Weekly Update 5th June 2020

Weekly Update 5th June 2020

Below I have summarised all the main tax related updates we have seen this week. 

• Deadline for applying for the Discretionary Grants Fund – 8th June 2020

• Part Time Furloughing and Key Date of the 10th June 2020

• Defer your Self Assessment payment on account due to coronavirus

• Our Worle office is now reopen!

I’m away from the office on annual leave next week for a bit of home DIY and garage tidy-up, but if you need any support or advice please do not hesitate to contact the team. 

I hope you have a great weekend!

Stay safe and well. 

Best wishes,

Steve

Steven Hillman ACA

Chartered Accountant

Tel: 01934 444100

https://www.hillmans.co.uk/covid-19-updates 

Deadline for applying for the Discretionary Grants Fund – 8th June 2020

The deadline is fast approaching for making an application for the North Somerset Discretionary Grants Fund.  

Businesses can apply before 23:59 on the 8th June 2020. 

Small businesses in North Somerset, which have yet to receive financial support during the coronavirus crisis, can apply for additional funding following an announcement from central Government.

 

A grant of £2.1 million has been awarded to North Somerset Council as part of a new Government Discretionary Grants Fund, and will offer financial support to small businesses that can demonstrate:

• they have suffered a significant fall in income because of the Covid-19 pandemic

• have fixed property-related costs 

• employ fewer than 50 employees

Organisations applying for the fund must have been trading on 11th March, 2020 and not have received any other Government funding. 

Cllr Mark Canniford, Executive Member for Business, Economy and Employment at North Somerset Council, said: “We understand all businesses are finding life extremely hard, but the Government is asking councils to prioritise the following types of businesses: 

• small businesses in shared offices or other flexible workspaces

• regular market traders who do not have their own business rate assessment

• bed and breakfasts (excluding Airbnb) which pay council tax instead of business rates

• charity properties that receive charitable business rates relief, which would otherwise have been eligible for small business rates relief or rural rate relief

For more detail please refer to the full guidance for small business grants here: https://www.n-somerset.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/small-business-grants-discretionary-fund-guidance.pdf 

You can apply here: https://innorthsomerset.co.uk/covid-19-support/small-business-grants-information/ 

Part Time Furloughing and Key Date of the 10th June 2020

Key Date - 10th June 2020

Following the Governments update for the furlough scheme on Friday, a key date has been updated, the 10th June 2020.

Its important to note the furlough scheme will close to new entrants from the 30th June 2020. From this date onwards, employers will only be able to furlough employees that they have furloughed for a full 3 week period prior to 30th June 2020.

This means that the final date by which an employer can furlough an employee for the first time will be 10th June 2020, in order for the current 3 week furlough period to be completed by the 30th June.

Employers will have until 31st July 2020 to make any claims in respect of the period to the 30th June.

Part Time Furloughing

From 1st July 2020, employers using the scheme will have the flexibility to bring previously furloughed employees back to work part time – with the government continuing to pay 80% of wages for any of their normal hours they do not work up until the end of August. This flexibility comes a month earlier than previously announced to help people get back to work.

Employers will decide the hours and shift patterns their employees will work on their return and will be responsible for paying their wages in full while working. This means that employees can work as much or as little as the business needs, with no minimum time that they can furlough staff for.

Any working hours arrangement agreed between a business and their employee must cover at least one week and be confirmed to the employee in writing. When claiming the CJRS grant for furloughed hours, employers will need to report and claim for a minimum period of a week. They can choose to make claims for longer periods such as on monthly or two weekly cycles if preferred. Employers will be required to submit data on the usual hours an employee would be expected to work in a claim period and actual hours worked.

If employees are unable to return to work, or employers do not have work for them to do, they can remain on furlough and the employer can continue to claim the grant for their full hours under the existing rules.

Defer your Self Assessment payment on account due to coronavirus

To help ease the financial impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19), the Government announced that self-employed taxpayers may be able to defer some tax payments without paying a penalty. 

At present it is possible to:

- delay VAT payments due before 30 June 2020 until 31 March 2021;

- delay self-assessment payments on account due in July 2020 until 31 January 2021.

Taxpayers have the option to defer their second payment on account for the 2019/20 tax year if they are registered in the UK for self-assessment and finding it difficult to make a second payment by 31 July 2020, due to the impact of coronavirus.

HMRC will not charge interest or penalties on any amount of the deferred payment on account, provided it is paid on or before 31 January 2021.

Taxpayers do not need to tell HMRC that they are deferring the payment on account, and choosing to defer will not prevent them from being entitled to other coronavirus support that HMRC provide, such as grants under the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS).

The second payment on account must be made on or before 31 January 2021 if people choose to defer and there is concern around the tax and accountancy professions that deferment may have a knock-on 'snowball effect'. Whilst deferral will give an element of 'breathing space' in the short term, it may store up bigger problems in the future if liabilities continue to remain unpaid. HMRC confirm that the usual interest, penalties and debt collection procedures will apply to missed payments.

Taxpayers should note that other payments which may need to be paid by 31 January 2021 include any balancing payment due for the 2019/20 tax year, and first payment on account due for the 2020/21 tax year. 

For further information on payments, taxpayers can sign in to their HMRC online account, or if you're a Hillmans client we can check this for you. 

You can read more here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/defer-your-self-assessment-payment-on-account-due-to-coronavirus-covid-19

Our Worle office is now reopen

We are excited to have reopened our Worle office this week!

We have adapted the office to ensure both our team and clients feel safe and reassured by the measures we have put in place. To ensure the safety of our team, there will be a maximum of two team members allowed in the office building at any one time. Each team member will have their own office, bathroom, and kitchen area for their personal use. The rest of the Hillmans team will continue to work from home for the time being.

Many thanks to our suppliers AFS and Safety EPOS for helping us get Covid-19 safe with the sneeze guard safety screen, social distancing markings and hand sanitation facilities for the visitor reception and office areas. 

 

We appreciate not all our clients are comfortable or able to use online HMRC (.GOV) facilities, so we are pleased to be able to assist our clients personally in the office once again (subject to safe social distancing). This will be achieved by our updated visitor reception area benefiting from a safety Sneeze Guard screen, enabling us to safely assist clients in-person. 

Whilst we will be open for the drop off and collection of client records and post, together with assisting clients who need personal assistance with HMRC online facilities and services, we do anticipate these visits will be kept to the minimum time possible. All accounts and tax return review meetings, together with consultations with Steve and the team, will continue to be held over the phone or via video calls at present. 

Our Worle office will be open Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm, however we will of course follow Government guidance and if any changes are needed to our opening hours or method of operation, we will provide updates on our blog and social media channels.

You can view a couple of the updated office photo's here on our blog: https://blog.hillmans.co.uk/2020/06/our-worle-office-is-now-reopen.html 

It will be great to see you all again, albeit in a slightly different way for the time being! 😊