Monthly Archives: January 2015

Supplying Digital Services to Consumers in the EU

If your business supplies digital services to consumers in other EU countries, you need to be aware of new VAT rules.

On 1 January 2015, HMRC put in place new ‘place of supply’ rules for VAT on the supply of digital services by businesses to consumers in the EU.

The new rules state that all supplies of telecommunications, broadcasting and e-services to consumers will be charged based on the rate of the location of the consumer, rather than the location of the supplier (as has previously been the case).

What is classed as a ‘Digital Service’?

• The supply of television or radio programmes.

• Fixed and mobile telephony, fax and connection to the internet.

• Video on demand, downloaded applications (commonly known as ‘apps’), music downloads, gaming, e-books, anti-virus software and online auctions.

If your business supplies digital services to consumers in the EU, you will have a requirement to VAT register in each country in which your customers are located. However, a streamlined process has been introduced by HMRC which allows you to avoid this. Instead, you can register for HMRC’s new service called VAT MOSS (VAT Mini One Stop Shop).

Once you have registered for the MOSS service, each calendar quarter you submit a single MOSS VAT Return and single payment to HMRC. The relevant parts of the return and payment will then be forwarded to the member state(s) where the consumers are located. This fulfils your VAT obligations without the need for individual registrations in each country.

If you have not done so already, we recommend that you put the processes in place to comply with these new rules sooner rather than later. HMRC have warned that any business that does not comply with the new VAT rules will be excluded from using the MOSS service for 2 years and fined. This means excluded companies will have to register for VAT in each of the EU member states that they supply digital services to.

VIDEO: Tips on Long Term Care and Inheritance Tax Planning

It’s been well publicised over the last couple of years that the cost of care is increasing, which could potentially cause issues with finance later on in life. As people are now living longer it’s important to consider any contingencies that could occur and what you may be able to do if Long Term Care was needed.

Following our successful seminar earlier this month on Long Term Care and Inheritance Tax Planning, Tony Brierley (Managing Director of PM+M Wealth Management) provides some useful tips on planning for the unexpected.

If you would like more information or advice on Long Term Care or Inheritance Tax Planning, please email Tony Brierley at tony.brierley@pmm.co.uk or call 01254 679131 to speak to our Wealth Management team.

If you would like to attend our next Long Term Care and Inheritance Tax Planning Seminar on Tuesday 19 May, please click the button below to book your place.

PM+M Presents Cheque to Blackburn Youth Zone Following Christmas Fundraising Push

On the 13 January, we presented Blackburn Youth Zone with a cheque for £770.00 after completing a series of charity initiatives in the run up to Christmas.

We staged various fundraising events in aid of the charity throughout December including a Christmas jumper day, a Christmas bake-off and a raffle.

Stephen Anderson, managing partner here at PM+M, and Jackie Fisher – partner in our Run My Business division – presented the cheque to Vicky Profit who is the events manager at Blackburn Youth Zone.

Blackburn Youth Zone is a state of the art youth club facility located in the heart of Blackburn. It aims to change the prospects offered to young people in the area. We are proud to have supported the charity since June 2012.

Stephen Anderson said: “Blackburn Youth Zone does an amazing job by partnering with young people and its contribution to the local community can’t be underestimated. We were delighted to present the cheque to Vicky and we hope it helps her team to carry on with its much needed work.”

Vicky Profit commented: “PM+M’s ongoing support is much appreciated. We always encourage our corporate partners to have fun in their fundraising activities and PM+M certainly embraces that approach! This latest donation will help us to drive forward and – more importantly – grow our projects in the local area.”

Submitting Your Tax Return? Avoid These Mistakes

The self-assessment tax return deadline is less than three weeks away and if you are one of the 11.2 million people in the UK that needs to submit one, time is running out.

The deadline, as is every year, is 31 January at midnight. If this is missed you will be automatically hit with £100 fine. However, missing the deadline is not the only way you could incur a fine. Making a mistake on your tax return can cause you to submit an incorrect return and pay the wrong amount of tax, which could cause interest charges and penalties.

