Many of the businesses that haven’t taken advice from specialists such London Registrars (a firm of company secretaries and business consultants in London) may have been informed after a visit by HMRC that their VAT records were in need of improvement.

In the last few years HMRC have concentrated on publicising the importance of maintaining appropriate records. Since 2011, this publicity campaign has been supported by a special programme for checking corporate records. For those organisations with records that fail to pass muster, there is the threat of a fine of up to £3,000, levied under the rules for direct tax (income and corporation tax) self-assessment. However, in relation to VAT, a separate record-keeping penalty of up to £500 can be imposed. Continue reading

Despite the widespread television advertisements urging awareness of pension auto-enrolment (AE), a year or two still remains until it becomes compulsory for small and medium-sized firms. Nonetheless, such ads have focused talk on the importance of companies providing their personnel with workplace pensions. The question for many of those using London Registrars’ business consultancy service will be whether directors will be affected in addition to regular employees. Continue reading

Clients of London Registrars’ business consultant services may be interested to read that there have been recent changes to partnership taxation, following the closure of a consultation designed to tackle the perceived use of partnerships to avoid tax. The consultation, which was announced by the Chancellor in the 2013 Budget, culminated in the issuing of draft legislation in December 2013, with the resultant measures set for inclusion in the 2014 Finance Bill

There are new rules concerning limited liability partnerships (LLPs), for example, aimed at tackling ‘disguised employment’. No longer will it be automatically presumed that an LLP member is self-employed for tax purposes and instead a member will be treated as an employee for tax purposes, subject to the fulfilment of certain conditions. This will make them subject to PAYE and NICs. Continue reading

Many of those firms using the services of a business consultancy in London will have taken note of the recent national minimum wage (NMW) crackdown that has seen a quadrupling in non-compliance fines. This also raises the question of the potential effect on unpaid directors or those taking a low salary.

Recent reports have signalled the government’s intention to take a harder line with companies failing to pay young workers the NMW. Vince Cable has indicated that a general NMW crackdown is imminent. Legislation has already been pushed through parliament, which means that from 1 February 2015, the maximum penalty for failing to pay the NMW will be £20,000, compared to the current £5,000. Continue reading

Clients of London Registrars’ business consultancy service may be interested to read the Pensions Regulator’s recent publication of a report detailing its findings from a review into pension scheme record-keeping. Seven case investigations into the matter have now been opened as the regulator seeks to improve standards of record-keeping.

The regulator has said that various types and sizes of schemes exhibited good practice, but it also expressed concern about certain areas, where both the schemes themselves and the payment of member benefits were put at risk. It cited some generally smaller schemes as having lower levels of engagement with their advisers, therefore finding it more difficult to demonstrate that record-keeping challenges had been effectively tackled. Continue reading

This is not the first occasion that London Registrars has reported on the formation of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the UK’s new principal consumer and competition body. Nonetheless, it is worth reminding the clients of business support agencies that this organisation gains its full powers in April 2014. Continue reading