The reporting of a tax charge is usually done on official HMRC tax forms – be that a corporation tax return, partnership tax return, Self Assessment tax return, P11D or inheritance tax return etc.
We use specialist software for the reporting. Our team all have the appropriate training and skill set to ensure that you are:
This is all part of the compliance and reporting service that we offer.
You are not just a number with us, you are a valued client who will develop a relationship with your assigned member(s) of the tax team, who in turn will build up a personal knowledge and understanding of your tax affairs.
We will also liaise directly with HMRC on your behalf, once you have signed the appropriate agent authority forms. This takes away the pain that we know many taxpayers face in trying to
a) speak to someone at HMRC
b) get HMRC to understand your tax problem
By appointing us to act, it frees up time for you. We are actively involved on a day to day basis with provision of the following services:
Personal tax returns – self assessment
We have extensive experience and expertise in the completion of all aspects of personal self assessment, which at times can be a mystery and cause a considerable headache for individuals and business owners, who can face significant penalties if they make mistakes.
The tax return will include details of all sources of personal income (employment – salary, benefits, share options, self employment, partnership profit, rental income, investment income such as interest and dividends etc) as well as reporting any capital gains or losses made from the disposal of land, property, shares, businesses etc.
For those individuals who are new to Self Assessment, we can guide you through the registration process as well as the recurring annual process.
Our service includes:
Collection of tax information from you and third parties
Preparation of the tax return
Calculating capital gains or losses to declare on your tax return
Obtaining your agreement to the return, before submission to HMRC
Filing the return with HMRC ahead of statutory filing deadlines
Confirming any tax payments due and the payment dates or indeed contacting HMRC where there are delays in obtaining tax refunds
Reduction of advance payments, if applicable
Claims for allowances and reliefs as appropriate
Advice on tax planning for you to consider
Preparing any disclosure notes for exceptional items or claims for reliefs shown on your tax return to reduce the risk of an HMRC enquiry
Reviewing PAYE coding notices, HMRC Self Assessment statements and other HMRC paperwork
Partnership tax returns – self assessment
We have extensive experience and expertise in the completion of all aspects of partnership self assessment, which at times can be a mystery and cause a considerable headache for business owners, who can face significant penalties if they make mistakes.
The tax return will include details of all sources of partnership income (trading income, rental income, investment income such as interest and dividends etc) as well as reporting any capital gains or losses made from the disposal of partnership assets such as land, property, shares etc.
Our service includes:
Collection of tax information from you and third parties
Preparation of the partnership tax return
Calculating capital gains or losses to declare on the tax return
Obtaining your agreement to the return, before submission to HMRC
Filing the return with HMRC ahead of statutory filing deadlines
Claims for allowances and reliefs as appropriate
Advice on tax planning for the partnership to consider
Preparing any disclosure notes for exceptional items or claims for reliefs shown on the tax return to reduce the risk of an HMRC enquiry
It is important to remember that the individual partners will need to complete personal tax returns to declare not only their share of the partnership profits/losses but the rest of their personal income and capital gains.
Corporation tax returns for companies
Whilst a company is a separate legal entity, the legal responsibility for completing corporation tax returns, preparing corporation tax computations and paying the corporation tax due, is a duty of the directors of the company.
HMRC are keen to close the estimated tax gap (difference between the tax declared and the tax that the government estimate is due) and are opening more investigations and enquiries and charging harsher penalties for non-compliance.
We help the directors comply with their legal requirements by relieving the burden of preparing tax submissions whilst ensuring that we will also disclose details of tax sensitive areas of expenditure and include relevant disclosure notes to mitigate penalties should HMRC challenge any areas of the return.
We therefore the following:
Preparation of the corporation tax return
Preparing the accompanying corporation tax computation
Tagging the company accounts into iXBRL format, which HMRC require
Obtaining your agreement to the return, before submission to HMRC
Filing the return with HMRC ahead of statutory filing deadlines
Confirming any tax payments due (including quarterly instalments for larger companies/groups) and the payment dates or indeed contacting HMRC in respect of any tax refunds due
Claims for allowances and reliefs as appropriate – one such relief is R&D tax relief
Advice on tax planning for you to consider
Preparing disclosure notes for exceptional items or claims for reliefs shown on the tax computation to reduce the risk of an HMRC enquiry
Research and Development (R&D) tax relief claims and reports
We act for many clients and indeed non-clients in preparing R&D tax relief claims and reports.
