If you worked in the UK at any time during the 2005/2006 tax year, you should apply for your refund as soon as possible. The UK tax office has recently shorted the reclaim period from 6 to 4 years. The new time period will begin in April 2012, allowing a short grace period for claims from 2005/2006.

If any of the following circumstances occurred during the 2005/2006 tax year, you could be owed money for the period and should apply for your refund today!

• You worked for more than one employer
• You were on an emergency tax code
• You were on the wrong tax code
• You had two or more jobs concurrently

Time Limits for Claiming Tax Back

Visit www.1stcontact-taxrefunds.com or call 0808 141 5503 to speak to a qualified consultant.

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1. Avoid harsh penalties

   This year, the fines for late filing of tax returns has increased quite substantially and late payers could face fines of up to £900 and even more in certain instances. The previous £100 penalty was not proving to be enough of a deterrent, so from October this year, anyone who files late will be subject to the £100 penalty, plus an additional £10 per day, once the return is 3 months late.

2. Avoid stress

   There’s nothing worse than that uncomfortable feeling when there’s something you’ve neglected and you know it could cause problems for you. Why prolong that feeling or even have it in the first place? You need to file your return eventually anyway, so why not on time? Avoid the January rush to file your return – use the quieter lead-up to Christmas to get it done and start the new year knowing you don’t have to worry about it for another year!

3. Avoid scrutiny

   If you have been asked to file a return and it gets picked up that you haven’t done so, your whole tax history and business could be under scrutiny… Do you really want HMRC on your back, digging through your records, auditing your business? Stay up to date and avoid drawing any negative attention to yourself or your taxes!

4. Get your tax refund on time

   If you have overpaid tax (and most people have), you won’t be eligible for your refund, if your latest tax return hasn’t been received by HMRC. They are not going to go out of their way to get your money back to you, so the best you can do is be diligent about staying 100% up-to-date with your returns, and then apply for and enjoy your tax refund when it’s due to you!

For assistance with any tax matters, visit www.1stcontact-accounting.com.

If your tax matters are up to date and you would like to apply for a refund, visit www.1stcontact-taxrefunds.com.

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This Saturday and Sunday (26/27 November) sees the Australia Employment Expo hosted in Dublin’s Aviva Stadium. The event seeks to introduce Australian employers from a variety of sectors to qualified and experienced Irish people looking to relocate.

More than 30 employer and recruiter stands are expected at this event, many of them from the following industries:

• Health & Wellbeing (including medical & dental care)
• Building & Construction (including Engineering & Architecture)
• ICT (Information & Communications Technology)
• Mining, Oil & Gas

Interested parties will have the opportunity to find out more about Australia as a country, as well as about the employment opportunities on offer, which sectors are hiring, how to apply for a visa and much more. Potential employees will also have the opportunity to meet with several employers who have immediate vacancies to fill and who will be recruiting on the spot. More than 1200 jobs have been confirmed for the event, among them 400 through huge engineering company Hatch. Representatives of Western Australia are also said to have more than 3 000 skilled migration visas available especially for the event.

Keith Seed, International Trade Services Manager at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Western Australia has said that up to 10 000 skilled workers are needed in Australia in the immediate future, particularly in Queensland and Western Australia.

If you’re interested in attending the event and applying for any of the jobs, you must have registered at www.ausemploymentexpo.com and paid €10 prior to the event.

For advice or information on Visas to Australia, New Zealand, South Africa or the UK, visit www.1stcontactvisas.com.

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1. Make searching for leads your new morning ritual.

Make it a habit to spend quality time online every morning. Google the phrase “uk contracting jobs”, with the word that best describes your line of work – e.g. plumber, IT technician and so on. Google the whole phrase you want in inverted commas – then Google searches for the whole phrase and not the individual words. Make a folder for job prospects and bookmark all the great jobhunting sites you find to the folder. Then go to each site every morning and check for contracting positions. The more you search, the more you’ll be able to weed out the not-so-great sites from the sites with real, current opportunities in your industry. Within a couple of days, you’ll know exactly where to search and you’ll only need to search for jobs added on that day, so your searching time will decrease drastically.

1. Customise your CV for the job you want.

Your CV has one purpose – to get you an interview. Only apply to positions that are totally suited to you. Make sure your CV looks good, reads well and is free from spelling, grammar and punctuation errors and then tweak it slightly each time you apply, so that it shows your suitability and enthusiasm for the specific job. Write a killer “cover letter” which highlights your strong points as well as your sincere interest in the company or position.

