The Bottom Line - Winter 2015

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Business Round‑up
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Information and advice on
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This newsletter is for guidance only, and professional advice should be obtained before acting on any information contained herein. Neither the publishers nor the
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December 2015
30 Last day for online
submission of 2015 Tax
Return for HMRC to
collect tax through clients’
2016/17 PAYE code, where
they owe less than £3,000.
31 Last day for non-EU traders
to reclaim recoverable UK
VAT suffered in the year to
30 June 2015.
End of relevant year
for taxable distance
supplies to UK for VAT
registration purposes.
End of relevant year for
cross-border acquisitions of
taxable goods in the UK for
VAT registration purposes.
End of CT61 quarterly period.
Filing date for Company
Tax Return Form CT600
for period ended
31 December 2014.
January 2016
1 Due date for payment of
Corporation Tax for period
ended 31 March 2015.
14 Due date for income tax
for the CT61 quarter to
31 December 2015.
19/22 Quarter 3 2015/16 PAYE
remittance due.
31 First self assessment
payment on account for
2015/16.
Capital gains tax payment
for 2014/15.
Balancing payment –
2014/15 income tax/Class
4 NICs.
Last day to renew 2015/16
tax credits.
First payment due date for
2015/16 Class 2 NICs.
Last day to pay any balance
of 2013/14 tax and Class 4
NICs to avoid an automatic
5% late payment penalty.
Deadline for amending
2014 Tax Return.
Last day to file the
2015 Tax Return online
without incurring
penalties.
February
1 £100 penalty if 2015 Tax
Return not yet filed online.
Additional penalties may
apply for further delay.
Interest starts to accrue
on 2014/15 tax not
yet paid.
2 Submission date of P46
(Car) for quarter to
5 January.
14 Last date (for practical
purposes) to request
NIC deferment for
2015/16.
Reminders for your Winter Diary
Landmark ruling on
working time
The time spent by mobile workers travelling
to and from their first and last appointments
should be regarded as working time, the
European Court of Justice recently ruled.
Prior to this point, many employers have not
factored in travelling time when calculating
employees’ working time.
Experts have warned that the ruling could
have a significant impact on businesses,
with many firms potentially in breach of EU
working time regulations, including those
employing sales reps, care workers and
gas fitters.
The court ruling outlined: ‘Requiring workers
to bear the burden of their employer’s
choice would be contrary to the objective of
protecting the safety and health of workers
pursued by the directive, which includes
the necessity of guaranteeing workers a
minimum rest period.’
Withdrawal of ONS surveys
to ‘cut business costs’
The Office for National Statistics (ONS)
has unveiled plans to change the way it
calculates economic growth estimates,
cutting the time businesses need to spend
on form-filling. The ONS intends to partially
replace monthly business surveys, which are
used to estimate growth, with data gathered
from VAT returns submitted to HMRC.
45,000 surveys are currently sent out each
month, which is thought to cover around
55% of the economy. However, using
VAT turnover data should increase this
coverage substantially.
The ONS expects that the number of surveys
sent monthly could be reduced by up to a
half once the transition to the new system
is complete, with small and medium-sized
firms expected to save the most. The ONS
aims to complete the transition to VAT data
by 2020.
Increase in contactless card
payment limit
The limit for making contactless card
payments has risen from £20 to £30,
following a surge in the use of ‘wave and
pay’ card payments. The increased limit
was rolled out across retailers between
1 September and 31 October 2015.
Contactless payment cards were first
introduced in the UK in 2007 for low-value
transactions. However, the popularity of
such payments has grown exponentially
since this date. During the first half of
2015, shopping transactions totalled
£2.5bn, proving to be significantly higher
than the 2014 total of £2.32bn.
However, some experts have warned
that contactless cards could be open to
exploitation by persistent fraudsters,
with some online retailers forfeiting card
security at the checkout stage in favour of
a speedier transaction.