Harnett Accontants

Tag: tax tips 2012

  • – Government Figures Dont Add Up

    Accountancy

    – Government Figures Dont Add Up

    brings you this interesting article from the business section of the BBC News website. It seems that there is a disparity between the economic growth forecasts and the real published employment figures:

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    Reviewed for 2026/27: All tax figures and HMRC rules in this article reflect current guidance for the 2026/27 tax year.

    Key Considerations

    “Here’s the statistic that Britain’s finest economic brains simply cannot explain: the number of people in work in the UK has risen by 201,000 in the three months to June, a period in which our national output is supposed to have shrunk, by 0.7%

    It’s good news that there are more people in work, and that unemployment has fallen by 46,000 in those months as well. But it’s not necessarily good news that collectively, as a nation, we seem to be needing to hire a lot more people, to make less stuff….”

    please contact and we will arrange a free one hour no obligation consultation. Also you can . Additionally, you can keep reading our daily blogs.

    📌 Important: Tax rules change regularly. Always verify current figures at gov.uk/hmrc or speak to a qualified accountant.
    📞
    Need help with accounting and tax?
    Harnett and Co are ICAEW chartered accountants in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey. We give clear, practical advice to businesses and individuals across West London and Surrey. Book a free consultation today.

  • – Vat Reclaim Cases Will Cost Taxman Billions

    Accountancy

    – Vat Reclaim Cases Will Cost Taxman Billions

    bring you this report from Accountancy Age, revealing how VAT claims going back as far as 1973 are now going through the European courts, and could see the taxman repaying tens of billions in repayments:

    💡
    Reviewed for 2026/27: All tax figures and HMRC rules in this article reflect current guidance for the 2026/27 tax year.

    Key Considerations

    “THE COURTS are presumably growing tired of VAT reclaims cases now.

    At least, if they aren’t, they soon will be.

    In July, former high street retailer Littlewoods had its claim sent back to the UK courts by the European Court of Justice, sparing – at least temporarily – HM Revenue & Customs a bill that could have run into the billions.

    The dispute centred on whether refunds on VAT overpayments, made by Littlewoods between 1973 and 2004, should have been refunded with simple interest or with compound interest.

    The claims were made where customers had failed to fully pay for goods, but the retailers had paid the full VAT onto the taxman. Many now predict the UK court will rule in the taxman’s favour, which will see the VAT returned to Littlewoods with simple interest.”

    If you need advice about reclaiming overpaid VAT, or making sure that your business pays the correct amount of VAT without overpaying, please contact for a free no obligation consultation. Also you can . Additionally, you can keep reading our daily blogs.

    📌 Important: Tax rules change regularly. Always verify current figures at gov.uk/hmrc or speak to a qualified accountant.
    📞
    Need help with VAT returns and compliance?
    Harnett and Co are ICAEW chartered accountants in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey. We give clear, practical advice to businesses and individuals across West London and Surrey. Book a free consultation today.

  • – Child Benefit Clawback

    Accountancy

    – Child Benefit Clawback

    present another useful tax tip about changes to child benefits in force from next year:

    💡
    Reviewed for 2026/27: All tax figures and HMRC rules in this article reflect current guidance for the 2026/27 tax year.

    Key Considerations

    If your net taxable income last year was £50,000 or more you will shortly receive a letter from the Tax Office about child benefit. You can safely bin this missive if your children are no longer eligible for child benefit, but where you or your partner/spouse claim child benefit you need to pay attention.

    This is because from 7 January 2013 the higher earner in the family (where that person has £50,000 or more of income) will be landed with a tax charge to clawback the child benefit claimed in respect of the children. The tax charge will equal 1% of the child benefit received by the family for every £100 of income over £50,000, so 100% of the child benefit will be clawed-back when the higher earner has net taxable income of £60,000 per year.

