Transfer of Personal Allowance

Remember, 2015/16 sees the introduction of a transferable personal allowance for married couples and civil partners.  As the amount that may be transferred is 10% of the basic personal allowance, that will now be £1,060.

The recipient must not be liable to tax above the basic rate and is eligible to a tax reduction of 20% of the transferred amount, in other words £212.

Hopefully we will pick this up where we can,  but we don’t always act for both husband and wife so if you think this applies to you remember to let LIRIC know.

tax return

Tax Returns

LIRIC successfully filed 340 tax returns on behalf of our clients.  Some were very last minute – you know who you are! We thought you might be interested in some of the previous years unsuccessful excuses used in failed appeals against HMRC penalties for late filing and payment:

  • My pet dog ate my tax return…and all the reminders.
  • I was up a mountain in Wales, and couldn’t find a post box or get an Internet signal.
  • I fell in with the wrong crowd.
  • I’ve been travelling the world, trying to escape from a foreign intelligence agency.
  • I’ve been busy looking after a flock of escaped parrots and some fox cubs.
  • A work colleague borrowed my tax return, to photocopy it, and didn’t give it back.
  • I live in a camper van in a supermarket car park.
  • My girlfriend’s pregnant.
  • I was in Australia.

On 6 April those HMRC “Notices to file a tax return for 5/4/15” will be coming through your post box – so get organised – let LIRIC have everything in good time and not only does your tax return get filed but we can advise you of your tax liability – preventing any unexpected payments.  LIRIC will be writing to you soon.

Xero Certified Advisor

XERO Bookkeeping News

Our recent launch of Xero to some of our clients has proved a great success.  LIRIC are putting together some case studies and will shares these with you in future editions.
Cloud technology gives a whole new platform to work from and there are a variety of add-on apps to help you manage to work ‘on the move’.
A new poll by UK mobile provider EE sampling 1,000 small businesses shows more than two thirds (69%) believe they’ll enjoy double-digit growth next year, with an average projection of 26%. The top business apps from Xeros add-on marketplace are ideally suited to small Companies with big ambitions they are:-

1 – Receipt Bank helpfully converts receipts, invoices and other piles of paper into Xero data, making expenses and outstanding bills easier to manage and account for.

2 – Harvest: For a year-round bumper financial crop, download this user-friendly tracking and reporting tool. Used to create invoices based on tracked hours and capture profitability.

3 – GoCardless: An ideal entry-level solution, GoCardless is a cheap and simple app for small Companies that want to take direct debit payments online. – You will see this link on our new online invoices – its proving a real hit.

4 – Float: This online cash management, budgeting and forecasting tool helps you keep on top of cash flow. Use it to understand financial trends and patterns, factor seasonality and identify potential issues in time to act.

5 – Xero Touch mobile accounting app: Latest OnePoll findings show more than half (54%) of UK small to medium businesses (SMBs) are concerned about their cash flow. Keep yours moving and manage your business ‘on the move’ with Xero Touch. From back office to building sites, use it to reconcile, send invoices and create expense claims. – This is fab – you can see what’s going on in your business from your phone – reconcile bank, issue invoice…

Tax Investigation Update

HMRC has never been more focused or organised in its pursuit of additional income from tax investigations than at present. During 2013/14, £9.2bn was collected in extra tax from compliance work, including £8bn from big business and £268m from the UK’s wealthiest individuals.

In total, the taxman delivered £23.9bn last year from cash it collected – and loopholes it closed –  to prevent tax evasion and tax avoidance. The figures highlight that individuals and businesses of all shapes, sizes and wealth are in the line of fire as HMRC looks to achieve a record £24.5bn this year. – read more here.

If you are not currently insured with us against this and now think you should be then do let us know.

PS- LIRIC’S routine renewals will be in April.