Lyn Randy, Receptionist and Typist at Humphrey & Co’s Eastbourne Office, will be climbing 134 metres (440 feet) over the Sydney Harbour Bridge in aid of St Wilfrid’s Hospice.

Lyn will be embarking on her sky-scraping challenge on the 5th November, whilst on holiday in Australia. To give you an idea of how high it is, the London Eye is only 10 feet taller!

Humphrey & Co wish Lyn the best of luck and hope that she reaches her £1,000 target for this worthy local Charity.

For more information on St Wilfrid’s Hospice, please visit their website at http://www.st-wilfrids.co.uk/

Good luck Lyn!

With Christmas fast approaching we thought a reminder of the Tax and National Insurance rules for Christmas parties, gifts etc would be useful

Parties :
…Tax and National Insurance are not due on the cost of a party for employees if the annual cost is less than £150 per employee – including VAT, transport and accommodation.
…If the employees bring along their partners to a party, as long as the cost per head of the party is less than £150, there is no taxable benefit (remember the £150 is each tax year)

Gifts :
…Any Christmas bonuses or cash gifts to employees should be treated in the same way as normal pay
…An employer may provide employees with a seasonal gift, such as a turkey, an ordinary bottle of wine or a box of chocolates at Christmas. These gifts are considered to be trivial and as such are not taxable.
…If the gift extends beyond one of the items mentioned above, for example from a bottle or two to a case of wine, or from a turkey to a Christmas hamper, you will need to consider the contents and cost before being able to determine whether the benefit is trivial.
…If the gift is beyond a “trivial gift” then you need to set up an arrangement with your H M Revenue & Customs office (a PAYE Settlement Agreement) or report the gifts on end of year forms P9D/P11D.
…Business gifts are treated as ‘Entertaining’ which is strictly disallowed for tax purposes.
There are two exceptions:
1. free samples of the trader’s own products distributed with the object of advertising to the public generally, and
2. “small” gifts (but not food, drink, tobacco or a voucher or token exchangeable for goods) which incorporate a conspicuous advertisement for the donor. “Small” means the cost to the donor does not exceed £50 in total for all gifts to the same person in the same year.

Warning for Associates!

Please take care if the costs you incur are not for a member of your personal staff e.g. if you are an Associate dentist and you buy a Christmas gift for your nurse, who is employed by the Practice and not yourself, then the expense is not tax allowable.

For any further details or clarification please contact a member of the dental team.

Humphrey & Co are delighted to announce that Tom Williams, a Graduate Trainee at the Eastbourne office, has passed all three of his final examinations to become a fully qualified Chartered Accountant. Tom, who started at Humphrey & Co in 2005 having obtained an Law Degree from Leicester University, will be continuing at Humphrey & Co.

“I am pleased to be staying at Humphrey & Co and look forward to taking on new challenges as the firm continues its growth.” said Tom, who will continue at the firm as a Manager and will be based at the Eastbourne office.

Tom’s qualification adds to Humphrey & Co’s recent string of examination successes. Three more ICAEW students, Sarah English, Gideon Ashby and Kate Hinchliffe, and CIMA student, Sarah Scammell, will all be taking their final examinations in November – So watch this space!

With effect from Tuesday 7th October, the Government have increased bank deposit guarantees to £50,000. Here is a quick summary to explain what this means to you.

Savings held with NS&I, Northern Rock and Bradford & Bingley are all guaranteed to 100% of investments.

Irish Bank accounts are guaranteed to 100% of investments. The banks covered are Allied Irish, Bank of Ireland, Anglo Irish Bank, Irish Life and Permanent, Irish Nationwide Building Society and the Educational Building Society.

Different rules apply for Accounts held with foreign banking institutions. Customers of foreign banks should contact their bank to obtain rules specific to the foreign jurisdiction.

The Guarantee applies to the “Net” deposit – So if an individual had £60,000 savings and a £10,000 credit card balance outstanding from a Bank, the full £50,000 net amount would be protected.

Joint accounts are covered per person so one joint account affords £100,000 worth of protection.

The £50,000 includes accrued interest so if a customer held £50,000 in a bank account, any interest over and above this would not be protected. For investments which pay interest on maturity, one must look at the terms and conditions of those particular accounts. Generally speaking, if the account calculates interest daily, protection will be available on all accrued interest. If the interest is calculated annually, protection may not be available on any accrued interest.

Only applies “Per Bank” so First Direct investments and HSBC investments are in the same £50,000 pool. However some banks are separately authorised and licensed, for example, a customer who has £50,000 with The Royal Bank of Scotland and £50,000 with NatWest will have all of the money protected, even though they are part of the same group.

You can check whether an institution is authorised at a group level or as a separate entity by checking the authorised firms register through the “How Safe Is Your Money?” website at http://howsafeisyourmoney.co.uk/calculator.

Further assistance :
“How Safe Is Your Money?” Website
FSA Website
FSA consumer helpline : 0845 606 1234.

From 1 October 2008 all homes being let will be required to have an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC).

Energy Performance Certificates (EPC) tell you how energy efficient a home is on a scale of A-G. Better-rated homes should have less impact through carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. The Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) includes recommendations on ways to improve the home’s energy efficiency to save you money and help the environment.

EPC legislation is based around marketing of your property. If you have an existing tenant and there are no plans for them to vacate the property; there is no legal obligation to have an Energy Performance Certificate commissioned.

However, the Energy Performance Certificate is valid for 10yrs and by having an EPC produced now you could shorten the period from your tenant leaving to the property being placed back on the market.

It is also worth noting that once a landlord has an Energy Performance Certificate, if the property is subsequently marketed for sale within the 10 year EPC validity period, there will be no need to buy a new Certificate for inclusion within the Home Information Pack (HIP).

An EPC is a Standard document so paying more for one will not result in a better or more detailed report. The report takes around a week to produce. EPC’s can be purchased online from around £50.