George Osborne announced in his Autumn statement the plan for self employed and small businesses to have to file four tax returns a year rather than one as currently is done
If you think this is unacceptable please take a look at this and consider signing Petition link here
I have also written to my local MP as follows:
" As with the recent working poor/Tax Credit debacle it really feels as if this government is once again chasing the ‘small fry’ with this ‘tax return’ 4 times a year idea.
Whilst companies such as British American Tobacco, Experian, G4S, IMI, Intertek, Rolls-Royce, RSA Insurance, Smiths Group, Tate & Lyle, Amazon, Facebook, Starbooks and even Royal Warrant holders Maplin and Webbs pay little or no UK tax it really feels as if this government putting it’s resources and administration time into the wrong area to increase tax revenue.
Whilst I realise larger business do submit tax returns more frequently than once a year I also presume they have the finance systems and accountants to support them in doing so ( … in the case of the firms I have mentioned they no doubt do the same , using the tax they HAVE NOT PAID to avoid paying more….) . Sadly small businesses have to try to work with a smaller finance/admin budget.
In the UK there are many crucial, hard working, innovative small business – they are the the creative life force of our wonderful , inspiring and diverse culture – so why make their lives more complex?
I hope that you will look into this and instead work to encourage a stronger focus on ensuring those companies which make huge profits from the British public also CONTRIBUTE TAX to this country.
Many thanks"
I have yet to hear back from my local Conservative MP but I will let you know how that goes.
Omg that would be me done, I think, because it just wouldn’t be worth it as for me this really is just a hobby, it’s so ridiculous. I feel embarrassed enough submitting the return I do now as it’s so paltry.
HMRC are already vastly overloaded, how would they cope with the extra work?
I’ve tried to find more information and found this:
The plans were slipped out in the small print of George Osborne’s autumn statement. Around four million people will be affected: the self employed, small business owners and landlords who make more than £10,000 a year profit.
Yes it is for those that earn £10k or more year and will be coming into force by 2020. Whether that’s profit though or turnover I haven’t been able to find out… There is apparently further consultation on the actual details in 2016.
Whilst if there is a supposedly a cut of at 10K ( and that won’t affect me ) it will affect loads of my friends who run businesses like : the guy who cleans my windows, my self employed hairdresser, the builder ( and good friend) who has just built my studio and fitted my kitchem , the lady who runs my local coffee shop, our electrician friends, various friends who run their own cleaning business etc etc the list goes on - about half my social/family circle will be affected by the I think. So worth making a bit of noise about it now of there is to be further consultation in 2016
personnally I would think it would be much simplier to do it quarterly. 4 small ones rather than one large one. As long as your accounts books are up to date it shouldn’t be a problems in fact I think it would encourage people to keep their accounts up to date. Doing accounts in small chucks is so much easier then in one large chunk. Especially when you are earning that amount of money.
My biggest issue is not ( surprisingly perhaps ) the fact that you will have to keep your accounts up to date and submit - for me not an issue and my accounts are simple. as I would imagine is the case for many of us.
However doing anything 4 times a yr rather than once has an impact:
For the business: If you are big enough to have admin and/or accountancy support again that’s fine BUT that accountant’s bill will be FOUR times a yr instead of ONCE . Instead of setting aside time - from earning your money - once a year you will have to do it four times a yr , presumably with that £100 fine hanging over you each time.
For the Tax Office ; It is the fact that anything like this will have an adminisration overhead at the tax office end . The whole process of reminding people to do it, having IT and phones help set up all costs money ( ultimately our tax money ) and that will happen 4 times a year instead of once.
The more complex your small business is, particularly if you have staff, the greater the impact.
For me it is hard to condone this complication of tax for small business when the scandal of big companies eg. Amazon paying virtually nothing persists.
I think it’s definitely worth complaining about even if you don’t have £10,000 + turnover, because although we have all started out small, I am sure that many of us have ambitions to grow and should be worried about this for the future. It would also not surprise me if the £10,000 limit was to come down sooner or later, because this was forced on the Conservatives by the Lib Dems in the last parliament, so they are probably waiting for a quite time to reduce it back again.
You may have hit the nail on the head with the fine, Dawn. I expect the Government thinks they will collect 4 times the revenue in fines from people who have been disorganized and missed the deadline.
Agreed Sam. You must be psychic Was just thinking - I’m not making £10,000 profit now but who knows what will happen in the future. So regardless of our current incomes it is probably a good idea to support this petition. The thought of filling out a tax return 4 times a year may send some people in to a blind panic - I just wanted to let people know it may not apply to them - because my first reaction was panic
If I was being charitable, I would say that George Osborne has spent most of his life either at school, university or in a research office deep in the bowels of Parliament. He has never lived or worked in the real world, so how would he know how ordinary people live their lives. This is why his press office are so keen to show him in a hard hat on building sites, because they know this is his Achilles heel.
It shouldn’t be a problem if your books are up to date. I know I am hopeless at book keeping, joke really as I was in an accounts office! But it would keep me on my toes and make it more of a routine. I am not in the 10k bracket, even though I am a self employed pet service. But even hubby thinks it may work out to be beneficial. Especially as they are bringing in a on line account to keep a running total.
If you aren’t registered as a small business how are they going to find you, to complete a return? You also have to be making a certain amount of net profit in order to qualify as a small business.