    The tax charge only applies to child benefit paid from 7 January 2013 onwards, and will be calculated on your net taxable income for the current tax year: 2012/13. Net taxable income is income after deduction of losses, pension contributions and gift aid payments but before personal allowances. So there is some scope for reducing your net income below £50,000 by paying pension contributions, gift aid donations, or by taking a smaller dividend from your own company in the current tax year. But those strategies, and other ways to manage your income, need to continue until the children are no longer eligible for child benefit.

    You will be given the option of declining to receive child benefit to avoid the tax charge, and this will be explained in the Taxman’s letter. However, this is not the same as not making a claim for child benefit. It is important to make a claim for child benefit (even if your decline to receive it) as the claim can help entitlements to the state pension for a non-working parent, and ensures the child receives a NI number at age 15.

    If you need help with Child Benefits or other tax issues, please contact for a free no obligation consultation. Also you can . Additionally, you can keep reading our daily blogs.

    📌 Important: Tax rules change regularly. Always verify current figures at gov.uk/hmrc or speak to a qualified accountant.
    📞
    Need help with pension and retirement planning?
    Harnett and Co are ICAEW chartered accountants in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey. We give clear, practical advice to businesses and individuals across West London and Surrey. Book a free consultation today.

  • Harnett Accountants Hammersmith – Whose Fault Is Underpaid Tax?

    Accountancy

    Harnett Accountants Hammersmith – Whose Fault Is Underpaid Tax?

    Here’s another useful tax tip from Harnett Accountants Hammersmith:

    💡
    Reviewed for 2026/27: All tax figures and HMRC rules in this article reflect current guidance for the 2026/27 tax year.

    Key Considerations

    Have you received a tax calculation (on form P800) which shows you owe tax that you thought had been collected under PAYE? Every year the Tax Office undertakes a ‘PAYE reconciliation’ to check whether the tax collected from pensions and salary under PAYE was the correct amount. Where a taxpayer has a number of jobs or several pensions in a year, the PAYE system can get it wrong, leaving tax underpaid.

    We can help you check any form P800 you receive, but we need to see the PAYE codes issued to you for the tax year, and payslips from your employer or pension provider to check what PAYE codes they have used. Where the employer/pension provider has not used the correct PAYE code and this causes any tax not to be collected, it remains their responsibility, not yours.

    Unfortunately the Taxman is ignoring this piece of law and is demanding payment of the underpaid tax from employees and pensioners, where the error lies with the employer/pension provider. We can help you challenge the Taxman on this point.

    Sometimes the fault lies with the Taxman who has ignored information you or your employer have provided on more than one occasion. The Tax Office may also have let tax arrears to build up over two or more years without telling you. If either of these situations apply, you can ask the Taxman to write-off the tax owing under Extra Statutory Concession A19. The Taxman is very reluctant to use this concession, but we can help argue your case.

    If you need help making sure that you have paid the correct amount of tax, and that your business or personal finances are conducted in the most tax efficient way possible, please contact Harnett Accountants Hammersmith for a free no obligation consultation. Also you can . Additionally, you can keep reading our daily blogs.

    📌 Important: Tax rules change regularly. Always verify current figures at gov.uk/hmrc or speak to a qualified accountant.
    📞
    Need help with pension and retirement planning?
    Harnett and Co are ICAEW chartered accountants in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey. We give clear, practical advice to businesses and individuals across West London and Surrey. Book a free consultation today.

  • Harnett Accountants Hammersmith – Gifting Assets And Shares

    Accountancy

    Harnett Accountants Hammersmith – Gifting Assets And Shares

    Harnett Accountants Hammersmith brings you another useful piece of tax saving advice. If you plan to gift assets or shares to your relatives, there are several taxes you need to consider:

    💡
    Reviewed for 2026/27: All tax figures and HMRC rules in this article reflect current guidance for the 2026/27 tax year.

    Key Considerations

    You won’t make an actual profit or gain when you give away assets or shares, so you may not expect to pay capital gains tax. However, when the gift is made to a person connected to you, such as your son or daughter, UK tax law deems you to have made a transfer of the asset at its market value. This means you could well make a paper gain on the gift, which will be subject to capital gains tax. This does not apply to a gift to your spouse or civil partner.

