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HMRC is warning people to be on high alert after numerous reports that cold calling scammers are pretending to be the tax authority.
HMRC says that it has seen a sharp increase in the number of recorded message scams hitting people across the UK.
The scammers appear to be calling people randomly with an automated message which says that you are under HMRC investigation after failing to pay a tax bill.
The deadline for submitting your online self-assessment tax return is just over six weeks away and accountants are being booked up quickly as time runs out.
Remember that you should have submitted your tax return and paid any taxes you owe by Midnight on 31 January.
With its large team of accountants, Umbrella.co.uk is well placed to help clients complete their self-assessment tax returns on time. But spaces are filling up quickly and opportunities to get help are running out.
Some self-employed contractors lost 30% of their income in the wake of IR35 reforms that took effect in the public sector this in April.
As the dust settles around the changes IT recruitment company, CW Jobs, found that more than 70% of their clients saw a reduction in income after the IR35 reforms.
Of these contractors, a quarter saw a reduction close to 30%.
The IR35 reforms mean that contractors who work solely or primarily for public sector bodies are being taxed as if they were regular employees of that company. But are no receiving any of the accompanying benefits such as such pay or holiday entitlement.
July 31st is little more than a week away, if you are self-employed then you may have to make a tax payment before this date, or risk a late payment fine.
In many ways it is the lesser known tax deadline. While January 31 looms large in the minds of all self-employed workers as the time when you need to get all your tax affairs in order and pay what you owe, the July deadline can be forgotten all too easily.
But remembering it is crucial if you want to avoid a fine and interest accruing on your HMRC debt.
The July 31 deadline is not the same as the January 31 deadline. You don’t have to submit another self-assessment; you just need to make a payment.
HM Revenue and Customs has warned taxpayers that it is aware of a new ‘tax avoidance’ umbrella scheme in which contractors are paid, in part, with loyalty points that can be redeemed for ‘tax free’ income.
The tax authority has said that they consider the umbrella scheme to be against the rules of disguised remuneration and that users of the scheme will have their tax affairs investigated.
The taxman has come under pressure from MPs and contracting organisations after it was revealed that HMRC doesn’t include time spent listening to automated messages in their official ‘waiting time’ figures.
January is a busy month for contractors. Many have a back-log of Christmas work and now have less than 2 weeks left to file any outstanding self-assessment tax returns.
A recently concluded court case could have far-reaching consequences for contractors on ‘too good to be true’ tax avoidance schemes.
In a warning sign to contractors that are thinking about using a dodgy ‘too good to be true’ remuneration scheme, MPs have been told that users of one type of tax avoidance scheme could risk bankruptcy in the near future.
The charge centres on a recently concluded Supreme Court Case between Rangers Football Club and HMRC and a tax avoidance scheme where an offshore Employee Benefit Trust (EBT) paid players and other staff through loans.
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has released more information about the rules governing off-payroll contractors in the public sector.
HMRC updated its guidance on the rules, which have been in effect since April.
The updated guidance clarifies some sticking points that have confused contractors for months.
Since 6 April 2017, responsibility for determining IR35 status has passed from public sector contractors, operating through an intermediary, to the public sector body engaging the contractor.
Although the fundamental rules are the same, the April change is seismic in terms of how the rules are applied.
HMRC has launched a new tool designed to help contractors, and those that engage them, decide a worker’s IR35 status.
But with less than a month to go before a fundamental change in the way IR35 rules are applied, some experts have found cause for concern with the Employment Status Indicator tool.
A contractor’s IR35 status is all about whether the contract they are working on should be considered employed or self-employed for tax purposes. The Employment Status Service is supposed to give HMRC’s view of whether a contract is inside or outside IR35.
This will be of particular interest to limited company contractors working in the public sector because, from April, it will be the public sector organisations that decide on IR35 status instead of the individual.
