Business News – 18th October 2021 – 2020 Innovation
As part of 2020’s commitment to
its members by providing online training for accountants in practice, we have
provided a Business News Update for our members.
Welcome to our
round up of the latest business news for our clients. Please contact us if you
want to talk about how these updates affect your business. We are here to
support you!
Self-Assessment:
Paper submission deadline looming!
HM Revenue and
Customs (HMRC) is reminding Self-Assessment tax payers to check that they have
the correct information in order to complete their tax return.
This year, tax
payers will also have to declare if they received any grants or payments from
COVID-19 support schemes up to 5 April 2021 as these are taxable, including:
The deadline for
2020/21 tax returns is:
You can file your
return before the January deadline but still have until 31 January 2022 to pay.
Please contact us
about helping you file your 2020/21 return before the deadline or if you have
any questions about grants or payments received.
The UK Government is consulting on the
implementation of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD) Model Reporting Rules for Digital Platforms, which
require digital platforms to report details of the income of sellers on their
platform to the tax authority and also to the sellers.
From January 2023, these rules will require
platforms to report information about the income of sellers providing goods and
services to help sellers get their tax right and to enable HMRC to detect and
tackle non-compliance.
The UK Government invites comments from
digital platforms that facilitate the provision of services, such as taxi and
private hire services, food delivery services, freelance work and letting of
accommodation, as well as those that facilitate the sale of goods and transport
rental. They also welcome views from organisations or bodies that represent
platforms or businesses in the sharing or gig economy.
This consultation will also be of interest
to individuals and companies who provide such services using digital platforms.
The consultation closes on 22 October 2021.
HMRC Webinars
– National Minimum Wage – Elements of Pay
In this 1 hour
webinar, HMRC look at the many different elements making up minimum wage pay.
They will cover what does and doesn’t count towards a worker’s pay – discussing
in depth things like deductions, payments and their effect on your employees
entitlement. They will look at some common areas where things can go wrong, and
what you as an employer can do to recognise and fix them.
The Health
and Safety Executive (HSE) spot checks on businesses
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is continuing to carry out spot checks and
inspections on all types of businesses, in all areas, to ensure they are
working safely to reduce the risk of COVID.
During
the spot checks, HSE provides advice and guidance to manage risk and
protect workers, customers and visitors. However, where some businesses are not
managing this, HSE will take immediate action.
This can range from
providing specific advice, issuing enforcement notices, and stopping certain
work practices until they are made safe. Where businesses fail to comply, this
could lead to prosecution.
Brexit – Full
customs controls will be introduced as planned on 1 January 2022
From 1 January
2022, when full customs controls are introduced, the option to delay
declarations without an authorisation from HMRC will no longer apply. You will
need to choose to make full customs declarations when you import goods or to be
authorised to make simplified declarations. You may want to use an intermediary
to help you, but if you choose to make your own customs declarations you will
need to start preparing now.
New service
launched to report UK internal market issues
The Office for the
Internal Market (OIM) is a newly created function and is part of the
Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).
OIM is calling on
businesses to report any issues relating to trading across different areas of
the UK. OIM has been tasked with supporting the effective operation of the UK
internal market using its economic and technical expertise, following the UK’s
departure from the European Union. It will provide reports to the Northern
Ireland Executive, the Scottish Government, the Welsh Government and UK
Government.
To help fulfil this
role, the OIM has created a new digital reporting service, through which
businesses can share their experience of how the UK internal market is working.
For example, this
could include issues relating to trading across all four nations, such as if
producers from one part of the UK are paying more to meet the product standards
in another part of the UK in order to sell there. It could also include
difficulties in using certain professional qualifications awarded in one part
of the UK in different parts of the UK.
The information
provided will contribute to the first State of the UK Internal Market report,
planned for Spring 2022, as well as providing intelligence for any
discretionary reviews that the OIM decides to carry out.
Governments can
also seek advice or reports on the impact that rules and requirements are
having – or may have – on the internal market. In addition, the OIM will look
at changes to the operation of the internal market over time.
Recruiting
Prison Leavers: Employers Summit 2021
The Ministry of
Justice will host a free interactive virtual event supporting businesses from
all sectors that are interested in recruiting prison leavers.
Hear first-hand
from leading businesses already benefitting from recruiting prison leavers,
including Timpson, Greene King and Greggs.
The headline
session will cover filling your skills gaps by recruiting from prison, followed
by three workshops covering diversity and inclusion, prison logistics, and
corporate social responsibility.
