FIRST FURLOUGH SCHEME TO COME TO END. ACT NOW!

The first furlough scheme comes to an end on 30th June 2020.  It will be followed by a second furlough scheme, with more details being announced soon,

As the first scheme comes to an end you must:

Make a claim – if you have employees who have been in furlough, but you have been waiting to make one claim for the whole period of furlough, to save time/admin, you must make a claim for the period to 30th June 2020. This should be as soon as possible after 30th June, and must be made by 31st July 2020, when applications for this first period will close.

If you have an employee who is not yet on furlough, but you anticipate that you will need to furlough them, they must be included in a furlough claim for the period to 30^th June 2020.  This means you must officially inform them, in writing, that they are to go into furlough by 10^th June at the latest.  They must not do any work whilst in furlough for this period of time.

GOV.UK has details of who can be furloughed, what you have to do, and how to make a claim.

We are still open and as we are cloud based, everyone can work from home.  So, we are continuing to provide the same fantastic support to our clients, just sometimes, in a slightly different way.

For help and advice call us on 01132864486 and ask for Jo.

Photo by Mimi Thian on Unsplash

The scheme to support sole traders and sole trader partnerships has been extended.  There will be the opportunity to apply for a second grant under this scheme in August 2020.

The closing date for applications for the first grant under the scheme closes on 13^th July.  So, if you have not yet made a claim and your sole trader or sole trader partnership business has been adversely affected by coronavirus, then you should apply as soon as possible.

If you continue to be adversely affected by coronavirus in the period June to August 2020, you will be able to make a second claim in August 2020.  This second grant will be made at 70% of average earnings, rather than 80% as per the first claim.  It is anticipated that payments will be made in August.  Generally, this is 6 days after an application is received.

Don’t forget, these grants are taxable and will go into your 2020/21 tax return.

Please remember, HMRC require that you do your own claim for this grant.  It is not difficult to claim, but you will need your Gateway ID and password, so it will be good to check that you have these, in advance.

You can check out eligibility criteria and the way the grant is calculated by following GOV.UK

We are still open and as we are cloud based, everyone can work from home.  So, we are continuing to provide the same fantastic support to our clients, just sometimes, in a slightly different way.

For help and advice call us on 01132864486 and ask for Jo.

Photo by Antonio Reynoso on Unsplash

With the current national situation fraudsters are unfortunately using this to their advantage and various scams are being circulated.

E-mails stating a tax refund from HMRC due to changes in the law because of COVID-19, texts stating they “Have been fined” for leaving their homes two/three/four times, fraudulent communication supposedly from the World Health Organisation, NHS and private health suppliers selling facemasks and other personal protection equipment…..the list is rather long.

Barracuda Networks, a cyber-security company, undertook some research and found that Coronavirus-related phishing e-mails have increased by 667% since the beginning of March.

With the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme now up and running phishing e-mail scams are being sent by fraudsters supposedly from HMRC with the intention, like many of stealing personal information.

The e-mail is sophisticated using the HMRC branding and supposedly from Jim Harra, first permanent secretary and chief executive of HMRC.  On checking the address, it is from “no-reply@ncryptedprojects.com.”  The aim being for business owners to provide bank account information.  The website associated with this is in the process of being taken down.

HMRC have said “Fraudsters are taking advantage of the package of measures announced by the government to support people and businesses affected by coronavirus.  Scammers text, e-mail or phone taxpayers offering spurious financial support or tax refunds, sometimes threatening them with arrest if they don’t immediately pay fictitious tax owed.”

To date HMRC has detected over 54 Covid-related financial scams, most being sent by text message.  They have also asked internet service providers to take down more than 227 web addresses.  Many “mimic government messages such as “Stay at home” and “Stay home, stay safe,” as a way of appearing authentic and unthreatening.”

A HMRC spokesperson said “If someone texts, e-mails or calls claiming to be from HMRC, saying that you can claim financial help or are owed a tax refund, and asks you to click on a link or to give information such as your name, credit card or bank details, it’s a scam.”

