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March Newsletter – Read it and weep/sleep/keep…..

31st March 2023 12pm

Hi,
 

Just like Spring – this has been a long time coming! Hopefully you too will be glad to see the return of our monthly updates, we know that many of you have missed them and we hope that you continue to find them useful. Welcome to those of you who are new to these (usually) regular updates.

Many of you will have already spoken to both Vaughn and Lucy – new to the team since our last proper newsletter – it’s definitely time to get those staff profiles updated!

It’s a predominantly budget focused newsletter (now that we have had time to read the small print)

As always we are here to help and support you, so please do give us a call or drop us an email with any questions you may have.
 

Stay safe,

The Team Stuff

  • Wedding Bells – Billy (finally) marries his lovely fiancée Zoe on Saturday 8th April, I’m sure you will join us in wishing them both many congratulations and best wishes for the future – we hope they have a fantastic day.
  • Down Time – several of the Team are taking advantage of the Easter Bank Holiday and having some extra time off, either the week before or the week after Easter.  
  • Chelle – having had what should have been a fabulous week of skiing in February cut dramatically short due to her son having a skiing accident, is heading off to Lanzarote for some rest and sunshine at the end of April for a week.  
  • Claire follows suit at the end of May for a week as she revisits her favourite part of Mallorca – Magaluf. 
  • Chelle & Claire will also be away on the 10th and 11th May at Accountex Live genning up on the latest software and tech in the accounting and finance world
  • April 1st sees the start of the Flat Racing season kick off at Doncaster Racecourse and Chelle and Claire will of course be in attendance.
  • Claire swaps her designated accountancy and taxation accreditations for ZIN™ as she steps in as locum for Louise of ZDance Fitness covering her Zumba Classes next week.
  • On the 29th April Chelle, Andrew and Vaughn have agreed to jump out of an aeroplane in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support – weather permitting. Scroll to the end for more info…

 

The Technical Stuff

CGA Secure Portal

You will shortly start to receive tax information from 3rd parties, such as pension or employment P60s, P11D’s, Consolidated Tax reports for investment portfolios, interest statements etc – please do use your secure portal to upload these documents as you receive them – then we all know where they are when we need them!

Capital Gains Tax Reporting

Just a reminder that where you sell residential property, there are many circumstances where you may now need to report this separately to HMRC – you only have 60 days from the date of the sale to make the report.  Some of these transactions are complicated depending on the history of the property – please let us know as soon as you anticipate such a sale so that we can ensure that we have all of the necessary info on file prior to the sale completing.

Tax Codes

February and March is a time when many of you receive updated PAYE coding notices for the 23-24 tax year – as a HMRC computer generated exercise many of these are often incorrect and not always easy to understand. In most cases we can access a copy of your coding notice from our online system (although not always), however we do not receive any notification that you have received an updated code – so if you would like us to review your code then please do drop us an email to let us know. Despite HMRC insisting that Tax doesn’t have to be taxing – tax codes (especially wrong codes) give everyone a headache.

Tax Checklists

We trialled a change to how we send these out for the last tax year across some of our client base, with great success. This year the checklists (together with some helpful hints) will be emailed out in line with the dates that we anticipate that you should have received any 3rd party info or in line with your accounting year end. 

National minimum wage rates change

From 1 April 2023, the following increases to NMW/NLW will come into force.

Read more here
 

March 2023 Budget

Although the tone of the Chancellor was very upbeat, the reality of the budget was clearly “steady as we go” against the backdrop of financial market jitters, the continuing conflict in Ukraine and a looming election.  Critic or supporter – perhaps that very much depends on the extent to which the (lengthy) budget represents a return to sensible policy?  

The majority of the key tax-raising measures announced by the Chancellor in his Autumn Statement also take effect from April 2023. The main revenue raising strategy is to freeze various tax allowances, including the Income Tax Personal Allowance and the VAT threshold. With inflation climbing to over 10%, the government receives its own windfall in terms of VAT receipts. The decision to reduce the additional (upper) rate threshold next year means that more taxpayers will pay tax at the 45% rate, thus spreading some of the tax burden, as anticipated, to higher earners.

Looking at the position of the ‘private client’ there is some bad news in the form of a reduction in the tax-free allowances for both Dividend Tax and Capital Gains Tax (CGT) over the next two years. The Chancellor has also extended the scope of a windfall tax on the energy sector. There are always winners and losers, and online businesses might breathe a sigh of relief that the government has decided not to introduce an online sales tax. Meanwhile, reforming measures for business rates continue to evolve, with a new form of small business rate relief planned to protect certain businesses from the large increase to bills that may well occur thanks to the update in rateable values of all non-domestic properties in England to reflect their value as at 1 April 2021.

Combined with the many mini-budgets and statements made towards the end of 2022, this Budget brings change; good, bad, and often to be determined with time. What is clear is that 2023 remains a year of opportunity and we are here to work alongside you and help you grow

Read more here or visit these quick links: 

  1. What about the cost of living?
  2. Duties on fuel frozen
  3. Draught Relief
  4. What about income tax?
  5. What about other taxes?
  6. Investment Zones
  7. Venture Capital Schemes
  8. Simplifying the tax system

 

In other news…

Own your own private cask of whisky with Cooper King

This year’s Whisky Cask Offer is now open, giving you the chance to own a private cask of Cooper King single malt whisky. There are just 6 casks available for private purchase through this Cask Offer, offered on a first come, first served basis. Please download the Cask Offer for details.

  • Syndicates welcome

  • 100-litre first-fill ex-bourbon cask

  • Annual samples drawn to track maturation

  • The cask is yours to keep after bottling

  • Receive a Cask Owner’s Toolbox

  • Attend exclusive Cask Owners’ Days

  • Enjoy access to future, single cask bottlings

  • Own a part of English whisky history and become a member of the Cooper King family

Find out more here

And Finally…

Andrew, Vaughn and Chelle are taking to the skies in 4 weeks on the 29th April 2023 (weather permitting) in aid of Macmillan – we are raising funds by each completing a tandem skydive (with a professional skydiver – not each other)  Location RAF Bridlington East Yorkshire.

If you would like to support our fundraising efforts then please use the links below.  As ever there is a little bit of competition as to who will raise the most but it is all going to a great cause.

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/chelle-thirsk
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/vaughn-fox
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/andrew-hudson32

Don’t forget! Our office closes at 2pm every Friday as a reward for our hard working team. If you urgently need to contact us, our mobile numbers are the best method when we are away from the office.
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