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Archive:May 2019

Please find below all the articles from May 2019.

Rent-a-room tax break remains

HMRC’s rent-a-room scheme currently allows individuals to receive up to £7,500 of gross income from renting out spare rooms in their only or main home without a liability to tax arising. Broadly, as long as income is below the annual threshold, it does not need to be reported to HMRC.

However, the emergence and growth of peer-to-peer online marketplaces and digital platforms (for example Airbnb) has made it significantly easier to advertise rooms and put those with spare accommodation in touch with a national and global network of…

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VAT Flat rate scheme

The VAT flat rate scheme (FRS) is used by many small businesses to help simplify their VAT reporting obligations, although some VAT experts would argue that the scheme is not simple to use.

Broadly, the FRS is a simplified VAT accounting scheme for small businesses, which allows users to calculate VAT using a flat rate percentage by reference to their particular trade sector. When using the FRS, the business ignores VAT incurred on purchases when reporting VAT payable, with the exception of capital items which cost £2,000 or…

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Minimum workplace pension contributions rise

The minimum contributions employers and their staff must pay into their automatic enrolment workplace pension scheme increased with effect from 6 April 2019.

From that date, the employer minimum contribution has risen from 2% to 3%, while the staff contribution also increased from 3% to 5%. As part of the ‘phasing’ process, the increases mean that total contributions for employees have gone up from 5% to 8%.

All employers with staff in a pension scheme for automatic enrolment must ensure that they implement the changes and ensure that at least…

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Taxpayer wins IR35 challenge

HMRC have recently lost another high-profile IR35 case. Kaye Adams, the presenter of ITV’s Loose Women programme, has successfully challenged HMRC on her employment status, with a First Tier Tribunal (FTT) finding the terms of her personal services contract for BBC radio shows meant she was not an employee.

In Atholl House Productions Ltd v HMRC [2019] UKFTT 0242, TC07088, the tribunal stated that the essential issue was whether, if the services supplied by the taxpayer to the BBC had been supplied under a contract directly between the…

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