2012 Opening Times

We have moved:

Our New Address is:

Chambers & Co
2 Church Street
Brighton
East Sussex
BN1 1UJ


Our telephone number remains 01273 685978, but we have a new fax number: 01273 819832.

How to find us:
Our new first floor offices are on the corner of Church Street and New Road, and the entrance is in Church Street
between Caffe Italiano and the Martlets Hospice Shop.

We frequently take on new clients who have , sometimes for years, been unaware that they should have been filing annual tax returns.

Do you need assistance reviewing your personal tax position? Please do contact and us, we will be pleased to help.

In April 2011, the Revenue introduced new penalties for individuals who don’t file their Self-Assessment Tax Returns or pay their tax on time. The new penalties apply in respect to Returns for the year ending 5 April 2011 onwards. The changes are significant and will apply even if there is no tax to pay or if it has already been paid:

Penalties for late filing:

• One day late: initial penalty £100
• Three months late: automatic daily penalty of £10 per day, up to a maximum of £900
• Six months late and again at twelve months late : the greater of 5% of the tax due or £300

 HM Revenue & Customs are introducing a new series of cuts in an attempt to save money on paper, printing and postage. This will mean that we will no longer receive certain notifications about you. Under the new regime, there will be a message at the top of the correspondence advising you to show it to us. If you do not send a copy to us, we will not know about any changes or demands.

The forms and notifications that are affected are:

• P2 PAYE Coding Notices to be dropped from December 2010 P800 Tax Calculation dropped August/September 2010 P810 targeted review form (dropped in April 2010).
• SA 250 advising tax payer of UTR and need to file a return and SA 251 Letter advising that tax returns will no longer need to be completed (both dropped October 2010).
• SA 252 Letter for those who don't submit a tax return but are liable to higher rate (dropped since April 2010).

At the moment it is not planned to provide agents with any other means of accessing the information. So if you do receive any of the above notifications from HMRC, please do send a copy to us.

HMRC have introduced a new penalty system for late payments and under payments which applies to all businesses. Penalties apply from 6 April 2010, but will not be charged until April 2011. You will not automatically be sent a warning letter before penalties are applied.

Penalties will depend on how late, and also, how many payments are late. Additional penalties of 5% will be applied for payments six months late, and a further 5% for payments twelve months late.

The only way to avoid PAYE penalties is to pay the full liability each month on time. As with the payment of other taxes, HMRC is recommending that businesses pay their PAYE electronically.

To pay electronically on time: Cleared funds must be with HMRC on a working day prior to the 22nd each month. So if the 22nd falls on a Sunday, cleared funds must be in HMRC's bank account by Friday 20th.

The bank relevant account details for HMRC are as follows:

Accounts Office
Cumbernauld: Sort code 08 32 10, Account number: 12001039, Account name: HMRC Cumbernauld

Shipley: Sort code: 08 32 10, Account number:12001020, Account name: HMRC Shipley

Please use the link below if you require further information:

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/payinghmrc/paye.htm#1

Online VAT filing will be mandatory for many businesses from 1 April 2010.

If your business falls into one of the following categories:

• All newly registering businesses regardless of turnover
• All VAT registered businesses with an annual turnover (exclusive of VAT) of £100,000 or more.

If we currently prepare your VAT returns, we will organise online registration for you and will discuss this with you when we prepare your next return.

If we do not currently prepare your VAT returns, and you would like some assistance with this, please contact Sara Nevett (sarar@chambersand.co.uk). We will however be talking to all clients about this matter before the implementation date.

Private companies now have nine months to file their accounts. The shortened deadline applies to accounting periods commencing on or after 6 April 2008. Accounts which are filed late will be liable to fines under the new late filing penalty regime. Fines rise steeply from £150 to £1500, depending on the delay in filing. Companies House also have the power to double fines, if accounts were also filed late in the previous year.

This change is part of the main and final implementation of the Companies Act 2006. Companies House has provided a colourful leaflet summarising key changes which come into effect from 1 October 2009.

Cash is the lifeblood of any business and if it's not flowing there's trouble. VAT, corporation tax and Self-assessment are lumpy liabilities that can cause stress to anyone. Here's a list of practical tax administration ideas that can be used to ease cashflow problems:

1) Change your "VAT stagger" anyone with a VAT periods: Jan-Mar, April-June, July-Sept and Oct-Dec finds themselves facing VAT  and Self-liabilities in January and July.

2) Pay VAT electronically  -The VAT man allows you an additional 7 calendar days, if you pay electronically.

3) Phone the Revenue Business Support Service (0845 302 1435). If you can't pay all your tax on time, phone this service before the liability becomes due. Many clients have found them genuinely helpful in allowing delayed payment of liabilities. Interest is charged on late payments, but provided contact is made before the liability is due, a "time to pay" arrangement with the VAT man will not lead to a default surcharge. Similarly, Income Tax surcharges will not be applied provided a "time to pay" agreement is entered into before the relevant surcharge date AND the terms of the agreement are adhered to. Revenue staff have been instructed to be flexible in their approach, please make sure you do not set yourself an unrealistic payment plan, they will probably agree a much easier one. 

In the olden days, the Revenue sent out payslips together with a handy prepaid envelope just before the liability became due. The payslips are still being issued, but now you have to stick a stamp on the envelope. The Revenue really don't want you to pay by post anymore, they'd like you to set up a direct debit to allow them to help themselves. Not many have taken that option, but most find paying electronically more convenient that writing cheques. This link sets out the alternative electronic methods of payment: Paying HMRC. Please note that the Revenue changed their bank account on 6th April 2009 and have now opened accounts with Citi and RBS, so if you already pay self-assessment, corporation tax or PAYE electronically, you may need to change existing BACS details.