Please remember that if the tax you owed on 31 January 2010 is not paid in full by 28 February 2010, HMRC will levy a 5% surcharge on the amount underpaid. This is in addition to the usual late payment interest charges.

If you are struggling to pay your tax liabilities please contact us for further assistance.

Medical professionals who have failed to declare all of their income or capital gains have been given an opportunity to do so under a new HMRC voluntary disclosure scheme. A fixed penalty of 10% of the tax underpaid will be levied instead of the normal regime which can be up to 100%. This scheme was originally announced as applying to those regulated by the GMC, but has now been extended to dentists and indeed all health professionals.

The voluntary disclosure also applies to undeclared non-professional income. It also covers situations where there is tax underpaid due to an excessive claim to expenses.

Furthermore, work undertaken via Locum agencies generally only suffers 20% tax at source leaving an additional 20% tax to pay which many doctors do not realise.

You have to notify HMRC by 31 March 2010 of your intention to make a disclosure, and then actually do so by 30 June when the extra tax plus interest and the 10% penalty has to be paid.

Please contact us if you think this affects you.

As part of the pension reforms announced by the Government in 2003, the normal minimum pension age will rise from 50 to 55 from 6 April 2010.

After this date, individuals will normally only be allowed to start receiving their pension payments from an occupational or personal pension scheme when they are aged 55 or older. There are certain exceptions, for example, ill health.

Please contact our in-house financial adviser Andrew Jackson if you want to talk about your retirement or any other financial issues.

A dispensation reduces the paperwork for employers as it means they do not have to report all benefits and expenses paid to employees. HMRC are attempting to increase the number of dispensations, by offering an online application facility and are committed to granting P11D dispensations whenever possible. Before granting a dispensation HMRC needs to be happy that no income tax charge could arise on the benefits or expenses covered.

One particular requirement is that the employee’s expenses claim to the company is checked independently. HMRC has confirmed this condition is satisfied if, for example, an accountant reviews all the expenses claims when doing the bookkeeping or the VAT return.

We will be applying for dispensations where relevant for all clients over the course of the coming months.

The opportunity for individuals to make a disclosure to HMRC regarding offshore bank accounts has only been utilised by approximately 10,000 people. However, HMRC has obtained data from over 300 banks and now intend to target those who did not make a disclosure. HMRC has emphasised there is still an opportunity to reduce the penalty level – by coming forward rather than waiting to be approached.If you wish to make a disclosure to HMRC we can assist with this.

The value of goods that travellers can personally bring into the UK from a non-EU country, or receive via the post without needing to pay customs duty, has increased.

Travellers arriving in the UK by commercial sea or air transport from a non-EU country can now bring in up to £390 worth of goods for personal use (excluding tobacco and alcohol, which have separate allowances, and fuel) without paying customs duty or VAT. Those arriving by other means, including by private plane or boat for pleasure purposes, can bring in goods up to the value of £270.

Individuals who buy goods via the internet or by mail order from outside the EU will now only be charged customs duty if the value of the package is above £135, and the actual amount of duty due is over £9.

Although the duty limits have changed, import VAT is still due on packages valued at over £18. However, if a package is received as a ‘gift’, VAT will only now be charged if its value exceeds £40.

You are probably used to us telling you that your PAYE Code Number is incorrect and that we have contacted HMRC to get this amended. Currently  the 2010/11 Notices of Coding are being issued, and HMRC boast that if you have more than one job you should no longer suffer the usual mistakes where multiple codings are needed, as there is a new system which creates a single record foryou.

However, the transition to this new system is creating significant problems and HMRC admit that you may still receive an incorrect PAYE Code Number - or even more than one notice for the same employment! HMRC insist this is due to data mismatches rather than being a technology issue.