    You need to calculate this gain to see if it needs to be reported on your tax return. Where the gain from the gift, together with any other gains you make in the year, exceeds your annual exemption of £10,600, all those gains must be reported on your tax return.

    To calculate the amount of the gain you need to know the market value of the items given, at the date of the gift, and the cost or value when you acquired the items. If you acquired the assets before 31 March 1982, the value at 31 March 1982 is taken as your cost value, so you need a value at that date as well. We can help you will the calculation of the gain, but it would be wise to engage a specialist valuer to determine the value of the assets (particularly property) at the date of the gift and at 31 March 1982 if required.

    If the asset (such as property) you plan to give away is located in another country you need to take local tax advice as to whether gift tax will apply. This is not a tax we have in the UK, so any gift tax paid in another jurisdiction will not be offset against UK tax paid on the same gift. Local transaction taxes such as VAT or stamp duty may also apply, so do your research first.

    Stamp duty does not apply to shares which are transferred as a gift.

    Stamp duty land tax generally applies to the transfer of land in the UK, but it will not apply if the recipient gives nothing in return for the property, i.e. it is a pure gift. However, if the recipient agrees to take on a mortgage attached to the property, the outstanding value of that mortgage will be treated as consideration for the property and stamp duty land tax will apply to that consideration.

    What This Means For You

    Most gifts of assets you make will be treated as potentially exempt transfers for inheritance tax, which means they escape inheritance tax as long as you live for at least seven years after the date of the gift. You can look to take out insurance to cover the cost of inheritance tax that will become payable in respect of the gifts made during your lifetime. Gifts made into a trust may be subject to inheritance tax immediately.

    If you need advice on gifting assets or shares in the most tax efficient way possible, please contact Harnett Accountants Hammersmith for a free no obligation consultation. Also you can . Additionally, you can keep reading our daily blogs.

    📌 Important: Tax rules change regularly. Always verify current figures at gov.uk/hmrc or speak to a qualified accountant.
    📞
    Need help with VAT returns and compliance?
    Harnett and Co are ICAEW chartered accountants in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey. We give clear, practical advice to businesses and individuals across West London and Surrey. Book a free consultation today.

  • – Self Billing

    Accountancy

    – Self Billing

    offer this useful advice on self billing:

    💡
    Reviewed for 2026/27: All tax figures and HMRC rules in this article reflect current guidance for the 2026/27 tax year.

    Key Considerations

    ‘Self-billing’ is where the customer in the supplier/customer relationship raises the invoices to themselves for work done or goods provided by the supplier, instead of the supplier raising those invoices. Self-billing helps large organisations that need to pay out lots of small amounts to hundreds of suppliers. It allows their purchase invoices to be standardised which saves costs when processing, and payments to be made automatically at the time the invoice is raised.

    However, there are significant disadvantages for the supplier who agrees to self-billing. The supplier losses control of when invoices are raised and may have no control over the amount billed and the amount of VAT shown on the invoice.

    Although the VATman’s guidance on their website says that the recipient of the supply (i.e. the customer who raises the self-billed invoice) is responsible for ensuring the invoice carries the correct VAT amount, it is actually the supplier who remains responsible for the amount of VAT charged.

    If you are signed-up to self-billing as a supplier don’t assume that the VAT shown on the invoices you receive from your customers is correct. You will remain responsible for any errors.

    If you need advice about self billing or VAT payments, please contact for a free no obligation consultation. Also you can . Additionally, you can keep reading our daily blogs.

    📌 Important: Tax rules change regularly. Always verify current figures at gov.uk/hmrc or speak to a qualified accountant.
    📞
    Need help with VAT returns and compliance?
    Harnett and Co are ICAEW chartered accountants in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey. We give clear, practical advice to businesses and individuals across West London and Surrey. Book a free consultation today.