The National Cyber Security Centre has advice and guidance about on-line security and reporting phishing activity together with GOV.UK.

Source : FTAdviser & North Yorkshire Police

Photo by Matthew Henry on Unsplash

The Coronavirus Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme is for small and medium sized employers to recover the cost of Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) to their employees.  The claim portal opened on 25^th May.

The scheme has been set up to repay employers the current rate of SSP that they pay to current or former employees for sickness starting on or after 13^th March 2020.

If an employer pays more than the SSP rate, then they can only claim the current rate.  Repayment is from the first day of sickness up to 2 weeks, if any employees is unable to work due to,

• having the coronavirus
• self-isolating at home

Employees do not need to provide a doctor’s fit note to claim.

Employers can use the scheme if they

• are claiming for employees who are eligible for sick pay due to coronavirus
• have a PAYE scheme created and started on or before 28 February 2020
• have fewer than 250 employees on 28^th February 2020

The scheme covers all types of employment contracts,

• Full time
• Part time
• Employees on agency contracts
• Employees on flexible or zero-hour contracts

The Government will let you know when the scheme will end.

Connected companies and charities can also use the scheme if the relevant guidance above is true.

Records must be kept of all SSP claimed from HMRC including,

• the reason the employee cannot work
• details of each period when an employee could not work, including start and end dates
• details of the SSP qualifying days when an employee could not work
• National insurance number of all employees who you have paid SSP to

All records need to be kept for at least 3 years following the claim.

If you need help with payroll, then please call us on 0113 2864486

Source: GOV.UK

Photo: Photo by Alex Green on Unsplash

Statutory annual leave entitlement has been amended to enable workers, who cannot take leave due to Covid-19, to carry this over into the next 2 leave years.

At present most employees are entitled to 28 days’ holiday, including bank holidays, per year (pro rata for part time).  The rules state that most are not able to carry any over to the next year, if not taken and therefore lose that holiday entitlement.

The obligation is on the employer to ensure that all employees take said statutory entitlement during the year with financial penalties if not.

The Government have announced that these regulations are to be relaxed with up to 4 weeks of holiday entitlement, not taken, to be carried over into the next 2 leave years.  It thereby eases the requirements for employers,

• ensuring that the whole holiday entitlement does not need to be taken in one year.
• those particularly affected by Covid-19 have the flexibility to allow employees to carry over holiday and thereby not leaving them short staffed at a future date when all annual leave needs to be taken by.

These changes will amend the Working Time Regulations which covers the majority of workers such as agency workers, those who work irregular house and workers on zero-hours contracts.

There is always an obligation on the employer to ensure that employees have sufficient opportunity to take holiday and it cannot be replaced with payment in lieu.

The exception to this is when the employee leaves.  If the latter arises, regulations have been amended further to take account of this.  Any holiday pay due will also incorporate any carried over and not taken due to Covid-19 and will be paid accordingly.

Source: Accountancy Daily

Photo by Link Hoang on Unsplash

The government will provide additional Small Business Grant Scheme funding for local authorities to support small businesses that already pay little or no business rates because of small business rate relief (SBRR), rural rate relief (RRR) and tapered relief. This will provide a one-off grant of £10,000 to eligible businesses to help meet their ongoing business costs.

You are eligible if:

• your business is based in England
• you are a business that occupies property
• you are receiving small business rate relief or rural rate relief as of 11 March 2020

If you are or believe you are eligible for this grant from the Government, you can speed things up by completing the online form

https://forms.leeds.gov.uk/SmallBusinessGrants/

https://forms.wakefield.gov.uk/Forms/BusinessGrant/BusinessGrantForm.aspx

https://www.doncaster.gov.uk/doitonline/request-a-small-business-grant-fund-and-retail-hospitality-and-leisure-grant-fund-payment

https://www.northyorks.gov.uk/coronavirus-covid-19-business-support

If your council is not listed above, you can search @small business grant to see if there is a form available to complete yet.

