Wishing you a merry Christmas and a prosperous 2010 from the UK tax expert, but remember that the self assessment tax return deadline is fast approaching!

Following many articles in the professional press, HMRC have finally begun to advertise the existence of the ‘New Disclosure Opportunity’.  Banner ads are appearing across the net showing choppy waters, no doubt as a metaphor of what could be to come.

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Whether you have passed the compulsory VAT registration limits or are simply going to register on a voluntary basis, you will have to go through the process of registering for VAT.   Often feared by many new businesses and certainly not always straightforward, VAT registration can however be completed within a couple of weeks.

Here are my top five tips…

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So, HMRC have continued to push on with their campaign for online filing.  Next on the list is VAT returns.  Anyone who has registered for VAT online will know that it is a relatively simple process and the response times from HMRC tend to be much improved.  However many business are not aware that by April next year they will need to file their VAT RETURNS online as well.

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Those who have been completing a tax return for some time will know about payments on account.  If it is your first year, you may not know that you may have to pay tax on account – effectively six months in advance!

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So the Budget speech is once again near (22nd April) and the usual array of commentators are offering up their suggestions about it’s content, what the government is going to do to aid the economy and what surprises there may be.  Instead of making a guess at it’s content, I though I could give the Chancellor the benefit of my wisdom (just in case he is stuck for ideas)… (Read More)

So it looks like we finally have a result in the Marks and Spencer (M&S) “Tea Cake” court battle, which was finally settled at the European Court of Justice.  Whilst the technical VAT issue had been settled some time ago, the argument this time was regarding ‘unjust enrichment’ and whether M&S actually deserved a repayment.  In this case, the court has ruled in favour of M&S and ended the Tea Cake War.

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With the self assessment tax return deadline now less than a week away, what can you do if you are still yet to submit your tax return?  Don’t despair, our top tips can help you to keep your tax affairs in order.

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So after telling yourself that you were going to submit your self assessment tax return well in advance of the deadline this year, you were just too busy and in the end, you couldn’t meet the 31 January deadline.  So you will have to pay the £100 penalty – well perhaps not!

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The announcements on 24 November 2008 by Chancellor Alistair Darling brought in the expected drop in the standard rate of VAT, from 17.5% to 15%, effective from 1 December 2008.  His hope is that this immediate cut will encourage public spending prior to the Christmas period and will kick-start the UK economy once again.

However the effect of this change is far from clear.  Whilst many of the retail giants have already made assurances that they will be passing on the VAT cut, one does need to question whether this is just a clever (or not so clever) marketing ploy just in time to catch the Christmas market.

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