News Items
Whilst every care is
taken over the accuracy of information placed on this page, Central Enterprise
Solutions accepts no responsibility for any actions taken as a result of the
information contained herein.
ON THIS PAGE:
(click on the headlines below to go to each article)
Scrapping IR35 is not Tory policy
New penalties for tax return
errors
UK invited to work from home
ongoing on-line poll
Activities of Central
Enterprise Solutions
The Conservative Party has backed off plans to cut red tape to
the tune of £14bn by saying it is conceivable that not a
single proposal from its policy group will be adopted.
Philip Hammond, shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, also told the BBC’s
Newsnight programme that his party are now considering merely 'good ideas' from
its economic competitiveness policy group.
The news may disappoint John Redwood, the former cabinet minister who, as group
chairman, was tasked 20 months ago to outline business and tax policies for the
Tory manifesto.
It will certainly dampen the spirits of contractors: the group proposed on
Friday that IR35 tax laws on providers of personal services should go, and that
small business tax should be fixed at 20%.
As pledged in March, Tory reform to corporation tax
for firms with profits of under £300,000 would effectively reverse the hike
imposed by Gordon Brown in the Budget.
George Osborne, shadow chancellor, has described the proposals of the group,
which was set up by David Cameron, as "imaginative."
The shadow cabinet will now decide which of the recommendations from Mr Redwood
and his team should become official party policy.
New penalties
for tax return errors
 | Published: Monday,
7 April 2008 |
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is introducing one of its first
pieces of cross cutting tax legislation to make the tax system simpler and
more consistent.
If people take reasonable care when
completing their returns but still make a mistake, they will not be penalised
This legislation introduces new penalties which aim to
encourage and help people who try to get it right, but to come down hard on
those who deliberately don’t.
Previously HMRC had a confusing variety of penalty charging
powers which needed to be changed. The changes being made follow on from the
Review of Powers consultation with HMRC’s customers.
The new penalties are initially for errors on returns and
documents for VAT, PAYE, National Insurance, Capital Gains Tax, Income Tax,
Corporation Tax and the Construction Industry Scheme. Self Assessment
taxpayers are affected.
For these taxes, the new penalties apply to returns or other
documents for return periods starting on or after 1 April 2008 that are due
to be filed on or after 1 April 2009.
Under the new penalties:
| if people take reasonable care when completing their
returns but still make a mistake, they will not be penalised |
| if they do not take reasonable care errors can be
penalised; the penalties will be higher if the error is deliberate |
| disclosing errors to HMRC early will substantially reduce
any penalty due. |
Most people take reasonable care to get their tax right but
it is important that all HMRC’s customers do this; if they do not, they may
incur these new penalties for errors made during 2008-09 and later years.
Individuals working in both the public and private sectors are
being invited to take part in National Work from Home Day.
Run by Work Wise UK, the nationwide day on May 18 aims to demonstrate the perks
of working from home for employers and individuals alike.
Better productivity, improvements in morale and lower staff turnover were cited
by the group as the main treats for companies which dip their toe into
home-based working.
But there are other beneficiaries: working from home would mean less congestion
and pollution, while it also allows family commitments to be more easily met,
Work Wise said.
Aside from these green and philanthropic incentives, working from home helps
disadvantaged groups, boost individuals’ health and keeps business
competitiveness at optimum.
Telecoms giant BT has evidenced the claims that home-working really is ‘smart
working’, given it posted a 20% increase in worker productivity since letting
staff work from home.
Meanwhile a survey published by First Direct shows that more than a third of
British workers now work outside traditional working hours.
The finding was hailed by Work Wise UK as “yet another demonstration that the
nature of work across the world is changing fundamentally.”
Phil Flaxton, chief executive, said: "What we are seeing is the beginnings of a
complete revolution in the way we work.
“The changes are unavoidable, and crucial if the UK economy is going to be able
to compete in the global economy.”
He said National Work from Home Day is “not an excuse for an extra day off”, but
rather it should be seen as a “serious attempt” for business to leverage ICT to
trial home-based working.
In an
ongoing on-line poll for "Growth Business"
the following figures are currently showing:
Q. Is the recession hitting your bottom line?
A. Yes, very much 30.6%
Yes, a little 23.5%
Not yet 32.9%
Not expecting it to 12.9%
[ Back to top ]
************
CES will continue to run start up seminars across the West Midlands in 2008
on behalf of the National Federation of Enterprise Agencies and Barclays Bank
