Walker Thompson Newsletter 54

Have you visited our new website yet? If not, please have a look and let us know what you think: http://www.walkerthompson.co.uk/

We are now keeping clients up to date with regular articles on Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin.

Please follow any of the links below for more information on each topic.

BUDGET 2012

George Osborne presented his third Budget on Wednesday 21 March 2012.

INCREASED PERSONAL ALLOWANCE FOR 2012/13

For those aged under 65 the personal allowance will be increased by £630 to £8,105. This increase is greater than the minimum required and is part of the plan of the government to ultimately raise the allowance to £10,000.

AGE ALLOWANCES

It was announced in the Budget that from 2013/14 the higher age related personal allowances will not be increased and their availability will be restricted.

CHILD BENEFIT

Legislation will be introduced to impose a new charge on a taxpayer who has adjusted net income over £50,000 in a tax year where either they or their partner are in receipt of Child Benefit for the year.

CORPORATION TAX RATES

A further reduction in the main rate of corporation tax has been announced.

STAMP DUTY LAND TAX (SDLT)

A new rate of 7% will be introduced where the chargeable consideration for a residential property is more than £2 million.

EMPLOYER END OF YEAR FORMS

HMRC are reminding employers that in order to avoid penalties they must file the Employer Annual Return (P35 and P14s) online and on time.

REIMBURSING ADDITIONAL HOUSEHOLD EXPENSES

From 6 April 2012 HMRC are increasing the guideline rate which employers can use to reimburse employees for additional household expenses incurred because they have to work from home to £4 per week (currently £3 a week).

ADVISORY FUEL RATES FOR COMPANY CARS

New company car advisory fuel rates have been published to take effect from 1 March 2012.

UPDATED GUIDANCE ON GIFT AID AND NEW DECLARATIONS

HMRC have updated their guidance on Gift Aid declarations and provided new model declarations.

NATIONAL MINIMUM WAGE RATES

The government has accepted the Low Pay Commission’s recommendations for National Minimum Wage rates from 1 October 2012.

NATIONAL LOAN GUARANTEE SCHEME

The Chancellor George Osborne has launched the National Loan Guarantee Scheme (NLGS), which is designed to help ‘smaller businesses’ across the UK access cheaper finance.