Harnett Accontants

Tag: tax tips

  • Harnett Accountants West London – Company Cars

    Accountancy

    Harnett Accountants West London – Company Cars

    Harnett Accountants West London are pleased to present the first in a new series of video tax tips, designed to help improve your business and lower your tax bills. Today’s tip covers the topic of buying or leasing company cars, and what the various tax disadvantages might be.

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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

    If you need advice about the most tax efficient way to purchase your new car, please contact Harnett Accountants West London, and we will arrange a free, one hour, no obligation consultation. You can contact us through our website or on 020 8977 3883. 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.

  • – Tax Evasion Cases Fall By 25%

    Accountancy

    – Tax Evasion Cases Fall By 25%

    brings you this article from Accountancy Age, revealing that serious tax evasion cases have fallen by nearly 25% over the last 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

    “Serious tax evasion cases identified by HM Revenue & Customs has dropped nearly a quarter over the last 12 months.

    In 2011/12, there were 3,456 suspected cases, the lowest number for five years and down 23% on the 4,506 identified in 2010/11, according to figures obtained by law firm, Pinsent Masons.

    What Hmrc Says

    HMRC defines a case as ‘serious’ where £50,000 or more has been evaded, or when prosecution is possible.”

    It’s thought that HMRC’s tough anti avoidance measures are responsible for the decline. HMRC’s has nearly doubled its property raids over the last 12 months, and public awareness of tax avoidance has grown considerably.

    If you need advice about taxes, or help to make sure that you are paying exactly the right amount of tax, and running your business in the most tax efficient way possible, contact our accountants in Wimbledon and we will arrange a free, one hour, no obligation consultation. You can contact us through our website or on 020 8977 3883. 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.

  • Talk Travel Expenses

    Tax Insights

    Talk Travel Expenses

    Damien has recorded another series of great tax tips videos. Today’s video tax tip from is on the subject of travel expenses. Travel expenses are often a source of confusion, both for employees and employers. If you are an employee, you should know what you are entitled to so that you can reduce your tax bills, and as an employer you should make sure that you are running your business in the most tax efficient way possible.

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

    Key Considerations

    We would also like to direct you to this information published on the HMRC website, detailing what you can (and can’t!) claim travel expenses for.

    “If your job requires you to travel on business you may be able to get tax relief on your travel expenses. You can go back several years to get the relief – the time you’ve got depends on whether you’ve previously sent in a Self Assessment tax return.

    If you’ve got to make journeys for business purposes you can deduct your travelling expenses from your taxable income – so you’ll pay less tax.

    What Are Business Journeys

    • You can only get tax relief on the cost of business journeys. These are when, as part of your job:
    • you have to travel from one workplace to another – this includes travelling between your main ‘permanent workplace’ and a temporary workplace
    • you’ve got to travel to or from a certain workplace because your job requires you to
    • But business journeys don’t include:
    • ordinary commuting – when you travel between your home (or anywhere that is not a workplace) and a place which counts as a permanent workplace
    • private journeys – which have nothing to do with your job

    What This Means For You

    If you’re not sure if a place you travel to counts as a permanent workplace telephone your Tax Office for advice.”

    As you can see above, ordinary commuting between your home and your place of work does not count as an allowable tax expense, so there is no way that you can reduce your tax bills based on your daily journey to and from work, no matter how expensive it is. This is an especially big problem for people who have to drive a long distance on the motorway or travel a long way by train every day.

    Travel Expenses That Qualify For Relief

    • “You can get tax relief on the necessary costs of business travel like:
    • public transport fares
    • business phone calls, fax or photocopying costs
    • But you can’t get tax relief for things that aren’t directly related to the business journey – like your newspaper or private phone calls.”
    • “You might have to use your own car, van, motorbike or cycle to make business journeys. Your employer can give you mileage allowance payments to cover your costs – up to a certain maximum amount per mile – and you don’t have to pay tax on them. If your employer doesn’t pay you the maximum, you are entitled to tax relief on the difference between:
    • what your employer actually pays you for your business journeys

    Important Points

    the maximum tax free amount that your employer could have paid you for those journeys

    You’ll need to keep good records of the business mileage you do and of the mileage allowance payments your employer gives you. You cannot get relief for your actual expenses if they are greater than the allowed maximum per mile.”

    What Hmrc Says

    All of this information is available to view on the HMRC website.

    If you need advice about travel expenses, or if you run a business and need help with calculating how much you need to give your staff for business journeys, and which arrangements you need to make with HM Revenue and Customs, please call our accountants in Wimbledon on 020 8977 3883 or contact us through our website. 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.

  • – Taxman Still Fighting On Ir35

    Accountancy

    – Taxman Still Fighting On Ir35

    Last week, our Accountants in Wimbledon had some great advice about IR35, and now brings you this report on IR35 from the Accountancy Age website:

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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

    “IR35 has not been the taxman’s favourite subject in recent times.

    It has been the source of various controversies; not least the 2,000 senior public office holders engaged off-payroll, potentially affording them lower tax bills.

    The IR35 legislation is designed to make sure tax and national insurance are not avoided by would-be employees working as freelancers.”

    The taxman has already brought in fives times the amount in IR35 cases in 2011 as it did in the previous year, and this is expected to rise even further from now as specialist teams have been put in place to investigate IR35 cases. This comes as it was revealed that over 2000 highly paid public officials were being paid “off payroll,” and the BBC has been employing over 25,000 members of staff in this way, 3000 of whom run their own private companies.

    If you need advice about IR35, please call our accountants in Kingston on 020 8977 3883 or contact us through our website. 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.