlord. Although it means more work for me over the Xmas period I don't mind, you know that is going to be the case when you decide to have a career in tax! Furthermore my week has been topped off by attending a really useful tax lecture where I recapped on some really interesting points that I will share with you next week in my blog.

As it is Friday, it can only mean one thing - My weekly tax tips!

1. HMRC has revised their interpretation of the way that pension allowance carry forward works for years 2008/09 to 2010/11. You can now potentially contribute £200,000 if you meet all the qualifying criteria. Contact me for further info on this

2. It is very important that owners of small companies follow the proper procedures when carrying out share subscriptions so that evidence can be provided in the future as and when required.

3. If you are non domiciled have you been monitoring the number of year’s resident you have been? There may be an up and coming remittance base charge you need to plan for.

4. If you are an employer have you considered changing your employees benefit package to a flexible benefits package to take advantage of tax and National Insurance Mitigation?

5. Whenever properties are bought or sold with a view to building residential property, there are potential issues concerning the option to tax. Make sure you contact your tax advisor before finalising any deals.

We are now in December so not long to go until you have to submit a tax return. If you need any assistance please do not hesitate to get in touch mitch@ljd.uk.com

Have a great weekend




Mitch the Tax Man