The government reintroduced the remainder of the March budget last week, it’s the part that was held-over to accommodate the May 2017 general election.

It confirms two items that will be of interest to smaller business owners.

Firstly, that businesses with turnover below the current VAT registration threshold (£85,000 for 2017-18) will not be required to keep digital records – although they may choose to do so – and will not be required to upload quarterly returns of their trading results to HMRC. This is a sensible approach to the Making Tax Digital (MTD) agenda.

Traders that are registered for VAT will need to ensure that they are using compatible software from 1 April 2019, when the obligation to file VAT returns using the new MTD platform commences. If we file VAT returns for you, we will make sure that our software applications are compliant. If you file your own returns we can help you select appropriate software.

Secondly, the Bill confirms that the £5,000 tax-free dividend allowance is being reduced to £2,000 from April 2018.

Small companies, with spare reserves, should ensure that shareholders consider a minimum £5,000 dividend for the current tax year (2017-18). From April 2018, a £5,000 dividend will cost a basic rate income payer £225 in tax. If cash flow is an issue, the dividends can be transferred into a loan account and drawn down when funds are available.

For the present, dividends are a return on capital and not remuneration subject to NIC. While this remains the case, it will still pay to adopt the high dividend, low salary approach.

The Department for Education released the following press release last week regarding the new childcare support offer that commences from 1 September 2017. They said:

Parents of three and four-year olds who have registered for a place will join the 15,000 families benefitting in the 12 areas of the country that introduced the offer early.

The offer should save families around £5,000 per year on childcare, helping them to balance their jobs and family lives, and around 390,000 working families are eligible to benefit. The latest evaluation shows 8 out of 10 childcare providers were willing and able to double their current 15 hours offer.

The providers in the 12 areas across the country that implemented the offer early have helped to share examples of best practice for other providers to follow. This has been bolstered by the work of local authorities across the country in supporting their local early years sector to deliver the offer.

To be eligible for the 30 hours the following conditions apply:

• You, and any partner, must each expect to earn (on average) at least £120 a week (equal to 16 hours at the National Minimum or Living Wage).
• If you, or your partner, are on maternity, paternity or adoption leave, or you're unable to work because you are disabled or have caring responsibilities, you could still be eligible.
• You can't get 30 hours free childcare if you, or your partner, expect to earn £100,000 or more.
• Available to parents of age 3 and 4-year-olds born on or after 1 September 2012.

The scheme can be accessed at:

•  
• Nurseries and nursery classes
• Playgroups and pre-school
• Childminders
• Sure Start Children's Centres

If eligible, you would be entitled to an extra 570 hours of free childcare a year to use flexibly, so 1140 hours in total.

The first eight Early Implementer areas were Hertfordshire, Newham, Northumberland, Portsmouth, Staffordshire, Swindon, Wigan and York, launching 30 hours in September 2016. Dorset, Leicestershire, North Yorkshire and Tower Hamlets joined the scheme in April 2017.

The Childcare Choices website provides information on the government’s childcare schemes and explains how parents can pre-register or apply. It also includes a childcare calculator to show eligible families how much they could receive. https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/

1 September 2017 – Due date for Corporation Tax due for the year ended 30 November 2016.

19 September 2017 – PAYE and NIC deductions due for month ended 5 September 2017. (If you pay your tax electronically the due date is 22 September 2017)

19 September 2017 – Filing deadline for the CIS300 monthly return for the month ended 5 September 2017.

19 September 2017 – CIS tax deducted for the month ended 5 September 2017 is payable by today.

1 October 2017 – Due date for Corporation Tax due for the year ended 31 December 2016.

19 October 2017 – PAYE and NIC deductions due for month ended 5 October 2017. (If you pay your tax electronically the due date is 22 October 2017.)

19 October 2017 – Filing deadline for the CIS300 monthly return for the month ended 5 October 2017.

19 October 2017 – CIS tax deducted for the month ended 5 October 2017 is payable by today.

31 October 2017 – Latest date you can file a paper version of your 2017 Self Assessment tax return.

If you are a client, and registered to submit a Self Assessment tax return, we can provide you with a statement that you can use as evidence of earnings for mortgage purposes.

If you are not a client, there are many ways you can obtain this data direct from employers and other sources. For example, you could use the following as evidence of earnings:

• A P60 from your employer, you should receive this on or before the 1 May following the end of each tax year.
• Alternatively, you can contact HMRC and request a tax year overview. This will take approximately two weeks to arrive so you should possibly request this information before you apply for your mortgage or loan.

If you submit your own tax return using HMRC’s online portal, you should be able to download and print the evidence you need.

The evidence of earning that you should request from HMRC is called an SA302. You should be able to obtain copies for up to four years in this format.

If your employment requires that you obtain and maintain membership of a professional organisation, you can make a claim to set the cost against your taxable earnings for income tax purposes. As you would expect there are a few hoops you will need to jump through to claim this relief. They are:

• You must have the professional membership to do your job or if membership helps you with your work.
• You can only claim back subscriptions to organisations approved by HMRC.
• You cannot claim back fees for life membership subscriptions.
• You cannot claim subscriptions you have not paid yourself, for example, your employer has paid them for you.

To see the full list of professional organisations and other learned societies that are approved by the tax office visit this page on the GOV.UK website:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/professional-bodies-approved-for-tax-relief-list-3/approved-professional-organisations-and-learned-societies