  • – September Tax Q&a Part 1

    Accountancy

    – September Tax Q&a Part 1

    are pleased to present part 1 of our September Tax Q&A:

    💡
    Reviewed for 2026/27: All tax figures and HMRC rules in this article reflect current guidance for the 2026/27 tax year.

    Key Considerations

    Q. I run my own company from an office in a spare bedroom at home, and my wife runs a separate company from a downstairs office in the same house. Can we both claim £3 per week expenses for use of home from our companies? Would the situation be different if we both worked full time for the same company?

    A. Yes, you can both claim the use of home expense allowance, which is now £4 per week as from 6 April 2012. It makes no difference whether you both work for the same company or for different companies.

    Q. I own a number of rental properties but this year I’ve been sued over unpaid service charges. The dispute has been resolved, but I’ve been left with legal costs. Can I deduct those legal costs from the property rental income for the year?

    A. In general any legal fees associated with acquiring or improving the property or defending the title to the property or extending a lease on a property cannot be deducted from the rental income, as they are capital expenditure. Other legal fees associated with annual bills or service charges should be allowable. You should keep all the paper work associated with the dispute just in case the Taxman asks about the legal fees in future.

    Remember to send in your questions by email to have them answered in next month’s Q&A from Harnett Accountants Wimbledon. Also you can . Additionally, you can keep reading our daily blogs.

    📌 Important: Tax rules change regularly. Always verify current figures at gov.uk/hmrc or speak to a qualified accountant.
    📞
    Need help with property tax advice?
    Harnett and Co are ICAEW chartered accountants in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey. We give clear, practical advice to businesses and individuals across West London and Surrey. Book a free consultation today.

  • Harnett Accountants Hammersmith – September Tax Q&a Part 2

    Accountancy

    Harnett Accountants Hammersmith – September Tax Q&a Part 2

    Harnett Accountants Hammersmith Welcome you to part 2 of our monthly tax Q&A.

    💡
    Reviewed for 2026/27: All tax figures and HMRC rules in this article reflect current guidance for the 2026/27 tax year.

    Key Considerations

    Q. My business recently bought an e-book reader from an online retailer. It will be used for business purposes but the retailer is refusing to provide me with a VAT invoice, saying their products are not provided for business purposes, so VAT invoices are not provided to VAT registered customers. How can I get the VAT invoice I need to claim back the VAT charged to my business?

    A. If the customer (you) asks for a VAT invoice the supplier must provide one, but in practice you can’t force the retailer to comply with the VAT law. As long as you have documentary evidence that VAT was charged – the amount and rate – and evidence that you have tried to obtain a VAT invoice, you can reclaim the VAT charged in your VAT return.

    Q. I own a number of rental properties but this year I’ve been sued over unpaid service charges. The dispute has been resolved, but I’ve been left with legal costs. Can I deduct those legal costs from the property rental income for the year?

    A. In general any legal fees associated with acquiring or improving the property or defending the title to the property or extending a lease on a property cannot be deducted from the rental income, as they are capital expenditure. Other legal fees associated with annual bills or service charges should be allowable. You should keep all the paper work associated with the dispute just in case the Taxman asks about the legal fees in future.

    Remember to send in your questions by email to have them answered in next month’s Q&A from Harnett Accountants Hammersmith. Also you can . Additionally, you can keep reading our daily blogs.

    📌 Important: Tax rules change regularly. Always verify current figures at gov.uk/hmrc or speak to a qualified accountant.
    📞
    Need help with VAT returns and compliance?
    Harnett and Co are ICAEW chartered accountants in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey. We give clear, practical advice to businesses and individuals across West London and Surrey. Book a free consultation today.

  • Harnett Accountants Fulham – September Tax Q&a Part 3

    Accountancy

    Harnett Accountants Fulham – September Tax Q&a Part 3

    Harnett Accountants Fulham are pleased to present part 3 of our September tax Q&A:

    💡
    Reviewed for 2026/27: All tax figures and HMRC rules in this article reflect current guidance for the 2026/27 tax year.