If you need help then please call on  0113 2864486

The Self-employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) will support self-employed individuals (including members of partnerships) who have lost income due to coronavirus (COVID-19).  The scheme will allow you to claim a taxable grant worth 80% of your trading profits up to a maximum of £2,500 per month for the next 3 months. This may be extended if needed.

 Who can apply?

 You can apply if you’re a self-employed individual or a member of a partnership and you

• have submitted your Income Tax Self Assessment tax return for the tax year 2018-19
• traded in the tax year 2019-20
• are trading when you apply, or would be except for COVID-19
• intend to continue to trade in the tax year 2020-21
• have lost trading/partnership trading profits due to COVID-19

Your self-employed trading profits must also be less than £50,000 and more than half of your income comes from self-employment. This is determined by at least one of the following conditions being true:

• having trading profits/partnership trading profits in 2018-19 of less than £50,000 and these profits constitute more than half of your total taxable income
• having average trading profits in 2016-17, 2017-18, and 2018-19 of less than £50,000 and these profits constitute more than half of your average taxable income in the same period

If you started trading between 2016-19, HMRC will only use those years for which you filed a Self-Assessment tax return.

If you have not submitted your Income Tax Self-Assessment tax return for the tax year 2018-19, you must do this by 23 April 2020.

HMRC will use data on 2018-19 returns already submitted to identify those eligible and will risk assess any late returns filed before the 23 April 2020 deadline in the usual way.

How much will you get?

You’ll get a taxable grant which will be 80% of the average profits from the tax years (where applicable):

• 2016 to 2017
• 2017 to 2018
• 2018 to 2019

To work out the average HMRC will add together the total trading profit for the 3 tax years (where applicable) then divide by 3 (where applicable), and use this to calculate a monthly amount.  It will be up to a maximum of £2,500 per month for 3 months.  They will pay the grant directly into your bank account, in one instalment.

How to apply

You cannot apply for this scheme yet.  HMRC will contact you if you are eligible for the scheme and invite you to apply online.  Individuals do not need to contact HMRC now and doing so will only delay the urgent work being undertaken to introduce the scheme.

You will access this scheme only through GOV.UK. If someone texts, calls or emails claiming to be from HMRC, saying that you can claim financial help or are owed a tax refund, and asks you to click on a link or to give information such as your name, credit card or bank details, it is a scam.

After you’ve applied

Once HMRC has received your claim and you are eligible for the grant, they will contact you to tell you how much you will get and the payment details.

If you claim tax credits you’ll need to include the grant in your claim as income.

Directors

 If you are a director of your own company and paid through PAYE it has been suggested that you may be able to get support using the Job Retention Scheme

If you need assistance then please call us on 0113 286 4486.

Photo by Medienstürmer on Unsplash

The Government has made many announcements to assist businesses through the present COVID-19 situation.

Deferment of VAT payments

• VAT payments can be deferred for up to 3 months.
• All UK businesses will be eligible and the scheme will run between 20 March 2020 and 30 June 2020.
• There is no need to apply for this scheme.
• Businesses will be given until the end of 2020/2021 to settle outstanding VAT liabilities that have accumulated as a result of the 3-month deferral.

Time to Pay

• Any business that pays tax to the UK Government and has outstanding tax liabilities will be able to apply for their case to be reviewed by HMRC with a view to arranging a bespoke “time to pay” agreement
• This applies to all business including the self-employed.
• HMRC has set up a dedicated helpline: 08000159559

Business Rates

• HMRC will introduce a business rates holiday for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses in England for the 2020/2021 tax year.
• No action is required and this will apply to your next council tax bill in April 2020 meaning that there would be no rates payable for those businesses for 2020/2021.

Cash Grants

• Cash grants are only currently available to businesses who pay rates.
• The retail, hospitality and leisure sectors in England can also apply for a cash grant of up to £25,000 per property.
• For rateable values of under £15,000, they will receive £10,000. Between £15,001 and £51,000, they will receive a grant of £25,000.
• No action is required as local authorities will write to eligible businesses.
• Smaller businesses within the Small Business Rate Relief or Rural Rate Relief will be able to apply for a one-off grant of £10,000.

