Think you’ve overpaid tax and are due a repayment? You can use this handy HMRC checker to find out…

There are a few things you need to know before you start to use the checker:

 - The checker works it out in whole pounds only, so you don’t need to enter any pence. The rules are:

 - round-down to the nearest pound: earnings, interest and Gift Aid donations

 - round-up to the nearest pound: tax paid

- If you have more than one job, the calculate for more than one job link will total the amounts and carry them over to the relevant fields.

- The tax checker doesn’t total the bank or building society fields, so if you have more than one bank or building society account you’ll need to calculate the total amount of interest you’ve received. You’ll also need to add up all of the Gift Aid donations you’ve made.

- The following aren’t taxable so there’s no need to include them: student loans, ISAs (Individual Savings Account), gifts from parents or family, Child Tax Credit, Working Tax Credit, National Savings (Ordinary Account) interest up to £70.

Please note that this Tax Checker does not take into account, Married Couple’s Allowance, Other types of income, such as dividends and trusts, People aged 65 and over or Children’s Tax Credit.

This checker will only provide the right result if you enter all your details correctly.

Access the checker here : 

http://stccalculator.hmrc.gov.uk/UserDetails.aspx

Through the Train to Gain Leadership and Management Programme, owner managers and company directors have a great opportunity to apply for funding to help develop business leadership skills.  This offer is available to companies in the South East with 5 – 250 staff. 

The money can be put towards one or a combination of training solutions to benefit you and your business.

Your learning programme can be funded up to a maximum contribution of £1,000.

·         The first £500 is available for managing directors, owner managers, and company directors and does not need to be matched.

·         A further grant of up to £500, which must be match funded, is available for any senior manager or the management team.

A qualified and experienced Train to Gain Skills Broker will help you identify your own personal training and development requirements and offer a choice of flexible tailored learning solutions to suit your individual and business needs.

For more information please call 0845 751 2288.  Or e-mail info@traintogainse.co.uk.

See www.traintogainse.co.uk for more details.

For 3 days only – starting today (20th Jan) – Intuit Software are GIVING AWAY their QuickBooks SimpleStart financial software for small businesses.

Given the current economic climate, this 100% free package (available as a download) will be a bonus to any business wishing to save time & money by automating many repetitive, everyday bookkeeping tasks.

SimpleStart is exactly what the name implies – financial management software that is simple to install, set-up & use. It frees up time so small businesses can concentrate on running their business. By automatically building accurate records of income & expenditure, SimpleStart takes the stress out of tax & VAT returns. In fact, it may actually boost profits by pinpointing wastage & inefficiency.

Visit…

HM Revenue & Customs have introduced a new dedicated Business Service. If you are worried about being able to meet your Tax, National Insurance or VAT liabilities, you can call the new ‘Business Payment Support Line’ on 0845 302 1435 (Open Monday to Friday 8.00 am to 8.00 pm, Weekends 8.00am to 4.00pm)

The information that you will need to have at your finger tips is:
1. your tax reference number
2. details of the tax that you are having (or will have) trouble paying
3. basic details of your business income and outgoings

The idea is to contact the Support line before the tax becomes due and then in most cases a decision should be able to be made in about 10 minutes as to temporary options of payment tailored to your business needs.

Although interest will continue to be payable on taxes where it applies, where the tax is paid late, no additional late payment surcharges will be applied on payments made in an accordance with your arrangement.

If you would like further information a direct link to the website is www.hmrc.gov.uk/pbr2008/business-payment.htm

At Humphrey & Co we are always at the other end of the phone to help clients through difficult periods. Please ensure that you contact us soon as possible if you consider you are going to have problems meeting any tax liabilites.

In our most recent newsletter, we asked our clients to send in their tips and advice for helping to relieve the pressure of the ‘Credit Crunch’ – Anything from how to save cash on expenses to ways to improve cashflow or increase sales.

One of Humphrey & Co’s clients has come up with a simple, cheap and effective method of receiving payment sooner from their debtors…

…By simply sending all invoices out on red paper instead of white, invoices are being paid much faster than in previous months, as their clients attention is drawn to the “Red Bill” which has arrived.

Please contact us if you have any tips you’d like to share with us!