News

Businesses are being warned they could risk significant delays to importing goods if they don’t move to the UK’s new streamlined customs system.

Organisations submitting import declarations must use the Customs Declaration Service from 1 October 2022, when the Customs Handling Import and Export Freight (CHIEF) system will close for import declarations.

Businesses should check that their customs agents are ready to use the new service. Those without a customs agent must set themselves up to make their own declarations using software that works with the system.

Many businesses are already using the Customs Declaration Service, however around 3,500 businesses are yet to move.

It can take several weeks to be fully set up on the new system so those waiting to register risk being unable to import goods to the UK from 1 October.

Julie Etheridge, HMRC’s Director of Programme and Operational Delivery for Borders and Trade, said: “There are now only two months left until businesses must use Customs Declaration Service for imports. Businesses need to move now or risk being unable to bring their goods into the UK.

“Registering takes time so businesses should start moving to the Customs Declaration Service to ensure a smooth transition and avoid disruption to their business.”

To help all businesses and agents prepare for the Customs Declaration Service, declarants are being contacted by phone and email to inform them of steps they need to take. Further information is available on GOV.UK, including a Customs Declaration Service toolkit and checklists, which break down the steps traders need to take.

Traders can also register or check they have access to the Customs Declaration Service on GOV.UK and access live customer support services for additional help.

Once registered, businesses that use a Duty Deferment Account will need to set up a new Direct Debit Instruction for the Customs Declaration Service by 30 September. If this is not set up, the Duty Deferment Account will no longer be usable, and individual immediate payments will need to be made each time an import declaration is made.

CHIEF will close for export declarations on 31 March 2023, with businesses being required to use the Customs Declaration Service to send goods out of the UK.

Families struggling to make ends meet in the cost-of-living crisis will be able to take advantage of special deals over the summer holidays.

Some of the UK’s biggest businesses have signed up to offer discounts and deals through the Government’s Help for Households Campaign.

Asda, Morrisons, Amazon and Vodafone are among those supporting the initiative with deals designed to reduce costs at the checkout, help provide entertainment and ensure access to necessary services for families during the summer holidays and beyond.

Agreed with the Government’s Cost of Living Business Tsar David Buttress, the deals include the extension of Asda’s ‘Kids eat for £1’ scheme, where children aged 16 and under can access a hot or cold meal for £1 at any time of day in Asda Cafés across the UK.

Sainsbury’s is introducing it’s ‘feed your family for a fiver’ campaign, helping customers with budget-friendly meal ideas to feed a family of four for less than £5.

Theatres in London are uniting for Kids Week, an initiative giving children the chance to see a West End show for free throughout August with a full paying adult, with half price tickets for two additional children in the same group, while Vodafone is promoting a mobile social tariff of £10 a month.

Along with new initiatives, some deals are a continuation of successful support schemes which businesses are already running and want to promote under the Help for Households campaign to raise awareness.

These include Amazon’s new ‘help for households’ page that will provide access to free entertainment such as Freevee and Amazon Music, as well as educational resources for school-aged children and low-price essential groceries. Morrisons is also providing a free meal for every child at in-store cafes when a parent buys an adult meal.

The Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, said: “We’re facing incredibly tough global economic headwinds and families across the country are feeling the pinch. That’s why this government is providing an unprecedent £37bn worth of support to help households through the storm.

“Both the public and private sector have a role to play here – and that’s why it’s great to see so many leading UK businesses are now coming forward to offer new deals and discounts that will provide much needed respite at the checkout.

“This won’t solve the issue overnight but it’s yet another weapon in our arsenal as we fight back against scourge of rising prices and inflation.”

1 August 2022 – Due date for corporation tax due for the year ended 31 October 2021.

19 August 2022 – PAYE and NIC deductions due for month ended 5 August 2022. (If you pay your tax electronically the due date is 22 August 2022)

19 August 2022 – Filing deadline for the CIS300 monthly return for the month ended 5 August 2022.

19 August 2022 – CIS tax deducted for the month ended 5 August 2022 is payable by today.

1 September 2022 – Due date for corporation tax due for the year ended 30 November 2021.

19 September 2022 – PAYE and NIC deductions due for month ended 5 September 2022. (If you pay your tax electronically the due date is 22 September 2022)

19 September 2022 – Filing deadline for the CIS300 monthly return for the month ended 5 September 2022.

19 September 2022 – CIS tax deducted for the month ended 5 September 2022 is payable by today.

There are certain circumstances when you will pay Capital Gains Tax when selling personal possessions.

