News

Advice Note

Practical Business Advice – Coronavirus

25 March 2020

The Government is continuing to issue advice and guidance for businesses. Whilst there is a lot of speculation in the media we are still awaiting clarification on how some of the measures are to be implemented. Foremans will continue to update our clients as and when information is received from the Government. We have noted below some measures which we believe may affect our clients.

Employers

A Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme has been announced. All UK employers with a PAYE scheme will be able to access support to continue paying some of their employees’ salary whilst they are unable to work during the crisis. The suggested amounts are the lower of 80% of salary and £2,500 per month. The payment will be a grant rather than a loan. We believe the salary will be paid through the normal business payroll under the Real Time Information (RTI) system.

VAT

All VAT registered UK businesses will be eligible to defer any VAT payments due between the 20 March 2020 and the 30 June 2020. VAT payments due to be paid in this period will need to be paid by the end of the 2020/21 tax year. For example - VAT payments due in this period may be as follows:

If you pay by Direct Debit we would advise cancelling your direct debit immediately.

VAT refunds and reclaims will be paid by the Government as normal.

VAT returns should still be filed by the due date.

Self Employment

If you are self employed and are due to make a self assessment payment on account on 31 July 2020 you can defer making the payment until 31 January 2021. We are not yet aware if this will need to be applied for or if it will be automatically applied.

Time to Pay

HMRC have also upgraded their time to pay service for businesses. If you have missed or are worried about missing a tax payment due to Coronavirus you should contact HMRC to discuss being allowed additional time to make payments. The HMRC helpline number is 0800 0159 559

Please be aware that the advice and proposals regarding coronavirus are constantly changing and before acting on any of the above you should check the current situation with:

www.gov.uk

If you would like to discuss any of the issues noted above please contact us on:

01244 625 500 or 01978 364 000

contactus@foremansllp.com

Whilst all due care and attention has been taken in the preparation of these notes no liability can be accepted for any omission or item contained therein.

Foremans LLP

25 March 2020