You are thinking about providing free meals to your employees to help them with the rising cost of living. You can buy in bulk and can access discounts not normally open to individual employees. But how do HMRC view this?  Naomi Swan CA, looks at this below. Food inflation While the headline rate of inflation...

All women in the UK are entitled to a total of 52 weeks of maternity leave from work – made up of 26 weeks ordinary maternity leave and 26 weeks additional maternity leave. There are two types of maternity benefits available, Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) which is paid by an employer and Maternity Allowance (MA)...

James owns a residential property which has been let for many years and he is considering selling it but will lose a large amount of the proceeds to HMRC. What are the options for reducing his capital gains tax (CGT) bill? Head of Tax Christiaan Hansen highlights some of the options available. Capital gains James...

Here is an official letter that HMRC have just sent out to their customers relating to new penalties for submitting VAT returns or paying VAT late. Apologies if you are already aware of this but it is a useful reminder if you have not yet picked up on the new regime. Particularly important if you...

Due to our expanding business we have vacancies for two experienced Accounts Assistants. Based at our Hawick and Peebles offices. Required to assist with bookkeeping, VAT Returns and accounts preparation for limited companies, sole traders and partnerships. Salary dependent on experience. ABOUT JRWCA As one of the largest accountancy firms in the Borders, JRWCA have...

You are sending an employee overseas for several months to complete a job. They have asked what the tax and NI position will be if they pay for family visits during this period. Head of Tax Christiaan Hansen looks at this in more detail. Commuting You are probably aware that if you pay an employee’s...

You keep various animals for a new fresh produce business. But you may be unaware that there are options as to how the animals are treated for tax purposes.   Elaine Wight from our Accounts Deptartment in Hawick looks at the options. Animals By default, farm animals are treated as trading stock. However, some animals are...

It has been suggested that we only auto-enrol new employees who are eligible into our workplace auto-enrolment pension scheme once they’ve successfully completed their probation period. Is this acceptable? Natasha Crockatt from our payroll department discusses below. If you require your employees to successfully complete a probationary period before they start working for you on...

You have employees who make local deliveries using bikes rather than cars where feasible. Can you still make payments for the business mileage tax free? Naomi Swan CA, based in our Hawick office, discusses below. The tax position will depend on whether the couriers are employees or self-employed. Of course, with HMRC’s increased enforcement action...

You occasionally provide entertainment to your employees. How do you ensure that you correctly report anything that is taxable, and how can you take advantage of any exemptions to minimise the liability. Naomi Swan provides the answer below. Staff entertainment for benefit in kind (BiK) purposes is prone to errors. Many businesses under-report it. This...