There are precious few opportunities to make an arrangement after the end of a tax year, and carry the benefit back to impact tax liabilities of the previous tax year.

One such opportunity involves gift aid, and has the full blessing of HMRC.

According to HMRC you can:

“… ask for a Gift Aid donations to be treated as being paid in the previous tax year if you paid enough tax that year to cover both any Gift Aid gifts you made that year and the ones you want to backdate.

Your request to carry back the donation must be made before or at the same time as you complete your Self Assessment tax return for the previous year but no later than the filing deadline for the tax return, which is 31 October if you file a paper tax return, or 31 January if you file online. If you don’t complete a tax return you can ask your Tax Office to send you a form P810 Tax Review – you must send this by no later than 31 January after the end of the tax year to which you wish to carry back your gift.”

In non-tax speak, you can basically carry back gift aid payments made during part of a tax year, and help reduce your tax liability for the previous tax year. The two main conditions that you must observe are:

1. You must have paid enough income tax in both years to cover the donations made, and
2. You must make the claim to carry back relief before the filing deadline for your self-assessment tax return in the tax year that you make the gift aid payment.

This strategy can be particularly useful if your income marginally exceeds £100,000 as the carry back will not only save you income tax at 20% (40% – the basic rate tax deducted from the payment you make) but also save you the gradual loss of your £10,000 personal allowance.

There is much evidence that dubious characters can masquerade as bona fide business people by calling themselves directors and wrapping themselves in the cloak of incorporation. They use limited liability status to avoid any personal, financial liability.

Stories abound of “directors” who run up debts, place their insolvent businesses into receivership, buy any useful assets from the receiver at a knock down price and start again with a new company and new directorship. Creditors are left carrying the financial responsibility for the directors’ actions.

Which is why it is gratifying to see these rogue “directors” getting their just deserts. Consider a recent case where the directors of Club Media Systems Limited were disqualified for a total of nine and a half years for failing to provide agreed services or paying company paid tax.

Garry Wayne O’Loughlin and Nicola Martin Hobson, directors of Club Media Systems Limited, based in Blackpool, which traded as a provider of digital advertising services, were been disqualified for a total of nine and a half years, for entering into agreements to provide advertising services which it was unable to provide and failing to make sure the company paid tax due to HMRC.

The disqualifications follow an investigation by the Insolvency Service.

The investigation found that Mr O’Loughlin and Ms Hobson, as directors of Club Media systems Limited, entered into agreements with customers for advertising services it was unable to provide, resulting in these customers being owed at least £22,715 at the date of liquidation.

Robert Clarke, Group Leader of Insolvent Investigations North at the Insolvency Service, commenting on the disqualifications, said:

“Companies have limited liability, which is a privilege, not a right. These two directors entered into agreements which they knew the company could not fulfil, to the detriment of its customers, and failed to deal with its tax affairs, resulting in this privilege being withdrawn.”

The company was placed into liquidation on 21 March 2012 with an estimated deficiency of £739,179.

We are pleased to announce that we have been shortlisted for one of the most prestigious prizes in our industry.

Paul Farmer, one of four directors, has made the shortlist of nine for the Practitioner of the Year at the British Accountancy Awards 2014.

The event, organised by industry title Accountancy Age, is recognised as one of the most respected awards events for the sector.

As well as the individual honour, our firm has also been shortlisted for the Independent Firm of the Year for the Midlands.

Paul said he was honoured to be nominated for the prize and believes the modernisation process the company has undertaken had helped it make the shortlist.

He said: “I am absolutely delighted to be on the shortlist and I am quite honoured to be put up there among the best practitioners across the UK.

“At Armstrongs, it’s a real team effort and mine and the company’s nomination is a great testament to the work everyone has put in over recent years to make us one of the most modern practices around.

“We’ve invested in new IT systems and new staff and it means we are able to offer a seamless service to all of our clients – whether they are micro-businesses or global operators.

“This is a very exciting time for Armstrongs Chartered Accountants and we are looking forward to a great night. We’d love to win, obviously, but being recognised as being among the best in the country has already been a great boost to us as a business.”

We will find out if it has won at a ceremony in London on November 25. If you would like to follow our progress on the night our twitter feed is:

https://twitter.com/ArmstrongsAcc

 1 November 2014 – Due date for Corporation Tax due for the year ended 31 January 2014.

 19 November 2014 – PAYE and NIC deductions due for month ended 5 November 2014. (If you pay your tax electronically the due date is 22 November 2014.)

 19 November 2014 – Filing deadline for the CIS300 monthly return for the month ended 5 November 2014.

 19 November 2014 – CIS tax deducted for the month ended 5 November 2014 is payable by today.

 1 December 2014 – Due date for Corporation Tax due for the year ended 28 February 2014.

 19 December 2014 – PAYE and NIC deductions due for month ended 5 December 2014. (If you pay your tax electronically the due date is 22 December 2014)

 19 December 2014 – Filing deadline for the CIS300 monthly return for the month ended 5 December 2014.

 19 December 2014 – CIS tax deducted for the month ended 5 December 2014 is payable by today.

 30 December 2014 – Deadline for filing 2013-14 Self Assessment online to include a claim for under payments (under £3,000) be collected via tax code in 2015-16.

If you let a room or rooms in your main home you will not pay any tax on rents received as long as the gross receipts do not exceed £4,250 in a tax year.

This relief extends to owner occupiers and tenants who receive rent from letting furnished accommodation in their home.

If your gross receipts are more than £4,250 you can choose between paying tax on:

• Your actual profit – gross rents minus actual expenses and in certain cases capital allowances, or
• Your gross receipts (and any balancing charges) minus £4,250; with no deduction for actual expenses or capital allowances.

Rent-a-room relief applies to a tax year and the limit of £4,250 is reduced to £2,125 if during the basis period someone else also received income from letting accommodation in the same property.