You may have to pay Capital Gains Tax if you make a profit (‘gain’) when you sell (or ‘dispose of’) a personal possession for £6,000 or more.

For example, you may need to pay tax on sale of personally owned jewellery, paintings, antiques, coins and stamps, or sets of things, e.g., matching vases or chessmen.

You will need to work out your gain to find out whether you need to pay tax.

In most cases, you do not need to pay tax on gifts to your husband, wife, civil partner or a charity.

Also, you do not pay Capital Gains Tax when you sell your car – unless you have used it for business, or anything with a limited lifespan, e.g., clocks – unless used for business purposes.

You are also exempt from paying tax on the first £6,000 of your share if you own a possession with other people.

Now our present Prime Minister has indicated his intention to resign it seems unlikely that a successor will be appointed before September.

Which means Boris Johnson’s cabinet are caretakers for the interim period and it is doubtful that there will be any far-reaching changes to UK taxes.

The new Prime Minister and his or her Chancellor will want to stamp their authority on legislation when in post in which case it is possible that we will have an early Autumn Budget this year.

Be prepared for extremes. Higher taxes, lower borrowings and reduced public expenditure is one possibility, the other, lower taxes and initially, higher borrowings.

We shall see.

Since 2017, there is no tax to pay on trading income or earnings from land and property as long as the income from each source does not exceed £1,000.

Trading allowance

The trading allowance is a tax exemption of up to £1,000 a year for individuals with trading income from:

• self-employment.
• casual services, for example, babysitting or gardening.
• hiring personal equipment, for example, power tools.

This allowance does not apply to trading income from a partnership.

Property allowance

The property allowance is a tax exemption of up to £1,000 a year for individuals with income from land or property.

If you own a property jointly with others, you are each eligible for the £1,000 allowance against your share of the gross rental income.

If you have two businesses and claim the property allowance in one business, you may not claim actual expenses in respect of the other business.

You cannot use this allowance on income from letting a room in your own home under the Rent a Room Scheme.

There are various provisions to make sure that these allowances are not exploited. If you want to take advantage of either or both these allowances read the fine print on the gov.uk website.

If you are locked into an IVA and are concerned that recent increases in the cost of living are creating severe financial pressures, you can ask your IVA supervisor to review your income and expenses to see if you are eligible for a reduction in payments or a payment break.

You will be required to provide evidence of your income and expenditure to support a change to your contributions. This could include providing payslips, statement of benefits or utility bills.

Any amendments to your contributions into your IVAs would need to be agreed with your creditors.

Your supervisor has been provided with the latest guidance on adjustments to payments, via the IVA Standing Committee, and they will also be aware of alternative solutions to help you resolve your debt issues and can help you find further information where appropriate.

More than a million small businesses are now eligible for discounted software through a flagship government scheme after a change to the rules.

The Help to Grow: Digital Scheme, which cuts the price of leading software to boost productivity and growth in the UK’s smaller firms, is now available to businesses with just one employee.

With Customer Relationship Management software proven to boost firms’ productivity by 18% on average, the initiative offers businesses discounts worth up to £5,000 on approved software.

Previously, only businesses with more than five employees were eligible for the scheme. From July 25, the number of eligible businesses rose by 760,000 making the scheme available to 1.24 million small companies.

eCommerce software is also now available through the scheme to help businesses ramp up sales of products and services online. This includes helping them to manage their inventory, take payments and gather data and insights on customers’ needs. Businesses which adopt eCommerce software see on average a 7.5% increase in employee sales over three years.

This means businesses can now access a £5,000 discount on 30 software solutions from 14 leading technology suppliers for eCommerce, Digital Accounting and CRM software.

Additionally, the government has announced that Help to Grow: Digital will support one-to-one advice for SMEs on the best ways to adopt digital technology. The government has launched applications for advice platforms to partner with the scheme, and the advice service will go live later this year.

Business Minister Lord Callanan said: “Boosting productivity isn’t some abstract concept to be sniffed at – for individual SMEs it means bigger sales and breaking into new markets. It can add £100 billion to the British economy overall, creating jobs and opportunity across the country.

“Adopting the latest technology is proven to help businesses make the most of their potential, and by making more than one million firms eligible for the scheme, we’re helping to level up the UK economy and bolster the ability of our businesses to compete with the best worldwide.”

