The Payments Council has announced that cheques will continue for as long as customers need them and the target for possible closure of cheque clearing in 2018 has been cancelled. 

This change is as a result of public concern about the proposed phasing out of cheques by 2018. The issue has been of concern to many small businesses who continue to make payments by cheque and charities which receive substantial amounts of donations from the public by cheque.

According to the press release the: 

‘The Payments Council Board will continue to focus on security, efficiency and encouraging innovation in all types of payments to ensure customers have options best suited to the 21st century.’

Richard North, the Chairman of the Payments Council said:

‘It’s in the DNA of the Payments Council to consult and listen to all those people who actually make payments and use cheques. Listening to over 600 stakeholder groups, working with the banks and following our appearance before the Treasury Select Committee, we have concluded we should reassure customers that the cheque is staying.’

‘Over the last two years we have learnt a great deal about what is important to our many stakeholders and we are really grateful to all of those groups and individuals who took the time to talk to us and help us reach this decision. We will use what we’ve learnt to keep improving existing systems, as well as introducing innovation, so that customers benefit from 21st century ways to pay.  Innovation must be at the heart of what we do.’

HMRC have advised that there are apparently more Self Assessment statements than usual to issue this year. Normally these would be issued in July but this year some will be issued later. The majority of statements have been sent on time. 

However, many taxpayers wait for the statement to confirm what they need to pay. More importantly, if HMRC have asked taxpayers to make a second payment on account in July, they normally have to pay this by 31 July. However, due the delays in issuing some statements HMRC have advised:

 ’If you receive your statement in August, you should still pay the tax due as soon as you can. You’ll only be asked to pay interest on the tax due on the second payment on account if you still haven’t paid it more than 30 days after you receive your statement.’

HMRC estimate that around 500,000 customers are affected.

If you have any concerns regarding payment please do get in touch.

If you are concerned that your business income may have exceeded the VAT threshold of £73,000 in the last 12 months, this initiative may allay your fears about late registration.

Remember that not registering for VAT when you become liable to do so is an offence.

HMRC have said that (as long as you did not know you should have been registered) the penalty for late registration will be limited to 10% of the VAT due to HMRC from the date you should have been registered.

Please note that this initiative cannot be applied for online, but must be submitted by a paper application.

If you require any assistance in this area please contact Ian Cooke at Ledbury or Nikki Walding at Pershore.

With effect from the 5 April 2011,  HM Revenue and Customs will no longer accept some manual forms and so the following forms now must be submitted online:

• In-year forms for employers P45 and P46
• All Employer Annual Return Forms P35 and P14

There could potentially be penalties of up to £3000 for forms submitted manually!

We are pleased to report on the relaunch of a local IT support company based in Pershore.  The information below has been provided by iTechIT to explain the range of computer services they offer to local businesses.

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