To reflect the changes in fuel prices, HMRC have issued new advisory fuel rates for employees driving employer provided cars.  These take effect for all journeys undertaken from 1 July 2009 so employers wishing to use the new rates should advise affected employees and update any expense forms as soon as possible. Engine size Petrol […]

HMRC have announced some details of the New Disclosure Opportunity (NDO) which is due to take place this autumn. In order to encourage taxpayers to disclose an undeclared offshore account the penalty level has been set at 10%. HMRC hope that the low penalty will encourage taxpayers to come forward. HMRC are currently liaising with […]

The House of Lords has ruled in the case of Stringer v HMRC that workers who are refused holiday pay while on sick leave can make a claim to an employment tribunal for an unauthorised deduction from wages (under the Employment Rights Act 1996). This decision follows the ruling in January, by the European Court […]

HMRC are advising taxpayers and employers that, as part of its ongoing plans “to improve customer service and efficiency”, they are in the process of changing the way they process PAYE records. In order to make all PAYE records available on one computer system they are undertaking a major IT upgrade. They are advising that […]

Tax credits are state benefits which are generally available to lower income families. However, entitlement to the credits is significantly increased where individuals pay for childcare or suffer a drop in normal levels of income perhaps due to incurring trading losses or redundancy. Individuals who have already claimed tax credits for 2008/09 have to finalise […]

The government has published its report Digital Britain which sets out the government’s plans for the UK to be at the forefront of the global digital economy. The core details, as taken from the press release, are as follows: Universal access to today’s broadband services by 2012 Next Generation fund for investment in tomorrow’s broadband […]

A survey of over 500 SMEs carried out by the British Standards Institution (BSI) has found that nearly one in five businesses has unwittingly breached the Data Protection Act (DPA) at least once. Almost 50% of businesses said they had breached the DPA on several occasions and an additional 18% said they were not sure […]