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Month: January 2021

Life After Brexit – Travel to Europe on Business

Written by admin on . Posted in BREXIT, Law. No Comments on Life After Brexit – Travel to Europe on Business

Continuing my immigration theme from earlier this week, I thought I’d comment on business travel to the EU as this has become significantly more complicated since 1 January, with many activities carried out by short-term business visitors now requiring a work permit. Business travel includes activities such as travelling for meetings and conferences, providing services, and touring art or music.

The 90-day rule

If you travel to Schengen area countries (including Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein) for less than 90 days in a 180-day period, certain activities, such as attending a business meeting or conference, conducting market research or a sales trip, are permitted without the need for a visa or work permit.

Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus and Romania, who are not yet Schengen area countries, form a separate bloc, with another combined limit of 90 days’ entry. You can spend 30 days each in France, Germany and Spain, but 30 days in France and Germany, followed by 31 days in Spain would breach the 90-day limit. However, there would be no problem if the second, 31-day trip was instead to, say, Romania.

Business travellers will need to track how many days they spend in the EU, although this should be fairly straightforward given your passport will be stamped on entry to and exit from each EU country you visit.

When the 90-day rule does not apply

A visa, work permit or other documentation may be required if you are planning to stay for longer than 90 days in a 180-day period, or if you’ll be doing any of the following:

  • carrying out a contract to provide a service to a client in an EU country in which your employer has no presence;
  • providing services in an EU country as a self-employed person; or
  • transferring from the UK branch of a company to a branch in an EU country, even if just for a short period of time.

Advice about travelling abroad, including the latest information on Covid-19, safety and security, entry requirements and travel warnings, can be found on the government’s travel advice website.

Photo by KOBU Agency on Unsplash

 

Brexit and the impact on immigration rules

Written by admin on . Posted in BREXIT, Employment Law, Law. No Comments on Brexit and the impact on immigration rules

With the end of freedom of movement between the UK and EU from 1 January 2021, the UK has introduced an immigration system that treats all applicants equally. Anyone recruited to work in the UK from outside the UK, excluding Irish citizens, must meet certain requirements and apply for permission. Employers will need a sponsor licence.

The new system does not apply to EEA or Swiss citizens already employed in the UK, although they will have to apply under the EU Settlement Scheme to continue living in the UK.

Sponsor licences

A sponsor licence will normally be required to employ someone from outside the UK, with the application process typically taking six to eight weeks. Once obtained, the licence is valid for four years.

The licence can cover those with long-term job offers and temporary workers. You can apply for a licence covering one or both types of worker. Before applying to be a sponsor, you should check that the people you want to hire will meet the requirements for coming to the UK for work.

Skilled worker route

This will be the route for most workers employed from outside the UK. Visas are only awarded to those who gain sufficient points, with key requirements including:

  • job offer at the required skill level (A Level and equivalent);
  • English spoken to the required standard; and
  • minimum salary threshold.

Applicants can trade characteristics, such as their qualifications, against a lower salary to get the required number of points.

Impact on recruitment

As expected, the impact on employers and their workforces will be varied. You can no longer rely on EU recruitment to fill low-skilled and mid-level occupations, while those recruiting skilled workers face more onerous requirements and greater expense.

The retention of existing workers is more important than ever, and you will need to plan over the longer term how vacancies are to be filled. For some companies, remote working may offer a solution.

A good starting point for anyone looking to employ from outside the UK is the introduction to new recruitment rules for employers found here.

Photo by Metin Ozer on Unsplash

Self-assessment: last minute filing

Written by admin on . Posted in self-assessment, Tax. No Comments on Self-assessment: last minute filing

I’m sitting here musing about the number of calls I’m still taking from (potential) clients regarding taking them on for this year’s self-assessment submissions. It’s got me thinking. Why do some people leave this to the last minute? After all, it is now exactly 11 days to the end of the month, and if, as I read somewhere a few weeks ago, some 2,700 taxpayers took time out from their Christmas day festivities to go online and file their self-assessment tax return for 2019/20, why at the start of this month have a reputed 45% of taxpayers (some 5.4 million) still not filed their returns by the start of January?

To those still looking for someone to help file their 2019-2020 tax returns, it may just be that you’ll have to make the submission yourself. If this is you, a word of caution: it is very easy to make mistakes – especially when left to the last moment – so here are some tips which might help you with your filing:

Online help

If you received any casual income, new interactive guidance is available to check whether the income has to be declared. This might include:

  • selling things, maybe online, or at car boot sales and auctions;
  • doing casual work, such as gardening, food delivery or babysitting;
  • charging for the use of equipment and tools; and
  • renting out property or part of your home.

Don’t forget expenses

For employees and directors, make sure you claim tax relief for any job-related expenses which your employer has not reimbursed. With professional fees or subscriptions, remember to include the amount paid during 2019/20, as these usually increase annually.

Where your own car, motorcycle or bicycle is used for work, a deduction can be claimed based on HMRC approved mileage rates. Remember that travel to and from work only counts if it’s to temporary workplaces.

If you have been required to work from home due to Covid-19 or otherwise, you can claim £4 a week for 2019/20 to cover the additional cost.

Don’t forget income

For employees and directors, don’t forget to include any taxable benefits listed on your P11D if not automatically included by HMRC. Include interest and dividends received, although you can ignore ISA income.