The event takes
place on 21 October 2021.
Funding for
development of Service Robotics facilities
Apply for a share
of up to £500,000 to develop your vision for the UK’s next generation Service
Robotics facilities.
Innovate UK, part
of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), is funding a Small Business Research
Initiative (SBRI) competition to support the development of the UK’s National
Robotics Proving Ground facilities.
The facilities
would aim to accelerate the development and adoption of a new generation of
service robotics. There are a wide variety of ways in which such facilities
could be delivered across different locations in the UK.
This competition
gives organisations an opportunity to develop and share their visions for how
such a facility could be realised, and what its technical capabilities would
need to be.
The aim of the
competition is to develop:
The outputs from
this short competition will inform UKRI what type of facilities can be
developed with capital infrastructure funding and the scale of the funding
required.
To be eligible,
your proposal must be for a project that delivers a short technical feasibility
study working towards one or more of this competition’s specific themes. All
deliverables must be completed by 31 March 2022. The competition is open and
closes for applications 10 November 2021.
New Tax Checks to Renew Licences for Taxi, Private Hire and Scrap Metal
Businesses
From April 2022,
the rules are changing for individuals, companies or any type of partnership
applying for a licence for a:
In order to obtain
or renew a licence the trader must carry out a tax check. This cannot be done
by a tax agent or adviser on behalf of the business. The tax check will ask
questions about the payment of tax that is due on income from the licensed
trade.
After completion of
the tax check the trader will be given a 9-character tax check code which will
need to be provided to the licensing authority to support the application.
Businesses affected
will need to set up a Government Gateway user ID and password, if they do not
already have one, in order to complete the tax check. Precise details of the tax
check are yet to be published but it is likely to require that the trader is
registered with HMRC.
Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) update
The coronavirus job
retention scheme (CJRS) closed on 30 September 2021 and HMRC have updated their
guidance on how to deal with under and over-claimed amounts made in error for
earlier periods. Note that claims for September 2021 should have been made by
14 October 2021 unless there is a reasonable excuse for a late claim.
There was
particular uncertainty about whether under claims could be set off against
overclaimed amounts. The latest guidance states that the off-set can only be
made where the under claim and overclaim arise within the same claim period.
The updated
guidance reminds employers that if they have overclaimed a grant and have not
repaid it, they must notify HMRC by the latest of:
If they do not do
this, they may be liable to a penalty. HMRC have stated that they will not be
actively looking for innocent errors in their compliance approach.
Tell HMRC
about an option to tax land and buildings
To help businesses
during COVID-19 HMRC made a temporary change to the time limit for notifying an
option. The change applied to decisions made between 15 February 2020 and 31
July 2021. This temporary change ended on 31 July 2021.
HMRC also allowed
options to be signed electronically subject to providing supplementary
evidence. This change has now been made permanent.
Check the changes to the time limit and how you notify an option to tax land and buildings.
Form VAT1614A has
now been updated. You should only complete this form to notify HMRC of your
decision to opt to tax land and or buildings.
Apply for the
Industrial Fuel Switching competition
The competition is
looking for projects that will help industry switch to lower carbon fuels.
Applications for Phase 1 (Feasibility Studies) are now open.
The £55 million
Industrial Fuel Switching competition will support innovation in the
development of pre-commercial fuel switch and fuel switch enabling technology
for the industrial sector, to help industry switch from high to lower carbon
fuels. Funding will be awarded through Small Business Research Initiative
(SBRI) contracts, providing 100% funding for pre-commercial solutions.
There are 2 phases
to the competition:
The competition
will support fuel switch and fuel switch enabling technologies at Technology Readiness
(TRL) Level 4 to 7 at the start of the project.
Funding is divided
into 3 Lots:
COVID-19 and renting: guidance for landlords, tenants and local authorities
The guidance for
landlords, tenants and local authorities in the private and social rented
sectors in the context of Coronavirus (COVID-19) has been updated to reflect
the end of the Rental Mediation Service pilot.
Lateral flow
tests to be introduced for vaccinated international arrivals
From 24 October fully vaccinated passengers and most under 18s arriving in
England from countries not on the red list can take a cheaper lateral flow
test, on or before Day 2 of their arrival into the UK. These can be booked from
22 October.
Passengers will
need to take a photo of their lateral flow test and booking reference supplied
by the private provider and send it back to them to verify the result.
Passengers are also able to book to have a test which they can take on their
arrival into the UK at testing centres located in some airports.
Click
here for more details about the C19
resources and updates available to 2020 Members.