To help you ease the stress of submitting your tax return, we have listed the five most commonly made mistakes when submitting online:

Failing to complete all the pages you need to. For example, not including PAYE information. We’ve all been guilty of it, getting closer to the end of a form and completely rushing it to finish. It’s important to make sure you take your time and include all required information to avoid unnecessary fines.
Completing the tax return but then failing to press the ‘submit’ button. It’s better to double check that you have actually clicked the button. It could be worth £100.
Look out for that Pensions Box. You must provide details of your pension provider, but also be aware that this box does not accept punctuation or the ‘return’ key. If you keep receiving an error message and you are unsure what for, it’s probably this. This could help you avoid a call to the HMRC helpline where we’re sure you will be in for a lengthy wait.
Check your numbers. Often when people calculate the amount of tax they need to pay themselves, it often does not fit with the other information they have included in their tax return.
Be careful not to include any special characters such as #. These are not allowed in the online boxes. It’s better if you keep your hashtags for Twitter.

If you need any help or advice, or would like us to take the headache of your tax return away, please give our specialist tax team a call on 01254 679131.

Northern Powerhouse – Good News for Businesses

Following on from the Autumn Statement last month, David Cameron and George Osborne have been in Manchester to set out their economic plan for North West England. George Osborne has promised substantial investment of a further £7 billion in the North.

Transport and logistics seem to be the main focus on developing the “northern powerhouse” with the aim to invest in the North’s roads. To reduce traffic jams, there will also be new trains with 20% more capacity, alongside the development of High Speed 3 (high speed rail link between Manchester and Leeds).

For business, there is a lot to gain from this announcement. With the investment in transport, the North will become a more attractive place to live and work. Another long term aim is to raise the employment rate in the region by creating new jobs through supporting the growth of new businesses. With funding available this goal looks to be very achievable.

Tim Mills, Corporate Finance Partner at PM+M said “This is an excellent plan on paper but care must be taken to ensure all parts of the region benefit.”

The North West is a great place to set up a business and with the continuing investment in the area it is an ideal time to re-locate or launch a venture.

If you would like more information on funding options please contact Tim Mills, PM+M Corporate Finance Partner.

Tax Return Deadline is Looming

It’s that time of year again. Christmas is over, many will still be eating leftover turkey and the annual frenzy of filling in your Self-Assessment tax return is here. With 31 January fast approaching, you need to make sure you leave yourself plenty of time to go through the process laid out by HMRC. You might be thinking of putting it off until a couple of days before, but it’s important to note that you will be fined by HMRC if you miss the deadline.

The penalties for late tax returns are:

An initial £100 fixed penalty, which applies even if there is no tax to pay, or if the tax due is paid on time;
After 3 months, additional daily penalties of £10 per day, up to a maximum of £900.

There are also surcharges for late payment of tax, as well as interest.

If you plan to submit your own tax return for the first time online, it’s worth noting that there is more to it than simply filling in your details and clicking ‘submit’. First of all, you will need to register online and wait for HMRC to issue a user ID and activation code (which can take 7-10 days to arrive by post).

It has been well documented over the last couple of months that average times for the HMRC helpline are less than satisfactory. Callers have been put on hold for an average of 18 minutes before getting through to an adviser, and in one case a caller was left on hold for 41 minutes. Given that a few other people may also be trying to get help at this time of year, it’s best not to rely on getting instant assistance from HMRC.

If you would like advice on completion of your tax return or would like someone to take away the pain and do it for you, our friendly tax team will be delighted to speak to you. However, please do bear in mind that they are very busy making sure all our clients’ tax returns are completed on time, so speak to us now – don’t delay!

Similarly if you are already a client and have not yet sent us your tax return information (you know who you are!) please do send it in now so that we can make sure you avoid late filing penalties and can have time to arrange payment of your tax on 31 January. We don’t like ringing people and giving them a day’s notice to pay a large tax bill!

To get in touch with the PM+M tax team please call 01254 679131.