Mayday Tax Return Penalties Advice

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is reminding taxpayers who have not yet filed their 2010/11 tax returns online that they must do so before 1 May, or face a series of daily penalties. Read the rest of this entry »

Will Writing To Be Regulated?

The Legal Services Board (LSB), which oversees the industry in England and Wales, said 20% of wills contained mistakes, and that the industry needs regulation to ensure standards are monitored effectively.

At present, anyone can offer will writing services, and the LSB claims spot checks have revealed mistakes such as wills that have been cut and pasted from master copies without changes being made, or names having been omitted completely. Read the rest of this entry »

UK In Double-Dip Recession

UK GDP shrank 0.2% in the first three months of 2012, sending Britain into its first double-dip since the 1970s.

The UK economy contracted by 7.1% during the 2008-2009 recession, which lasted five quarters in a row. Since then recovery has been slow – the weakest in 100 years. Read the rest of this entry »

Company Pensions at All-Time Low

The UK is heading for a “pensions time bomb” with the number of employees contributing to a company pension scheme, now at its lowest level since the 1950s, according to new Government figures.

Around 8m employees are currently paying into their company pension scheme, according to the Office of National Statistics – and more than 5m of these are in public sector pensions. Read the rest of this entry »

HMRC Real Time Information (RTI)

Under the current PAYE system employers tell HMRC what deductions they have made from employees pay after the end of the tax year, when P14’s and P35’s are produced.

Using RTI, employers will tell HMRC about tax and NI contributions when or before the payments are made, instead of waiting until after the end of the tax year. Read the rest of this entry »