• Make sure your FRONT PAGE has your name, address and contact details, a short bio – no more than 100 words, a list of your skills, and any notable achievements.
• Do not put your whole life story on the front page – nobody cares that you like badminton or were in your school choir – impress them on page 1!
• Keep your CV to 2 – 4 pages max.
• Repeat contracts and long contracts will look good. Short contracts, large gaps and no repeat work will not.
• Beware of fakers. Some agents place fake job ads to increase their database of contractors. When calling or sending an email to agent-placed ads, always establish upfront that the specific job advertised is still available.

1. Be a Brand

Give yourself the competitive edge by marketing yourself.

• Dress as if you already have the success you’re shooting for.
• Make sure you have AWESOME business cards and leave one behind after every interview. This is an inexpensive way of standing out and it shows you mean business.
• Why not make yourself a free webpage that acts as a one-page “brochure”.
• Ask your clients for testimonials and get their permission to publish them on your website.
• Blog, tweet, network, join forums, go to meetings – get your name out there, start actively building your reputation!
• When it comes to hiring a contractor, employers make decisions quickly – sometimes a job can be awarded on the spot. Be that guy or girl! Be professional, look the part, make eye contact, know a bit about the company and ask powerful questions that demonstrate how YOU can help SOLVE a problem they have.

1. Follow up!

When you really want a specific job, show your interest by making a follow up call at an appropriate time. This is another opportunity to make a good impression. Don’t wait too long for agents to get back to you – follow up on every position an agent puts your forward for. Keep a record of where your CV goes and of every company you interview with and remember names.

Make 2012 the year you shift your contracting career into the next gear!

For CV advice, visit http://www.1stcontact.jobs/.

For information about working under an Umbrella Company or setting up your own Limited Company, visit http://www.1stcontact-accounting.com/ or call 0808 141 1624.

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According to HMRC, the previous £100 penalty was not enough of a deterrent and new measures have been put in place to ensure timeous returns. A spokesperson said: “HMRC spends a lot of time pursuing late returns and getting involved in unnecessary appeals work. We want to focus our resources on more productive work such as catching criminals and collecting tax.”

Under the new framework, taxpayers who file their returns late will be slapped with a £100 penalty on the first overdue day. Should the return still not be filed three months later, the taxpayer will incur a DAILY penalty of £10.

A tax return filed six months late could therefore attract a penalty of around £1,300 – a strong incentive to file on time!

The cut-off date for paper returns is October 31, while the online filing deadline is January 31 2012.

For advice, information and professional tax services, visit http://www.1stcontact-accounting.com/ or call 0808 141 1624 and speak to a qualified tax consultant.

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You may be very surprised to learn that there are many more tax rebates also sitting at HMRC waiting to be claimed.

Situations where you may have paid too much tax include:

• you started a new job and had an emergency tax code for a while
• your employer was using the wrong tax code
• you were only employed for part of the year
• you’re a student who only worked at holiday times and didn’t complete form P38S Student Employees
• you had more than one job at the same time
• other income you have which is taxed through your tax code for example, savings/investment income has reduced since you last told HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) about it – which means the amount of income included in your tax code is too high
• you stopped working and didn’t get any taxable earnings or benefits for the rest of the year
• your circumstances changed – for example you changed from full to part-time working or became self-employed
• you were made redundant

In all these situations unless you notify HMRC that this was the case, they will not know that you are due a tax rebate and so will hang on to ‘your money’. Your position might be even better than you realise as the time limits for making claims are 6 years.

According to HMRC claiming a tax rebate is simple and they suggest:

“Write to us and include any relevant documents about your earnings during the tax year for which you’re claiming, such as:

• P60, P45
• information about your employment and benefit history

We will look into your query, work out how much we owe you and send you a refund in the post.

In most cases you’ll get back the tax you’ve overpaid as long as you claim on time”.

Experience suggests that it is not always so simple. Mark Morris a UK taxpayer says ‘dealing with HMRC can be very frustrating; they don’t answer calls or are permanently engaged, they have lost my paperwork and generally don’t seem to be very efficient’.

There is another alternative and that is to use an agent to complete the process for you. Companies, like 1^st Contact Refunds, will be able to work out exactly what you are due, collate the correct paperwork and follow the process through until the rebate is received.

Whatever you do, don’t leave your hard earned money sitting with HMRC.

For advice and information on tax refunds, please visit www.1stcontact-taxrefunds.com or call 0808 141 5503.

