March 2018 Issue NO. 4
Monthly Newsletter by Avencia
Welcome to our March newslestter! The Spring Budget was announced on Tuesday 13th and brought with it no major updates; the tax free personal allowance will be increasing to £11,850, as well as the usual extentions to the income tax bands. There were further talks on the current VAT threshold, however this remains frozen as before, until March 2020.
We, as Avencia, will be taking part in the pilot scheme for Making Tax Digital (MTD) for VAT only. This is set to go live in April 2019 for businesses trading over the VAT threshold and we will feed back how the new reporting system will work once we see it in action.
Pension contributions set to increase
The minimum pension contrubtions will be increasing from 6th April, rising from a total contribution of 2%, to 5%. 2% of this will need to come from the employer.
Minimum wage increases in April
The National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage will be increasing again from 1st April this year, giving a rise of up to £0.33 per hour.
Tax planning
The end of the 2017/18 tax year is looming! If appropriate, it is wise to utilise tax bands before 5th April and make use of the annual pension allowance for large contributions, the dividend allowance and ISA allowances etc.
IR35 case
An interesting read on a recent IR35 case in relation to a BBC journalist. IR35 legilation is designed to combat employees hiding behind a company shell. It has been an area HMRC have found incredibly difficult to challenge, though this recent case has ruled in HMRC’s favour.
Advisory fuel rates
The latest advisory fuel rates have been released by HMRC and apply from 1st March. You can use these to calculate the VAT reclaim on mileage.