Latest Business News from Chichester Accountants Evans Weir

July 31, 2020

Online Sales Tax to Level the Playing Field?

Early rumblings of an online sales tax bubbled to the surface last week when the Treasury issued a call for evidence as it reviews the changing face of consumer buying habits. Acknowledging that the Covid-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on how business is done, the Treasury said that it was looking at measures to ensure the tax system raises sufficient revenue and that the high street is not left at a disadvantage when competing with online vendors. With footfall and sales in a... read more

Amnesty Window on Excess SEISS and CJRS Claims

Following a spate of tip-offs that the Covid-19 support schemes put in place by The Government may have been subject to excessive claims from a number of workers and employers, moves are now being made to investigate claims, recover overpaid support grants and levy penalty charges where appropriate. Self-employed individuals, and employers, have 90 days to inform HMRC that they have over-claimed the Self-employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS) or Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS)... read more

Changes to Primary Residence Tax Regime Could Help Raise Tax Receipts

A thinktank has suggested charging capital gains tax on primary residences as one potential form of taxation that could help the treasury fill the black hole in public finances left by Covid-19. At present, primary residences are only subject to stamp duty (excluding the current stamp duty holiday) and in some cases inheritance tax, where the value exceeds threshold. But The Social Market Foundation is suggesting that levying a tax on the ‘unearned gains’ on property value increases... read more

July 10, 2020

Summer Statement 2020

In a much anticipated ‘emergency budget’ announcement, The Chancellor set out a series of targeted measures to boost aspects of the economy, struggling in a post Covid environment. Whilst it is expected that some sectors will not be able to recover for some months yet due to the continued need for social distancing, Rishi Sunak wanted to prime those parts of the economy that can operate and have already begun to reopen following lockdown. He made it clear that household consumption,... read more

Chancellor Announces Post Furlough Jobs Plan

At the summer statement on Wednesday 8 July 2020, the Chancellor announced a handful of measures that he felt would help create jobs and mitigate the formal end to the furlough scheme. Before announcing the measures, Mr Sunak made it clear that the Jobs Retention Scheme could not and should not go on forever, even though it had been a lifeline for millions and had undoubtedly avoided hundreds of thousands of redundancies. He said that continuing furlough may appease his critics, but it... read more

June 26, 2020

Emergency Budget Pencilled in for Early July?

The rumblings of an emergency budget seem to be getting louder as we begin to emerge from lockdown. Undoubtedly, now is the time for Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, to start considering the sizeable task of recovering the economy and paying back the WW2 scale borrowing that has underpinned the bailout of businesses and individuals. It is hard to escape the headlines – ‘Record borrowing levels’, ‘Councils on the verge of bankruptcy’ – or ignore the fact that the budget delivered just... read more

June 10, 2020

Adaptation – The Key to Post Covid Survival

I was recently asked whether we had witnessed any corporate ‘casualties’ as a result of the Covid pandemic, the answer to which was, I am pleased to report, no. However, I fully accept that being early June, we are far from clear of the woods and still remain in a somewhat cosseted environment, with the Government Furlough scheme still in place But even taking that into consideration, when I speak to clients, most are feeling quite optimistic and an increasing number are becoming... read more

May 18, 2020

IR35 Changes Should be Delayed Indefinitely

Planned rollout of IR35 legislation to the Private sector, which was due to take place on 6 April 2020, has met with renewed criticism, this time with the House of Lords requesting wholesale review of the measures. Due to the Coronavirus outbreak, the introduction of IR35 legislation to cover the private sector, has been put back 12 months to April 2021, but the Lords have suggested the rollout be delayed indefinitely until the policy’s “inherent flaws and unfairness” have been... read more

May 11, 2020

SEISS – Making a Claim

HMRC has started contacting self-employed individuals they think could be eligible for the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS), based on the information provided in 2018 to 2019 tax returns. To help identify who is eligible, HMRC is inviting people to use an online checker, which will quickly confirm eligibility and then provide a specific date from which a claim can be made. They are also running a webinar that you can join to find out more. The webinar provides an overview of... read more

April 30, 2020

Covid19 Self-Employed Support: Top Actions for The Self-Employed

If you are self-employed and the Covid-19 pandemic has hit your income and/or contracts, here are 5 things you can do to access support and mitigate the impact: 1. Apply to the Self-employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) The scheme will support self-employed individuals (including members of partnerships) whose income has been negatively impacted by COVID-19. The scheme will provide a grant to self-employed individuals, worth 80% of their profits up to a cap of £2,500 per month for... read more