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Changes include:

• Lifting income-tax relief from 20% to 30% for investors who provide equity finance to smaller firms.
• The amount on which an investor can get tax relief will also be doubled to £1 million.
• An investor who buys shares in a firm that qualifies for the scheme will now be able to set 30% of the cost of the investment against their income-tax bill.
• Holding onto the shares for three years will mean that any gain on the investment is free from Capital Gains Tax.
• The higher threshold will take effect from April 2012 and tax relief will be backdated to April 2011.

George Osborne has said that the UK Government wants to make the UK “the best place to start, finance and grow a business,” He added: “these changes will give a bigger tax break to those who take risks for growth and jobs in Britain.”

The treasury has estimated that while these smaller high-growth firms account for only 6% of businesses employing 10 people or more, they have in fact provided more than half the new jobs created in the last three years.

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Answer the following questions – yes or no.

1. Have you worked in the UK in the past 5 years?
2. Have you paid Emergency Tax in the UK in the last 5 years?
3. Have you left the UK before the end of a tax year (6 April to 5 May)?
4. While working in the UK, did you have more than 1 Employer in a tax year?
5. Have you at any point only worked for part of a tax year?
6. Have you been on an incorrect tax code at any point in the last 5 years?
7. Have you at any time had two or more jobs in the UK concurrently?

If you answered yes to 2 or more of the above questions, there’s a good chance you are due a refund!

Call a 1^st Contact Tax Refund Consultant on 0808 141 5503 and make sure you have the following in order:

• Exact information of the companies you have worked for in the previous 5 tax years.
• P60s and P45s from these jobs. (If you don’t have these forms from your previous employers, a 1^st Contact Tax Refund consultant can help by applying for them on your behalf. Alternatively get a Statement of Earnings from the HR Department of the companies you worked for.)
• Your National Insurance Number. (If you don’t have one, you will have to apply for and receive your NI number before you can claim back your overpaid tax, but not to worry – a 1st Contact Consultant can help you with that too.)

We’ll fill out all the necessary documentation over the phone, submit your claim to HMCR and then keep you up to date with your claim process.

Remember that even with our efficient service and direct line to HMCR, it can take a few weeks before you receive your money. So why wait? Apply now and you could have an early Christmas!

Call 0808 141 5503 to speak to a qualified Tax Refund Consultant or visit http://www.1stcontact-taxrefunds.com/ for more information.

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“The key benefits of outsourcing payroll are that [it] is more cost-effective and allows companies to concentrate fully on their core business activities,” Mr Hart said.

Pieter Carstens of 1st Contact Umbrella agrees: “By employing payroll companies, the burden of doing it in-house is minimised and there is also in many instances a substantial cost saving.”

“Companies who are growing tired of dealing with HMRC, waiting for calls and emails to be answered or returned and experiencing delays ate every turn should take advantage of the relationships built up over the years between HMRC and companies like 1st Contact Umbrella” he said.

“We also have sophisticated software, highly experienced staff and a direct line to HMRC – our clients don’t have to deal directly with them – they deal instead with our friendly and efficient consultants.”

With all the talk of HMRC’s inefficiency and their many recent big bungles, independent contractors and fully fledged companies alike will benefit greatly by having an established Umbrella payroll company in their corner.

To find out more about Payroll functions and what 1st Contact Umbrella can do for your business, visit www.1stcontact-umbrella.com or call 0207 759 5349.

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Believing that there are a large number of registered plumbers moonlighting without declaring their extra income, HMRC sent a general letter to 50 000 plumbers, warning them to come forward and pay any tax they owed.

Those who did come forward before the May deadline were asked to pay fines of up to 20% on the tax they owed.

Those who have not come forward are in danger of being subjected to a series of raids planned for the coming weeks all across the UK, aimed at finding those who have not paid and ensuring that they pay what they owe. Some investigations are said to involve unpaid tax of up to £150 000.

“HMRC have had limited success with the numbers coming forward in the recent medical and plumbers disclosure opportunities, so they are getting tough with those who did not register or disclose,” said Gary Ashford of the CIOT.

He went on to say that people should not underestimate the amount of data that HMRC is holding, and that HMRC starting to use that information.

An estimated £45 billion is lost each year through unpaid taxes in the UK according to HMRC; they have been given a budget of £917 million to tackle evasion.

For expert advice on your tax, visit www.1stcontact-umbrella.com or call 0207 759 5349.

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