Crystal Blog

Introduction As an employee, your employer deducts National Insurance contributions from your wages and pays it to HMRC. However this is not the same if you work for yourself. When you are self-employed you are responsible for paying your National Insurance contributions to HMRC. There are two types of National Insurance contributions that you may […]

Got a lot of questions about tax, National Insurance, business records and expenses? Our articles will build your confidence by guiding you through everything you need to know to get started. There are useful tips from others who have been where you are now and practical case studies to help you along the way. We […]

Tribunal ruling links holiday pay to overtime An employment tribunal recently ruled in favour of an employee who argued that his holiday pay should reflect his overtime pay as well as his basic wages. The case has implications for how employers apply the rules under the Working Time Regulations and has moved the UK closer […]

An independent complaints review body has ordered HMRC to pay £4.4m in refunds and write-offs last year and upheld 94% of PAYE complaints. The tax adjudicator – currently Judy Clements OBE – reviews complaints against HMRC, as well as against the Valuation Office Agency and the Insolvency Service. Her annual report for 2013/14 shows that […]

HMRC plans to recover unpaid tax from the bank accounts of alleged debtors has been branded “unconstitutional” by the Institute of Chartered Accounts in England and Wales (ICAEW). A three month public consultation on the Direct Recovery of Debt (DRD) initiative ended yesterday (29th July). The ICAEW says the plans are “unconstitutional and wrong in […]

Pension savers continue to be targeted by unscrupulous companies encouraging them to access their pension savings early. Promoters of these schemes offer personal loans, cash incentives and one-off pension investments to entice people to invest in these pension scams. Pension savers involved in these pension liberation scams face significant tax consequences. HM Revenue & Customs […]

Employers who no longer need their PAYE scheme can avoid non-filing Generic Notification Service (GNS) messages and penalties by ensuring that they make their final submission correctly. The actions for employers to take will depend on what type of final submission they are sending, and for what tax year: 2014 to 2015 Full Payment Submission (FPS) - when […]

Workplace Law report that a joint research survey carried out by My Family Care and Hogan Lovells discovered that only 15% of employers have a clear idea of how they will implement the new provision for staff who are parents. Some noted a lack of certainty around pay under shared parental leave. The research also […]

If you’re an employer and provide expenses or benefits to employees or directors, you might need to tell HMRC and pay tax and National Insurance on them.  

Employers  can make corrections to an Employer EPS by sending another EPS to report the  correct total year-to-date figures for all recovered payments within that tax  year. Employers have up to six years from when they sent in their original EPS  to do this. HMRC have created a step-by-step flowchart for employers and their representatives […]

From time to time, HMRC updates its list of approved professional bodies and learned societies. These organisations are approved by the Commissioners for HMRC under Section 344 ITEPA 2003 (formerly Section 201 ICTA 1988). If you pay fees or subscriptions to a body on this list, you may be able to claim a tax deduction […]

This year HM  Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has not issued P2 coding notices to certain  customers where there is no effect on their tax. P2s have not  been issued to those who: are not in employment and/or not receiving Jobseekers or Employment Support Allowance, or have no liability to tax, or have a 2014-15 tax […]