Many business owners will turn off at the mention of R&D and think of scientific laboratories working on ‘wonder drugs’ for curing medical issues. Whilst these advances will probably qualifying as R&D, the actual relief is much wider than many business owners anticipate.
In fact, recent HMRC statistics show that whilst the main claims come from companies operating in manufacturing, IT and scientific fields, claims are also made by businesses operating in retail, construction, agriculture, transport and many more.
R&D is a significant tax relief as it means it can in some instances a £100,000 qualifying spend gives almost £44,000 in tax relief.
Companies making losses can also qualifying by surrendering those losses to HMRC in return for a refundable tax credit. In this case, a £100,000 qualifying spend could generate a tax refund of just over £33,000. This may of course improve your bottom line, balance sheet and cashflow.
The reports that we prepare are detailed and show not only the qualifying costs but also a summary of the R&D projects undertaken during the accounting year. This then forms part of the corporation tax submission to HMRC.
We can still make a claim, even if the corporation tax return has been submitted to HMRC as you have two years from the end of the accounting period to submit a R&D claim. For instance, if your year end was 31 March 2017, then you will have until 31 March 2019 to make an R&D claim.
It is important to remember that this is a tax relief for companies only – therefore you should be considering your trading vehicle before undertaking any R&D activities.
If the business or company employs staff and provides the staff with benefits-in-kind such as company cars, private medical insurance, gym memberships, living accommodation, interest free loans etc then employers may be required to complete forms P11D.
HMRC not only require forms P11D to assess the recipient of the benefit-in-kind for income tax, but also the employer to national insurance charges.
The responsibility is on the business owner or directors to complete forms P11D but as we work with many business owners, we understand the issues that they face.
HMRC are keen to close the estimated tax gap (difference between the tax declared and the tax that the Government estimate is due) they are opening more investigations and enquiries into businesses PAYE affairs with penalties for non-compliance.
In addition, incorrectly failing to declare benefits-in-kind can result in the employer being liable to pick up the employee’s income tax bill.
We will help business owners and directors comply with their legal requirements by relieving the burden of preparing P11D submissions.
We therefore take the administrative headache away by doing all of the following:
Collection of information from you and your staff
Calculating the value of benefits in kind to declare on the form P11D
Preparation of forms P11D and the employer’s declaration, form P11D(b)
Obtaining your agreement to the forms, before submission to HMRC
Filing the forms with HMRC ahead of statutory filing deadlines
Confirming any national insurance payments due and the payment dates
Liaising with your staff regarding forms P11D
Deal with any HMRC queries
Reporting the provision of new or replacement company cars to employees during the tax year
Additionally, we offer a PAYE ’health-check’ service to review your PAYE function. We will review all aspects of reporting including your payroll and expenses system. As part of the ‘health-check’ we will assess whether it is beneficial to offer company cars to employees in light of the new OPRA arrangements and whether there are any areas of risk, should HMRC open a PAYE enquiry.
VAT returns and advice
With increasing focus on the submission of VAT returns with the impending implementation of Making Tax Digital it is important to understand changing regulations and statute, which can lead to additional administration for the business owner.
As VAT is a self-assessed tax, you are not only expected to correctly interpret and implement the law, but additionally you are expected to keep abreast of the rapid changes surrounding case law. Failure to do this may result in unwanted penalties, surcharges and interest charges. It may also result in potentially significant arrears.
Our VAT service includes:
Completion of VAT registration or de-registration applications
Advice on VAT planning
Formation of VAT groups
Consideration of the use of VAT schemes such as the flat rate scheme, annual accounting and cash accounting
Completing VAT returns
Advising of VAT payments due
VAT control and reconciliation
Negotiating with HMRC in respect of disputes
Considering VAT issues associated with business or property acquisitions and sales
Considering partial exemption issues
As we are part of Kreston we are able to advise your business on the VAT issues associated with cross border transactions with over 100 countries.
