HMRC is planning to close its self assessment tax helpline for three months over the summer to focus call centre resources on dealing with other problem calls. All calls to the helpline will be redirected to digital services over the period to give HMRC time to deal with other more urgent phone enquiries. The helpline will be closed for three months from Monday 12 June until ...

Charities that are registered for VAT should be aware that from the start of this year the way penalties are issued for submitting late VAT returns and for paying VAT late have been amended. A new points-based system has been introduced which is designed to be more lenient for the occasional error but still penalises those who repeatedly fail to comply with their obligations. C ...

The Fundraising Regulator has published research that shows that the majority of charities are not complying fully with the requirement to disclose details of the fundraising activities in their annual report, requirements that affect charities in England and Wales with income over £1 million. Compliance was better for those charities that pay the fundraising levy, but of them ...

Have you ever considered what your responsibilities are as a company director?  It is important to remember that as a company director good governance and board effectiveness are key requirements when making management decisions.  The appointment of a new director should be more than just a tick box exercise. It is also important to remember that a director’s prime responsibil ...

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has published proposed changes to FRS102, the accounting standard upon which the charity reporting requirements set out in the Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) is based. These proposals are set out in an exposure draft known as FRED82 and are currently being consulted upon. If approved the changes will also result in the need for th ...

Following the Bank of England’s latest increase in the base rate, HMRC has increased both late paid tax and the rate paid on repayments of tax. The Bank increased the base rate to 4.5% from 4.25% on 11 May, the 12the consecutive rise. The late payment and repayment interest rates follow this rise and are applied to the main taxes and duties that HMRC currently charges and pay ...

It’s been a busy few months at CCEW. As well as the guidance that has already been commented upon elsewhere in this edition of Charity News there have also been a number of other developments in their guidance for charities that are worth noting. First of all CCEW has developed a range of ‘5 Minute Guides’ designed to raise awareness of core trustee duties and the guidance tha ...

The number of people paying income tax at 40% or above will reach 7.8 million by 2027/28, according to research published by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS). This represents one in five taxpayers and one in seven of the adult population – a near-quadrupling of the share of adults paying higher rates since the early 1990s, the IFS said. It stated that the six-year freez ...

The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has published a new report that sets out the cyber threat that all charities now face, noting that in their 2022 survey of cyber security breaches 30% of charities had experienced a cyber attack during the previous 12 months, with over a third of those attacks having an impact on services and nearly a fifth resulting in a ‘negative outc ...

From the 2023/24 tax year onwards, the self assessment income registration threshold for taxpayers taxed through PAYE only will rise from £100,000 to £150,000. HMRC will issue self assessment “exit letters” as from 2023/24 to those individuals whose income falls below £150,000 for 2022/23 and do not meet any of the other criteria, such as: being in receipt of foreign income ...