The Accountancy & Tax Centre

🚨 How to complete your own taxes 🚨

The answer is simple…… don't do it!!!

We've been on the receiving end of countless HMRC enquiries from individuals submitting incorrect information ❌

It's usually one extreme or the other, either vastly underpaying or vastly overpaying 💷

Our advice is…… hire a professional!!!

🚨 If you've started working for yourself, please feel free to get in touch with us to check:

✅ How to register with HMRC.
✅ What records you need to keep.
✅ What taxes may apply to you.
✅ How to plan for your tax bills.

🚨 Can you split your business to avoid VAT
registration?

We've worked with clients on countless cases where we've split a business into two entities and saved the need for VAT registration ✅

However, most of the time businesses are artificially separated without ticking the right boxes. Which will land you with some nasty penalties, and a backdated VAT liability 😃

HMRC look for financial, economic and organisational links between the separate entities!

Examples such as the below would all be links HMRC would look for 👇🏽

-sharing equipment
-common employees/managers
-financial dependency

Tread carefully when 'splitting' your business, and speak to a professional tax advisor first 👌🏾

❇️ Payments On Account ❇️

Payment on accounts are a system HMRC use for directors, self-employed individuals and other taxpayers to pay their personal taxes & national insurance in advance….. only for those whose tax liabilities are £1,000 or higher!!

❇️ Here's how it works:

Based on your tax liability from the previous tax year, HMRC calculates your payment on account for the current tax year. The payment on account is usually made in two installments - one due by 31st January and the other by 31st July.

Each payment on account is equal to half of your previous year's tax bill. So, if your total tax liability for the previous tax year was £2,000, you will need to make two payments of £1,000 each as your payment on account.

🚨 Remember, this isn't an additional tax - it's HMRC 'helping you' pay in advance - lovely of them!!!

🚨 If you believe your tax liability for the current year will be lower than the previous year, you can request to reduce your payment on account.

🚨 When you submit your Self Assessment tax return for the current tax year, HMRC will reconcile your actual tax liability with the payment on accounts you made. If you paid more than necessary, you'll receive a refund. On the other hand, if you didn't pay enough, you'll need to settle the remaining balance by 31st January the following year.

✅ Please feel free to get in touch for any assistance!

🚨 Speeding fines, parking tickets and late payment charges - can they be claimed? 🤔

As they are not deemed wholly and exclusively for the purpose of the business, penalties are NOT an allowable expense...

However, here are the things you can claim:
✔️ Pay and display parking charges
✔️ Mileage
✔️ Tolls
✔️ Congestion charges
✔️ VAT and some of the cost of public charging if you have an EV

So next time you're thinking of leaving it on double yellows, head to a car park to make the most of the tax relief instead 👌🏾

🚨 Property Rental Disclosures - Undeclared Rental Income 🚨

We’re still getting a lot of new clients coming in to get upto date with declaring their property rental income from past years! 🏡

HMRC do have access to the Land Registry & they are going through this data, comparing to names on household bills to see if they match! ✔️

Make sure you get to HMRC before they get to you as the fines are a lot more severe!! 😫

🚨 VAT Registration 🚨

You must register for VAT if your turnover has exceeded £90,000 threshold during the previous 12 months, or if you expect it to exceed that figure in the next 30 days ✅

The 12 months is a 'rolling period', it is not based on the tax year or any accounting period so make sure you monitor this to avoid a nasty surprise ⚡️

Once you know the date you exceeded the threshold, you can work out your effective date of registration. You have 30 days from the end of the month you exceeded the threshold 👌🏽

Your effective date of registration is the first day of the second month after you go over the threshold, see an example below 👇🏽

Date of exceeding the £90,000 threshold - 5th July 2025

Within 30 days of the end of the month you exceed, then the first day of the following month

Meaning August is your time to prepare, and the 1st September 2025 is your effective date of registration

You then must start charging/paying VAT on all sales, and submitting VAT returns to HMRC 🗓️

There's different schemes available, all suited to different situations, turnover levels, business models etc!

🚨 Recent tax changes could impact you or your business.

From updated thresholds to new reporting requirements, it’s important to understand how these changes affect your finances.

If you’re unsure what they mean for you, get in touch — we’re here to help you plan ahead and stay compliant.

🚨 BIG Changes for Salary Sacrifice Pensions for Employees 🚨

❇️ When is the new £2,000 salary-sacrifice cap effective?

• The limit on salary-sacrifice pension contributions that are exempt from National Insurance Contributions (NICs) will come into force from 6 April 2029 (the start of tax year 2029/30).

❇️ What will change from 6th April 2029

• Currently, all pension contributions made via salary sacrifice are exempt from employee and employer NICs (as well as reducing taxable pay).

• From 6 April 2029, only the first £2,000 a year of salary-sacrificed pension contributions will remain exempt from NICs

• Any amount that you contribute above that will be subject to both employee and employer NICs (though income tax relief still applies as usual).

❇️ February Task - Planning for 5th April 2026 Tax Year End ❇️

We’re in February — which means there’s still time to:

✔ Review your profit before year end.
✔ If Limited - Check your Dividends.
✔ Use up your allowances.
✔ Plan pension contributions.

Tax isn’t just about filing — it’s about timing 🙌🏽

🎉🎉🎉 And with that, the January 2026 Tax Deadline Season comes to an end ……. Now onto Making Tax Digital!!! Woo Hoo 🤥

🚨 P11D update🚨

The move to mandatory payrolling of benefits has been delayed until April 2027.

This gives employers more time to prepare systems, processes, and payroll arrangements before the change becomes compulsory. 🙏🏽🙌🏽