Communication

The deadline for submitting a Self Assessment Tax Return on paper for the year to 5 April 2014 was 31 October 2014. If you met this deadline but have now realised you made a mistake within the return – don’t worry you can correct this.

Under the Working Time Regulations 1998 (as amended), workers are entitled to paid statutory annual leave of 5.6 weeks (28 days if the employee works five days a week). This basic entitlement is inclusive of bank holidays. This annual leave entitlement is now closer to that of workers in other European countries, where holiday allowance is typically more generous.

Due to the ever changing tax legislation and commercial factors affecting your company, it is advisable to carry out an annual review of your company’s tax position. Pre-year end tax planning is important as the current year’s results can normally be predicted with some accuracy and time still exists to carry out any appropriate action.

This factsheet considers the operation and reporting of employee expenses and benefits. An exemption may apply to the reporting of employee expenses on forms P11D as long as the necessary conditions are met. Under the exemption the business must satisfy itself that the employee would be entitled to full tax relief on the expenses reimbursed.

The ‘IR35’ rules are designed to prevent the avoidance of tax and national insurance contributions (NICs) through the use of personal service companies and partnerships. The rules do not stop individuals selling their services through either their own personal companies or a partnership. However, they do seek to remove any possible tax advantages from doing so.

Under Real Time Information, employers or their agents are required to make regular payroll submissions for each pay period during the year, detailing payments and deductions made from employees each time they are paid. There are two main returns which an employer needs to make which are detailed below.