However, for the self-employed, none of the Covid-19 grants paid so far are to be included for 2019/20. It’s now too late to have any tax due collected via your PAYE coding, so make sure you are set up ready to pay HMRC by 31 January.

At the time of writing, it has been reported that HMRC are going to waive fines for anyone who files late this year if the delay is due to Covid-19. Any fines may be waived if you explain how you were affected in your appeal. You must still make the return or payment as soon as you can. The Chancellor is also apparently considering extending the filing deadline for everybody, moving it from 31 January to 31 March, although this has not yet been confirmed.

HMRC provides live webinars on how to complete your tax return, although the sessions covering employment and self-employment are only available just before the filing deadline. Registration details can be found on their website.

Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash

 

Update on new measures for Covid business support

Written by admin on . Posted in Business Rates, COVID-19. No Comments on Update on new measures for Covid business support

Admittedly, this is coming to you a little later than planned, but hopefully, this blog will provide some useful insight into the measures introduced following the announcement on January 5th of the current national lockdown in which the Treasury announced another round of one-off cash grants for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses to help them through to the spring. There is also further discretionary funding to support other impacted businesses.

The new grants are only for businesses situated in England, with the devolved administrations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland providing their own support.

Grants will be paid on a per-property basis, with the amount dependent on the property’s rateable value:

Rateable value Amount of grant
£15,000 or under £4,000
Between £15,000 and £51,000 £6,000
Over £51,000 £9,000

 

To qualify, a business needs to be legally required to close and not able to operate effectively remotely. The new grants are in addition to any previous business support, such as the recent local restrictions support grant. Grants may well be paid automatically but keep an eye on your local authority’s website in case you need to register or apply.

Discretionary grants

Businesses not eligible for a cash grant can apply to their local authority for financial help if they are affected by the restrictions. Help is aimed at smaller businesses which do not pay business rates but have relatively high ongoing fixed property-related costs. This might include:

  • those in shared offices or other flexible work spaces;
  • market traders;
  • bed and breakfast businesses paying council tax instead of business rates.

 Other recent announcements

Just before Parliament broke for Christmas, the Chancellor extended the employee furlough scheme by another month to the end of April, with the government-backed bounce back loan scheme now available up to 31 March – it was due to end on 31 January. The business interruption loan schemes have been similarly extended.

You can find out what Covid-19 financial support is available for your business by working through the government’s business support finder.

Photo by Kevin Grieve on Unsplash

Lockdown 3.0 – What To Expect

Written by admin on . Posted in COVID-19, Employment Law, Employment Tax, Self-Employed, Tax. No Comments on Lockdown 3.0 – What To Expect

As the third Covid-19 lockdown took effect on 5 January 2021, the Chancellor announced a further £4.6 billion in grants to the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors. This new round of support follows extensions to the job retention and loan schemes revealed on 17 December 2020. There may be more to come with the Budget on Wednesday 3 March 2021.

New lockdown 3.0 grants

An extra £4.6 billion in lockdown grants has been directed at the worst affected sectors.

New one-off grants for closed retail, hospitality and leisure businesses have been announced. The new grants are in addition to all other forms of support, such as the Lockdown Restrictions Support Grant (LRSG (Closed) Addendum) which applied to businesses that were forced to close between 5 November  and 2 December 2020.

The new grants in England will be:

  • £4,000 for businesses with a rateable value of £15,000 or under;
  • £6,000 for businesses with a rateable value between £15,000 and £51,000; and
  • £9,000 for businesses with a rateable value of over £51,000.

In addition, £594 million is being made available for Local Authorities and the Devolved Administrations to support other businesses not eligible for the above grants, that might be affected by the latest restrictions. Businesses should apply to their Local Authorities.

The Devolved Administrations will be receiving additional funding in line with the English measures, with £375 million for Scotland, £227 million for Wales and £127 million for Northern Ireland.

The announcement of the new grants talks of helping business “through to the Spring”, with the Chancellor hinting that additional support measures are to come in the Budget on 3 March 2021.

Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS)

The CJRS furlough scheme is now running through to April 2021.

On 17 December 2020, the Chancellor announced a further one-month extension of financial support under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) to the end of April 2021. As currently, the government will pay 80% of the salary of employees for hours not worked up to a maximum of £2,500. Employers will only be required to pay wages. National Insurance Contributions (NICs) and pensions for hours worked, and NICs and pensions for hours not worked.

Claims for furloughed employees can only be made for those who were employed and on payroll on 30 October 2020. The employer must have made a PAYE RTI submission to HMRC between 20 March and 30 October 2020, notifying a payment of earnings for that employee. This may differ where an employee has been made redundant, or they stopped working on or after 23 September 2020 and have subsequently been re-employed.

Self-employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS)

No change.

No changes to the SEISS were announced alongside the CJRS extension, as the SEISS already runs through to the end of April 2021. Details of the fourth SEISS grant that will cover the three months from February to April have not yet been released.

Loan schemes

Most schemes extended to 31 March 2021.

On 17 December the Chancellor extended access to the Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS), Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS), and the Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CLBILS) until the end of March.

Additional support measures

In November 2020 the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published fresh guidance across a range of issues including mortgages and consumer credit and loans. The thrust of these was to limit the maximum payment holiday to six months, which had to be agreed three months at a time.

Content supplied by Taxbriefs. Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash