Month: April 2021

Finance Bill 2021 amended to prevent 3 year loss carry back for Holiday lets

The Budget 2021 had some great news for many businesses because it allowed 3 year carry back of losses.

Originally the bill included Furnished Holiday Lets (FHLs) but that has now been changed and FHL’s are now excluded.

The loss relief works as follows………

Legislation introduced in Finance Bill 2021 to extend the period for which trading losses can be carried back against previous profits. This extension will apply to trading losses made by companies in accounting periods ending between 1 April 2020 and 31 March 2022 and to trading losses made by unincorporated businesses in tax years 2020 to 2021 and 2021 to 2022.

Trade loss carry back will be extended from the current one year entitlement to a period of 3 years, with losses being carried back against later years first.

Corporation Tax

The amount of trading losses that can be carried back to the preceding year remains unlimited for companies. After carry back to the preceding year, a maximum of £2,000,000 of unused losses will be available for carry back against profits of the same trade to the earlier 2 years. This £2,000,000 limit applies separately to the unused losses of each 12 month period within the duration of the extension.

This means a cap of £2,000,000 on the extended carry back of losses incurred in accounting periods ending in the period 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021 and a separate cap of £2,000,000 on the extended carry-back of losses incurred in accounting periods ending in the period 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022.

The £2,000,000 cap will be subject to a group-level limit, requiring groups with companies that have capacity to carry back losses in excess of a de minimis of £200,000 to apportion the cap between its companies.

Income Tax

The amount of trading losses that can be carried back by individuals to set against profits of the preceding year remains unlimited. The current restrictions to carry back losses from a trade against general income will remain.

A separate £2,000,000 cap will apply to the extended carry back of losses made in each of the tax years 2020 to 2021 and 2021 to 2022.

This £2,000,000 limit applies separately to the unused losses of each tax year within the duration of the extension. Income Tax payers will not be subject to a partnership-level limit.

steve@bicknells.net

Choosing the Optimum Salary for 2021-22

Its a new tax year, small business owners will be deciding how extract their income, lets look at the choices.

Business Expenses

If you personally incur costs for you business, make sure you reclaim them, for example

Business Mileage (keep records of your trips)

Working from Home Costs

Business Travel Costs

If you incur any cost wholly and exclusively for your business you can reclaim it and it tax free to you and tax deductible to the company.

Pensions

Pensions are extremely tax efficient, contributions are normally tax deductible for the company (they can by up to £40k per year), the money grows in the pension tax free and when you reach 55 your can tax up to 25% out tax free.

Electric Company Cars

There are a range of incentives including the Government Plug In Allowance of up to £2,500, very low rates of Benefit in Kind and 100% First Year Capital Allowances.

Interest on Loans

If you have lent money to your company and you borrowed that money and pay interest on it you can claim the interest on your self assessment return for qualifying interest relief.

You company can also pay you interest on the loan but it will need to deduct interest at source at 20% under the CT61 rules.

You can reclaim tax paid on your interest if it was below your allowance. You must reclaim your tax within 4 years of the end of the relevant tax year. Further details at Tax on savings interest – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Salary Options

The tax free allowance is £12,570 (£1,047.50 per month) but National Insurance is the main driver for salary levels

Class 1 National Insurance thresholds2021 to 2022
Lower earnings limit£120 per week
£520 per month
£6,240 per year
Primary threshold£184 per week
£797 per month
£9,568 per year
Secondary threshold£170 per week
£737 per month
£8,840 per year

Most business owning directors who can take dividends will choose either £737 per month or £797 per month, the £797 qualifies you for state pension, you can check your qualifying years with HMRC

There are special rules for applying National Insurance to Directors

Furlough

If you are on Furlough (CJRS) you should leave you pay at it previous level and then review it when you return to work.

National Minimum Wage

The national minimum wage does not apply to company directors unless they have contracts that make them workers as defined in section 54(3) of the act.

Dividends and the Dividend Allowance

Dividends are a great choice provided you company has made a profit or has profit reserves (if doesn’t its illegal to pay dividends)

Tax yearDividend allowance
6 April 2021 to 5 April 2022£2,000
6 April 2020 to 5 April 2021£2,000
Tax bandTax rate on dividends over the allowance
Basic rate7.5%
Higher rate32.5%
Additional rate38.1%

steve@bicknells.net

What is a Specified Construction Activity?

VAT reverse charge started on 1st March 2021 if you buy or sell building and construction services, but what are construction services?

The CIS rules for reverse charge were set out in statutory notice 2019/892 (The Value Added Tax (Section 55A) (Specified Services and Excepted Supplies) Order 2019)

Specified services

4.  The services referred to in article 3(1) are construction services as defined in articles 5 to 7 together with any goods supplied with those services which fall to be treated as part of a single supply of services.

5.  “Construction services” comprise—

(a)construction, alteration, repair, extension, demolition or dismantling of buildings or structures (whether permanent or not), including offshore installations;

(b)construction, alteration, repair, extension or demolition of any works forming, or to form, part of the land, including (in particular) walls, roadworks, power-lines, electronic communications apparatus, aircraft runways, docks and harbours, railways, inland waterways, pipe-lines, reservoirs, water-mains, wells, sewers, industrial plant and installations for purposes of land drainage, coast protection or defence;

(c)installation in any building or structure of systems of heating, lighting, air-conditioning, ventilation, power supply, drainage, sanitation, water supply or fire protection;

(d)internal cleaning of buildings and structures, so far as carried out in the course of their construction, alteration, repair, extension or restoration;

(e)painting or decorating the internal or external surfaces of any building or structure;

(f)services which form an integral part of, or are preparatory to, or are for rendering complete, the services described in paragraphs (a) to (e), including site clearance, earth-moving, excavation, tunnelling and boring, laying of foundations, erection of scaffolding, site restoration, landscaping and the provision of roadways and other access works.

6.  “Construction services” do not include—

(a)drilling for, or extraction of, oil or natural gas;

(b)extraction (whether by underground or surface working) of minerals and tunnelling or boring, or construction of underground works, for this purpose;

(c)manufacture of building or engineering components or equipment, materials, plant or machinery, or delivery of any of these things to site;

(d)manufacture of components for systems of heating, lighting, air-conditioning, ventilation, power supply, drainage, sanitation, water supply or fire protection, or delivery of any of these things to site;

(e)the professional work of architects or surveyors, or of consultants in building, engineering, interior or exterior decoration or in the laying-out of landscape;

(f)the making, installation and repair of artistic works, being sculptures, murals and other works which are wholly artistic in nature;

(g)signwriting and erecting, installing and repairing signboards and advertisements;

(h)the installation of seating, blinds and shutters;

(i)the installation of security systems, including burglar alarms, closed circuit television and public address systems.

But the more detailed definitions are in Construction Industry Scheme: CIS 340 Appendix A, B, C

Under the new Construction Industry Domestic Reverse Charge identifying whether the activity is a construction activity is the first test you need to apply.

VAT Reverse Charge has a wider scope than CIS in that it covers Mixed Supplies, these are supplied where part of the supply is a construction activity and part is not but the whole contract is treated as within VAT Reverse Charge.

Services with reverse charge and normal VAT charging

Supplies where the reverse charge element is a minor part

Normally if any of the services in a supply are subject to the reverse charge, all other services supplied will also be subject to it. However, if the reverse charge part of the supply is 5% or less of the value of the whole supply this can be disregarded (this is referred to the ‘5% disregard’) and normal VAT rules will apply if the customer makes an end user or intermediary supplier notification.

Supply and fix works will be subject to the reverse charge because the services and goods are part of one supply for VAT purposes. For example, a joiner constructing a staircase offsite then installing it onsite, will be making a reverse charge service even if the charge for installation is only a small (subject to the 5% disregard) element of the overall charge.

In addition, if 2 parties have already had a reverse charge service between them on a construction site, for convenience they can both agree that any subsequent construction supplies on that site can be treated as reverse charge services.

steve@bicknells.net

How do you account payments received under Off Payroll (IR35)?

If you are a contractor working for the Public Sector or a Large Business you will be assessed against the Off Payroll rules that took effect in 6th April 2021 its a shift in the way the existing IR35 rules are applied.

Who is likely to be affected and what is it

  1. Individuals supplying their services through an intermediary, such as a personal service company (PSC), and who would be employed if engaged directly.
  2. Medium and large-sized organisations outside the public sector that engage with individuals through PSCs. Public sector organisations will also be affected by changes to improve the operation of the reform.
  3. Recruitment agencies and other intermediaries supplying staff through PSCs.

Engagements with small organisations outside the public sector are exempt, minimising administrative burdens for the vast majority of businesses.

A 5% allowance is currently available to those who apply the off-payroll working rules to reflect the costs of administering them. Because responsibility is shifting from the PSC to the engager, this allowance will be removed for those engagements with medium and large-sized organisations. It will continue to be available for engagements with small organisations.

The deemed employer is the person who is responsible for:

  • deducting Income Tax and employee National Insurance contributions and paying these to HMRC
  • paying employer National Insurance contributions and Apprenticeship Levy, if applicable, to HMRC

How is the money taxed when the contractor’s company gets it?

