As lockdown is, hopefully, being eased within the next few weeks, we are very pleased we have been able to offer all of our usual bookkeeping and payroll services during the lockdown periods and we are looking forward to returning to “normal” in the not too distant future. We are hoping to be returning to our lovely offices in April 2021 with various members of our team being in the office on different days of the week and then all working from home on Fridays and then us all returning in June to working all together again.
On our office news, Caroline, our Office Manager, went on maternity leave near the end of July 2020 and is returning to work part-time in May with Sally continuing to work two days per week as admin support for the team. We are pleased to welcome our newest bookkeeper Noel Burke who joined the team in March. Noel has many years of bookkeeping experience and will no doubt be an asset to the team.
Payroll year and issuing P60’s to your staff.
The end of the financial year is fast approaching and, as an employer, you should be producing P60s for all your employees who are on your payroll as at 5 April 2021. The deadline for handing these to your employees is 31 May 2021. Employees who left your employment before 5 April 2021 will not receive a P60 from you as they would have had a P45 when they left.
CIS Reverse Charge
We previously mentioned a big change cooking in for the Construction Industry Scheme (CIS) and this has now happened. From the 1 March 2021 there was a new domestic reverse charge for VAT that came into effect specifically for Contractors and Subcontractors working within the scope of the CIS scheme.
If you are not VAT registered this will have absolutely no impact on you, however, for those who are VAT registered you will need to identify where an invoice should be raised with the reverse charge.
If you currently raise your invoices through your accounts software, such as Sage or Xero, or a third party app such as Invoice2go these will have had updates to assist with applying the new domestic reverse charge.
If you raise your invoices manually using a spreadsheet or word processor this may well be the ideal time to consider making a change.
While this can all seem slightly daunting our bookkeeping team are always on hand to help you if you have any queries.
VAT deferral new payment scheme
For any VAT that was due to HMRC in the period of 20 March to 30 June 2020, this amount is now due to HMRC by 31 March 2021. If you have any concerns in making the payment due, then we wanted to let you know that you can join the new VAT deferral payment scheme and pay your deferred VAT over a longer period.
The online service opened on 23 February 2021 and closes on 21 June 2021. You can make up to 11 monthly instalments, interest free. The earlier you join, the more months you can spread your payments across. You can join the scheme online without the need to call – you can go to GOV.UK for more information and to join quickly and simply now that the scheme has opened.
Unfortunately, we are unable to do this on your behalf as HMRC is unable to provide an agent service for this scheme.
If you need more time to pay your deferred VAT, you should contact HMRC.
Extension of Furlough
The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme has been extended until 30 September 2021.
Monthly claims need to be made by the 15 of the following month.
You can no longer submit claims for claim periods ending on or before the 31 October 2020.
OneClick now includes multi-factor authentication
For those of you who already use our secure client portal, OneClick, will know that we have recently upgraded this to include multi factor authentication. You will already be familiar with MFA functionality as most banks and other websites that contain sensitive information now require it. MFA provides an additional layer of security at the time of logging in to a website in that, as well as a username and password, you are also required to enter a code, in this case a six digit numeric code that will be sent to you when logging in. If you haven’t already set up your new MFA account then please refer to the email and follow the on screen instructions after clicking the link. If you aren’t a OneClick user and would like to know more or have any other questions, then please do get in touch.
If we can be of any assistance with regards to payroll, pensions, or any other matter then please feel free to get in touch.
AMR Team