The Help to Grow: Digital sits alongside the Help to Grow: Management scheme as the government’s flagship programme to help small and medium-sized businesses to scale-up and grow. Help to Grow: Management offers business leaders 50 hours of leadership and management training across 12 weeks, with government covering 90% of the costs involved.

The schemes help businesses to boost their productivity and grow, which can lead to more high-skill, high-wage jobs. This is part of the government’s commitment to grow the economy to address the cost of living and level up opportunity across the UK, alongside standing behind businesses by cutting fuel duty and raising the Employment Allowance.

More than a million of the lowest-paid workers in the UK will receive a financial boost from 2025.

New Government legislation just published confirms that around 1.2 million low earners who save for their pension through a Net Pay Arrangement (NPA) will get the same level of government top-up as those who use Relief at Source schemes.

For NPAs, pension contributions are deducted before income tax is calculated, whereas with Relief at Source it is after.

Take home pay boosted

Around 200,000 workers will receive a £100 increase in their take-home pay. The average beneficiary will receive an extra £53 a year, with 75% of affected workers being women.

The number of people eligible for a top-up of £100 or more is based on the total number of people in the UK who contribute at least £500 every year into their NPA pension but have no tax relief on that contribution.

Financial Secretary to the Treasury Lucy Frazer said: “A quirk in our pensions tax system has meant that over a million low-earners have lost out on government top-ups to their pensions, resulting in comparatively less take home pay.

“We are correcting this injustice so low earners will get the same level of Government support, no matter what type of pension they use.

Since 2015, people saving through an NPA have had less take home pay compared to similar-earning savers who use a Relief at Source scheme. Those using the latter type of pension scheme receive a 20% top-up from the Government on their savings, while those using NPAs receive tax relief at their marginal rate – 0%.

Professional advice

The Government has published legislation confirming that it has rectified this anomaly, and low-earning pension savers will receive similar top-ups regardless of what pension scheme they are using. Beneficiaries will receive their top-ups directly into their bank accounts from 2025 and HMRC will be notifying those who are eligible then.

There are several different types of pension contributions. If you would like pension advice, we would recommend seeking professional guidance.

Hospitality staff will be able to keep their well-deserved tips from grateful customers under new legislation that has been backed by Government.

Although customers may leave cash to say thank you to their waiter staff, many employers still keep the money for themselves. For card payments, it is even harder to keep track of where the money has gone. Staff, many earning National Minimum Wage, may see a small percentage, but in too many cases are likely to be left empty-handed.

The Employment (Allocation of Tips) Bill, introduced by Dean Russell MP and backed by the Government, will ensure that all tips go to staff by making it unlawful for businesses to hold back well-earned service charges from their employees.

This overhaul of tipping practices is set to benefit more than 2 million UK workers across the hospitality, leisure and services sectors – who tend to rely on tips the most – and will help to ease pressures caused by global inflation and an increase to the cost of living.

Fair deal for millions

Dean Russell, Conservative MP for Watford, said: “I am delighted that my Tips Bill has passed second reading in Parliament. It is fantastic that we are on track to securing a fair deal for millions of people working in hospitality across the country.

“It has always felt wrong that some employers have retained tips intended for their staff. This new legislation will halt this practice, particularly given the current challenges around the cost of living. I would like to thank all of the businesses and stakeholders that have got in touch to voice their support.

“The move towards a cashless society has exacerbated the problem of companies keeping card tip payments for themselves, and these measures, once in law, will ban that practice.

Business Minister Jane Hunt said: “At a time when people are feeling the squeeze with rising costs, it is simply not right that employers are withholding tips from their hard-working employees.

“Whether you are pulling pints or greeting guests, these reforms will ensure that staff receive a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work – and it means customers can be confident their money is going to those who deserve it.”

Request for information

Through the Bill, a new statutory Code of Practice will be developed to provide businesses and staff with advice on how tips should be distributed. On top of this, workers will receive a new right to request more information relating to an employer’s tipping record, enabling them to bring forward a credible claim to an employment tribunal.

UK Hospitality Chief Executive, Kate Nicholls, said: “Tips and service charges provide a significant and welcome boost to hospitality employees’ take-home cash. So we’re delighted to see this proposed legislation recommend that employers can set a fair distribution policy for staff, meaning they all benefit. This should also reassure prospective hospitality sector workers at a time when the industry is seeking to fill vacancies.”