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January Question and Answer Section
Newsletter issue - January 2011.
Q. My employees earn an average of £490 per week, how much more NI will I have to pay for each employee from April 2011?
A. For an employee on average earnings of £490 per week you currently pay employer's NIC of £48.64 per week in 2010/11, but from 6 April 2011 this NIC bill increases to £48.85 per week. That adjustment appears small but it amounts to £10.92 per year per employee. The increase in NIC costs will be much larger for higher paid employees, but smaller for lower paid employees. For an employee on £210 per week, you pay employer's NICs of £12.80 per week in 2010/11, but this will drop to only £10.21 per week in 2011/12.
Q. I had taxable income of about £60,000 in 2009/10, made up entirely of dividends and bank interest. I also pay £2,400 per year into a personal pension. Will I get 40% tax relief on that pension contribution?
A. You will receive higher rate tax relief on your pension contribution if you make the claim on your tax return for 2009/10. A contribution of £2,400 is worth £3,000 to your pension fund as the pension scheme trustees reclaim £600 basic rate tax from HMRC. Your basic rate tax limit will be expanded to £40,400 by the gross value of your pension contribution. Which means £3,000 of dividends which would have been taxed at the higher rate applicable to dividends of 32.5%, will be taxed at 10%, saving you an additional 22.5% in tax, or £675.
Q. Our trade body charges a membership fee in advance for each calendar year, but from 1 December 2010 new members who join online can pay the annual fee for 2011 and become a member immediately, effectively receiving the balance of the 2010 membership period for free. The organisation is VAT registered and the membership fee is subject to standard rate VAT. Is it correct to charge new members 20% VAT when they join online in 2010?
A. The organisation should charge VAT at the standard rate in force at the date of the tax point for the membership subscription. This tax point is the earlier of the date the membership fees is received or the VAT invoice is issued. For new memberships paid for before 4 January 2011, the correct rate of VAT to charge is 17.5%, even where the membership covers the whole of the year 2011.
What our clients say about us...
"Paul has provided accountancy services to my company for 2 years now. I can recommend Paul very highly; his skills as an accountant are highly detailed and professional and he is always available to provide advice. One aspect of the way Paul works that I greatly appreciate is a preference to meet face to face when there is a detailed conversation to be had. I personally find this more productive and is a benefit of working with a small accountancy firm that you wouldn't get with the large faceless providers."
ALISTAIR FAIRWEATHER - PROGRAMME & PROJECT MANAGER, DELIVERING/RESCUING I.T. 7 BUSINESS CHANGE WITH BUDGETS UPTO £50M INC SUPPIER MANAGEMENT
"I couldn't ask for more from Paul as an Accountant. Paul has been accountant to Work Relief Charity Recruitment for just over a year now and is proving an invaluable asset. Accurate, knowledgeable, flexible with an emphasis on service delivery, I would recommend Paul's services to any organisation looking for an accounts professional."
Neil Price - Managing Director at Work Relief Charity Recruitment
"Paul was a referral from a family member when I started my business 2 years ago. As this was the first time I had ever run my own company I was totally clueless over the financial side of matters and was worried that I may have made mistakes in any of my accounting. I needn't have worried as after enaging Paul for a set monthly fee he was always there on the end of the phone for all sorts of questions I had and no matter how trivial they were Paul gave me all the information I required and more and did an excellent and painless job at the end of my first year! Couldn't ask for any better to be honest. Just two words - hire him!!!"
Lee Westrap MBCS - Director - Bulldog IT Services
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