Business Interruption Loan Scheme

• The British Business Bank will launch a scheme from the w/c 23 March 2020 to support businesses with a turnover of no more than £45 million per year.
• The government will provide lenders with a guarantee of 80% on each loan.
• This applies to loans of up to £5m.
• No interest will be charged for the first 12 months.

Companies House

• If a company’s accounts are unlikely to be filed on time owing to being affected by Coronavirus, then an application can be made to extend the period allowed for filing. Here is a link.
• If an application is not made and there is a late filing, then the normal penalty regime would apply.
• It is important to make the application ahead of the deadline.

If you need assistance, then please call us on 0113 286 4486

With the ever changing situation with regards to COVID-19 and how this effects businesses if you have employees, we have detailed below what the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme involves and the present position on Statutory Sick Pay.

Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme

HMRC will set up a new online portal so that ALL UK employers, regardless of size, will be eligible for assistance where an employee has been designated as a ‘furloughed worker.’ HMRC will reimburse 80% of furloughed workers wage costs, up to a cap of £2,500 per month.  The current plan is that this will be in place for 3 months, at which point it will be reviewed.  This will be backdated to 1 March 2020.

Employers must set out which of their employees are ‘furloughed workers’ and inform particular employees.

Furlough is the equivalent of lay off. So, you can lay off staff, continue to pay them and recover 80% of that cost up to £30k per annum.

The current guidance states ‘You will remain employed while furloughed. Your employer could choose to fund the differences between this payment and your salary, but does not have to.’

Changing the status of employees remains subject to existing employment law and, depending on the employment contract, may be subject to negotiation. Our HR support line can help (0844 892 2807).

Questions we have been asked, and our answers, given the current information (23^rd March 2020)

1. Can an employee still work if they are Furloughed?

• No, it is classed as being laid off.

2. My employees received a pay rise in March, will I be able to recover 80% of this higher rate, or will the rate of pay be that as at 28^th Feb?

• We are awaiting clarification of the details.

Statutory Sick Pay (SSP)

Employers will be able to reclaim up to 2 weeks of SSP payments per employee where those SSP payments related to Coronavirus. This applies to all UK employers with 250 employees or less as at 28 February 2020.

The reclaim will not be via RTI, instead, HMRC will set up a new portal to facilitate this.

Please call us on 01132864486 if you need assistance.

National Insurance Contributions

Both the employed, and the self-employed who pay Class 4 contributions, will be able to earn up to £9,500 in 2020/21 before NICs announced the Budget of 2020.

If you employer a veteran, then a new National insurance “holiday” is being introduced for the first year of civilian employment.

National Insurance rates for 2020/21 are remaining the same.

Employed 2019/20                                                                       Employed 2020/21

How much you earn       Class 1 rate                                         How much you earn       Class 1 rate

Less than £8,632                0%                                                      Less than £9,500                 0%

£8,632 – £50,000             12%                                                       £9,500 – £50,000               12%

More than £50,000            2%                                                        More than £50,000              2%

Self Employed 2019/20                                                               Self Employed 2020/21

How much you earn       Class 2 & 4 rates                               How much you earn       Class 2 & 4 rates

Less than £6,365               0%                                                      Less than £6,475               0%

£6,365 – £8,632                 £3 per wk (Class 2)                           £6,475 – £9,500                 £3.05 per wk

£8,632 – £50,000               9% + £3 per wk                                 £9,500 – £50,000               9% + £3.05 per wk

More than £50,000            2% + £3 per wk                                  More than £50,000           2% + £3.05 per wk

 Employment Allowance Scheme

The Employment Allowance scheme (introduced in 2014) was to allow certain businesses who employ staff to reduce their National Insurance Class 1 bill by £3,000 and claimed via payroll.

From 6 April 2020 the Employers Allowance will increase to £4,000 but will only be available to smaller businesses with an employer’s NI bill of £100,000 or less in the previous tax year.

If your business is part of a group of companies or has related companies under the same control, only one company in the group can claim the allowance.

Source: Which & boox