    Key Considerations

    Q. I’m an IT contractor currently working for a government department through my own company, for £300 per day. I’ve heard that all contractors will have to go on the department payroll. I don’t want to be a wage-slave, so what should I do?

    A. The government has announced that all senior appointments in government departments, such as executive positions, will have to be paid through payroll. This does not apply to other contractors. However, other government department contractors who are engaged for six months or more, and who are paid more than £220 per day, must when their contracts come up for renewal, or start afresh, include terms that allow the government department to seek formal assurance that income tax and NI obligations are being met. We can help you provide this assurance if it is requested.

    Q. I don’t have the all the figures needed to complete the tax credits renewal form, and I’m worried I’ll lose my tax credits as the deadline is 31 July. The main problem is my income is as a musician as I don’t know what my total income is until I receive the royalty statements.

    A. Don’t panic. You are required to return the tax credits renewals form by 31 July, or renew by phone, but you can submit estimated figures for 2011/12. When your self-employed accounts are ready you can submit the final figures and your tax credits award will be adjusted as necessary. As long as you submit final figures by 31 January 2013 you should not lose your tax credits.

    Q. What’s all this about RTI? Do I have to do something by October? Is it going to cost me more?

    A. Real Time Information (RTI) is a new way of submitting PAYE information to the tax office. All employers will have to use RTI by October 2013 (not this year), but some employers are starting to use RTI early in a test phase from April 2012. The aim is to add more employers to the RTI project at intervals, depending on how the first tests go. The tax office says your payroll software should cope with RTI when the time comes. We suggest you ask your software provider when their RTI update will be ready, and how much it will cost. We can help you prepare your payroll for RTI. This involves checking you have the full name, gender, date of birth and accurate NI number for every employee, including those who earn less than the NI threshold.

    What This Means For You

    Remember to email us with your tax questions for next months Q&A. Also you can . Additionally, you can keep reading our daily blogs.

    📌 Important: Tax rules change regularly. Always verify current figures at gov.uk/hmrc or speak to a qualified accountant.
    📞
    Need help with payroll management?
    Harnett and Co are ICAEW chartered accountants in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey. We give clear, practical advice to businesses and individuals across West London and Surrey. Book a free consultation today.

  • Harnett Accountants Putney – Government Plans To Unite Sme Incentives

    Accountancy

    Harnett Accountants Putney – Government Plans To Unite Sme Incentives

    Harnett Accountants Putney brings you this report from the Accountancy Age website, revealing new government plans to provide help for SME’s and startups under one centrally managed scheme.

    💡
    Reviewed for 2026/27: All tax figures and HMRC rules in this article reflect current guidance for the 2026/27 tax year.

    Key Considerations

    “HELP FOR SMEs should be more easily accessible and under the umbrella of one organisation according to ICAEW chief executive Michael Izza.

    As things stand, applying for funding for activities such as employing young people, starting your own business, cheap loans and export support must be done through various different bodies.

    But a state-sponsored small business bank announced by George Osborne last week provides an opportunity to unite those services under one roof.”

    In July, Harnett Accountants Putney reported on a survey revealing that a third of UK SME’s were missing out on tax breaks available to them. More worryingly, at the time of that report, only 1 in 3 UK SME’s were completely aware of all the tax breaks available to them. However, it is hoped that this new decision to unite all of the various incentives and finance schemes under one roof will raise the level of awareness and use of available tax breaks and further help the ailing UK economy.

    If you need advice about tax breaks and incentive schemes, or if you’re unsure about exactly which schemes your company could be elligable for, please contact us through our website or on 020 8977 3883, and we will arrange a free, one hour no obligation consultation. Also you can . Additionally, you can keep reading our daily blogs.

    📌 Important: Tax rules change regularly. Always verify current figures at gov.uk/hmrc or speak to a qualified accountant.
    📞
    Need help with business start-up advice?
    Harnett and Co are ICAEW chartered accountants in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey. We give clear, practical advice to businesses and individuals across West London and Surrey. Book a free consultation today.