ESM10030 – off-payroll working legislation: Chapter 10, ITEPA 2003 (from 6 April 2021): basic principles: how the worker accounts for and reports monies drawn from their intermediary

Remuneration

Remuneration (i.e. such as a salary) drawn by the worker from their PSC will be free of PAYE tax and NICs up to the level of the deemed direct payment, where that remuneration can reasonably be taken to be for services of that worker to a public authority or medium or large-sized organisation not in the public sector. This prevents payments being subject to double taxation (see ESM10024).

This how its processed in Moneysoft IR35 – deemed payments – how to include in RTI to HMRC | Moneysoft

Dividends

If the worker is remunerated via a dividend from their PSC, this will also be tax free up to the level of the deemed direct payment, where the dividend can reasonably be taken to be for the services of the worker to a public authority or medium or large-sized organisation not in the public sector. This only applies to dividends paid to the worker who performed the services subject to the off-payroll working rules. This dividend does not need to be returned on the worker’s self-assessment return.

ESM10035 – off-payroll working legislation: Chapter 10, ITEPA 2003 (from 6 April 2021): basic principles: CT accounting

Example – Corporation Tax

A worker offering their services through a PSC performs services for Major Retail Ltd, a large-sized business. The engagement is within scope of the off-payroll working rules and Major Retail Ltd deems the engagement would be one of employment if it were direct and deducts tax and NICs. For the twelve-month engagement the worker is paid £1,000 per month plus VAT of £200. Each month £400 is taken in tax and employee National Insurance with £600 plus the VAT of £200 paid to the worker’s PSC. The worker takes all £600 as a payroll payment (like a salary) each month without deducting anything further and submits this through payroll on a Full Payment Submission. The PSC has no other income during the year.

Turnover                                            (12 x £1,000)   =   £12,000                    (credit income)

Less Tax and NICs expense      (12 x £400)      =   £4,800                     (debit in profit and loss)

Less Payroll expense                    (12 x £600)      =   £7,200                     (debit in profit and loss)

Profit                                                                                       =   £0

If the worker instead of receiving payroll payments, takes the net amount as dividends there would be taxable profit at the end of the year:

Turnover                                            (12 x £1,000)   =   £12,000                 (credit income)

Less Tax and NICs expense      (12 x £400)      =   £4,800                  (debit in profit and loss)

Profit                                                                                   =   £7,200                  

The PSC also gets relief, this time for corporation tax, to avoid double taxation. This relief is given by s141A Corporation Tax Act 2009. This relief is used when calculating the company’s taxable profit. A deduction equal to net amount received by the PSC, here £7,200, would be made to leave taxable profit of £0. The £7,200 can then be taken as tax free dividends.

If after filing accounts the circumstances change and the engagement should not have been one to which Chapter 10, Part 2 ITEPA 2003 applied, and tax and NICs are refunded, the necessary corrections to the accounts and tax computations must be made to reflect the new position, as the relief would no longer be due.

steve@bicknells.net

Can you justify your pension contribution?

The maximum pension contribution is £40k per year and if you haven’t used the allowance in previous years there is a 3 year carry forward of unused contributions.

Most business owners pay this as a company contribution, that should save corporation tax as its a tax deductible expense.

However, does the contribution comply with

BIM46035 – Specific deductions: pension schemes: wholly & exclusively: controlling directors & shareholders

S34 Income Tax (Trading and Other Income) Act 2005, S54 Corporation Tax Act 2009

A pension contribution by an employer to a registered pension scheme in respect of any director or employee will be an allowable expense unless there is a non-trade purpose for the payment.

One situation where all or part of a contribution may not have been paid wholly and exclusively for the purposes of the trade is where the level of the remuneration package is excessive for the value of the work undertaken by that individual for the employer. In this situation, you should consider whether the amount of the overall remuneration package, not simply the amount of the pension contribution, was paid wholly and exclusively for the purposes of the employer’s trade.

steve@bicknells.net

Payroll Year End Dates

Its Payroll Year End time

Important deadlines

  • 5 April 2021 – You must have sent your final FPS for the tax year 2020-21 by this date (although you should of course still submit FPS returns on or before the final pay date of the year, as per HMRC rules, which may be before 5 April 2021)
  • 14 April 2021 – last date for March CJRS claims
  • 19 April 2021 – You must have sent your final EPS submission for the year by the year – which serves as your ‘Final Submission’ to HMRC for 2020-21.
  • 31 May 2021 – You need to provide a form P60 (either paper or electronic) to each employee on the payroll who was working for you on the last day of the tax year (5 April). You must do this by no later than 31 May. Make sure that you have the payroll file open for 2020-21, then click ‘Forms – End of Year P60’ to produce these.
  • 6 July 2021 – Expenses and benefits annual returns – If you provide employees with expenses and benefits then P11D and P11d(b) are still sent as a separate submission to HMRC and should be sent by 6 July 2021 where applicable.

contact us if you need help

steve@bicknells.net