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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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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Hughes had contracts with two divisions of JCB through his Limited Company Marlen Ltd. HMRC accused him of not being a legitimate contractor and of being in breach of IR35 legislation; they argued that he was in effect a senior employee at JCB.

Legal firm Accountax Consulting represented Hughes and they in turn argued that IR35 legislation did not apply. They cited a few particular instances to prove their case – one example was when Hughes and other IT contractors were sent home without pay when the company’s IT systems weren’t working.

Judge Lady Mitting agreed with their findings, saying that the irreducible minimum required to demonstrate a contract of employment was not met – “It is our conclusion that there is no mutuality of obligation and the degree of control which would have been needed to establish a contract of employment just did not exist.”

“Working through a reputable Umbrella Company or having a professional, in-the-know accountant in your corner is probably the only way to be truly safe from this kind of case, which should really not have gone to court in the first place,” said Pieter Carstens of 1st Contact Accounting.

To find out more about IR35, please visit www.1stcontact-accounting.com.

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In the notice, HMRC said that if your Unique Taxpayer Reference (10-digit reference number) ends with digits 70 to 99, then you are most likely among those affected.

Pieter Carstens from 1st Contact Tax gives this advice to taxpayers who have been affected by this:

What to do if you haven’t received your statement yet:

• Don’t let HMRC’s mistake turn into a liability for you. Don’t delay because you haven’t received your assessment of reminder letter – you won’t be let off the hook and delaying now might cause further problem for you down the line.
• The best, quickest and easiest thing you can do to get this out of the way is simply to log onto the HMRC website and do your self assessment electronically. You can also make the necessary payments online or over the phone and you can do all this immediately.
• If you choose not to do it online and want to wait for your forms, make sure that you retain proof of when you received your SA statement from HMRC, just in case there’s a discrepancy when it comes to interest charged for late payment.
• If you were required to make a second payment on account in July and only receive your statement in August, you will only need to pay interest on the tax due on the second payment if it hasn’t been paid more than 30 days after you receive your statement.
• To avoid future delays and debacles of this nature, partner with an established, trustworthy accounting firm or umbrella company and avoid HMRC altogether!

Visit http://www.1stcontact-accounting.com/ or www.1stcontactumbrella.com for more information about how a reliable tax partner can help cut the red tape out of your life.

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The LVCR was originally set up in 1984 as a VAT-free threshold on imports of commercial consignments of goods valued at under £18 from outside the EU, in the belief that the admin costs associated with collecting the VAT would be more than the actual VAT collected.

This allowed major companies to move offshore and altogether avoid VAT on low-value (up to £18) items like DVDs, CDs, printer cartridges, memory cards and contact lenses, making it close to impossible for small UK companies selling similar products to compete.

In recent years, LVCR has come under fire for the obvious unfair and damaging economic advantage it gives to retailers based in the Channel Islands, at the expense of local retailers. The UK government is also estimated to have lost around £200 million in VAT revenue annually as a result of these offshore retailers.

The problem was addressed by Chancellor George Osborne in his March Budget, with a promise to lower the threshold from £18 to £15 in November. Merely lowering the threshold was however deemed by many to be a highly insufficient measure and it is believed that the loophole will be closed for good by the end of the year. And while the new laws will no doubt benefit the small retailer, consumers might have to start paying more for items that have – for many years now – been available cheaply via the internet.

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It’s the end of the tax season and now is a good time to apply to claim back any tax you may have overpaid in the last tax year, as well as the past 4 years, if you haven’t claimed previously.

What is a P60?

A P60 is a legal tax form which contains a summary of all your pay and tax details for the preceding tax year (which runs from 6 April to 5 April the following year) which you receive from your employer, provided you have worked for them for the entire year. It’s also sometimes called an ‘end-of-year certificate.’

You might need your P60 for various reasons, including when you need to complete a self assessment tax return, claim back any overpaid tax or to apply for a loan or mortgage.

If your employer has not yet given you your form, make sure you ask for it – by law all companies must give their employees their P60s by the 31^st of May each year. If you have already received your P60 from your employer and don’t use it to apply for a tax refund, you could be missing out on hundreds of Pounds due to you.

If you have worked only part of a tax year you should receive a P45 instead, and that can also be used to assess your tax refund.

Apply for your tax refund

Why not visit www.1stcontact-taxrefunds.com or call 0808 141 5501 and let a highly experienced 1^st Contact Tax Refund consultant lodge a claim on your behalf?

If you don’t have your P60, they can try to source it on your behalf, and keep you up to date with your claim process. 1^st Contact works on a “No refund – No Fee” policy, so you have absolutely nothing to lose!

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