The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) is warning business owners to avoid taking advice from agents who approach them to reduce their business rates bills.

According to Alan Colston, Chief Valuer at the VOA:

“The vast majority of agents are reputable and provide a good service. But there is a small minority promising big reductions in business rates, based on incorrect information.

“These rogue agents often charge substantial fees for providing poor quality submissions using our online Check and Challenge service, which is free to use.

“We strongly advise businesses do their own research and explore different options before appointing an agent. Make sure you choose your own agent – don’t let an agent choose you.

“And remember, you can manage your business rates yourself by creating a Business Rates Valuation Account on GOV.UK.”

Cynically, business rates’ payers may be excused for noting that the VOA may have an agenda to ensure that any increase in rates goes unchallenged. However, in a recent press release the VOA have offered the following advice:

“We have a checklist to help businesses if they want to use an agent:

• Anyone can call themselves an agent, but this does not mean they are a member of a professional body. Check an agent’s background before signing a contract.
• If an agent is a member of the Rating Surveyor’s Association (RSA), Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), or Institute of Revenues, Rating, Valuation (IRRV), they must follow rating agent standards. This provides business owners with extra reassurance.
• Check the length of a contract before signing. Rogue agents have been known to tie business owners into costly, long-term agreements.
• Make sure you read the small print and fully understand the services for which you are paying. Legitimate agents should not pressure you into signing a contract or demand large sums of money up front.
• Familiarise yourself with our Check service and create a Business Rates Valuation Account so you can manage your property and view correspondence between the VOA and your agent.
• It is your responsibility to ensure the information your agent provides to the VOA is correct.”

There is also online guidance on the process for appointing an agent for business rates at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/appoint-an-agent#appointing-an-agent-for-business-rates

Many of us use online trading platforms to sell unwanted goods or perhaps offer space in our home for rental.

If you are creating income in this way and you are earning more than £1,000 from this activity in any one tax year, then you will need to declare these earnings to HMRC.

This issue is likely to become a hot topic as from 1 January 2024 HMRC will be collecting data from the trading platforms and using this data to identify traders who have not declared their earnings.

HMRC’s manual on this topic says:

“The reporting rules commence in the United Kingdom on 1 January 2024.
“Platform operators that are within the scope of the rules will have to start conducting the due diligence, record keeping, and other obligations specified in the regulations from 1 January 2024.
“The required information must be reported by 31 January following the end of the reporting period. This means the reports for the first Reportable Period of 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2024 will be due by 31 January 2025.”
Which means your online sales details will now be reported to HMRC by the individual trading platforms and if HMRC check to see if actual returns from taxpayers do not seem to agree with the data received from eBay, Amazon, Airbnb etc., then enquiries will ensue.
It’s worth underlining that if your online sales do not breach the £1,000 tax-free limit in any tax year, then you should have no reporting obligations. But please note, this £1,000 limit is not for each trading platform but for all your online sales revenues.
If you need to clarify if your online income is reportable, please call and we will help you decide if you need to make any declarations to HMRC.

The government has set out the next stages for a number of new Workers' Rights Acts to support UK workers.

In a recent press release they said:

“The Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023, which became law in May this year, requires employers to pass all tips on to workers.

“Most employers already pass on tips to the staff who earn them. However, there are still some unacceptable tipping practices by unscrupulous employers, which must be stopped.

“Christmas is an incredibly busy season for hospitality workers, and usually a time of year when customers are more generous with their tips. All employees deserve to receive their fair share of tips, so the Government has launched a public consultation on the Tipping Act’s Code of Practice to gain feedback from employers, workers and other stakeholders on the fair and transparent distribution of tips.”

Additionally, new rights to protect new parents from redundancy, give carers extra support and help all employees work flexibly are also a step closer as government has laid legislation with plans for the measures to come in next spring.

These measures aim to improve the lives of hard-working families across Britain, aiding workers who have caring responsibilities or parents at risk of redundancy and ensuring everyone is able work as flexibly as needed into the new year.

An extra 2.6 million workers across the UK will benefit from the removal of the 26 week qualifying period that is currently required before making a flexible working request.

Those with caring responsibilities will also be entitled to a brand new employment right to a week’s leave to care for a dependent.

Redundancy protections are also being extended to cover pregnancy, as well as to new parents.

Government is also backing British workers by introducing the biggest ever increase to the National Living Wage, worth over £1,800 a year for a full-time worker, fulfilling the pledge to end low pay.

When this increase comes into effect in April 2024, the National Living Wage will be worth nearly £21,000 a year for a full time worker – almost double, in cash terms, the amount which a full time worker on the National Minimum Wage earned in 2010.

For the first time, 21 years olds will be legally entitled to the National Living Wage, which is set to reach two-thirds of average earnings.

1 January 2024 – Due date for Corporation Tax due for the year ended 31 March 2023.

19 January 2024 – PAYE and NIC deductions due for month ended 5 January 2024. (If you pay your tax electronically the due date is 22 January 2024).

19 January 2024 – Filing deadline for the CIS300 monthly return for the month ended 5 January 2024.

19 January 2024 – CIS tax deducted for the month ended 5 January 2024 is payable by today.

31 January 2024 – Last day to file 2022-23 self-assessment tax returns online.

31 January 2024 – Balance of self-assessment tax owing for 2022-23 due to be settled on or before today unless you have elected to extend this deadline by formal agreement with HMRC. Also due is any first payment on account for 2023-24.

1 February 2024 – Due date for Corporation Tax payable for the year ended 30 April 2023.

19 February 2024 – PAYE and NIC deductions due for month ended 5 February 2024. (If you pay your tax electronically the due date is 22 February 2024)

19 February 2024 – Filing deadline for the CIS300 monthly return for the month ended 5 February 2024.

19 February 2024 – CIS tax deducted for the month ended 5 February 2024 is payable by today.

The Help to Save scheme is intended to help those on low incomes to boost their savings. Eligible users of the scheme can save between £1 and £50 every calendar month and receive a 50% government bonus. The 50% bonus is payable at the end of the second and fourth years and is based on how much account holders have saved. The bonus is paid directly into the account holder’s chosen bank account.

This means that account holders on low incomes can receive a maximum bonus of up to £1,200 on savings of £2,400 for four years from the date the account is opened. The scheme is open to most working people who receive Working Tax Credits or Universal Credit.

Almost 450,000 people have opened Help to Save accounts since the scheme was launched in September 2018 and March 2023, with nearly £372.5 million paid into accounts during that time. This has seen the government award £146 million in bonus payments.

The scheme had been due to end in September 2023 but was extended by 18 months, until April 2025. The extension was announced as part of the Spring Budget measures earlier this year.