News Archives - Page 6 of 6

State Pension Update for Recipients Living in the EU

1 April 2019/in News/by Georgia

If you live or move abroad, you are entitled to claim the State Pension if you have met the necessary qualifying criteria. This is based on your UK National Insurance record. You require a minimum of 10 years of UK National Insurance contributions to be eligible for the new State Pension. The New State Pension can be claimed if you reached your State Pension age on or after 6 April 2016.

If you reached the State Pension age before 6 April 2016, you will continue to receive the Old State Pension and not the New State Pension. The Old State Pension is made up of two parts, the basic State Pension and the additional State Pension. Both the basic and New State Pension payments are up-rated annually by either 2.5%, average wage growth or by prices growth as measured by the Consumer Price Index – whichever is highest.

In a recent announcement by the Work and Pensions Secretary, Amber Rudd, it has been confirmed that recipients of a UK pension living in the EU will continue to have their payments up-rated until March 2023, in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

This announcement should offer some comfort to almost 500,000 UK pensioners living in the EU. The Government has also confirmed that during this 3-year period they would seek to negotiate a new arrangement with the EU to ensure that up-rating continues.

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Help to Save Accounts

29 March 2019/in News/by Georgia

The Help to Save scheme can help those on low incomes to boost their savings. The scheme was launched in September 2018, and new figures published by HMRC have revealed that over 132,000 people have signed up, depositing more than £31.4 million into Help to Save accounts. These savers are now eligible for bonuses totalling around £14 million.

Under the scheme, those receiving Working Tax Credit or entitled to Working Tax Credits and in receipt of Child Tax Credits, can save up to £50 a month for two years and receive a 50% Government bonus. The scheme is also open to those who are claiming Universal Credit and had a household or individual income of at least £569.22 for their last monthly assessment period. Payments from Universal Credit are not considered to be part of household income.

Payments under the scheme can be made by standing order on a weekly, fortnightly, or monthly basis and one-off payments by debit card are also possible. Account holders will then be able to continue saving under the scheme for a further 2 years and receive another bonus. This could see those on low incomes receive a bonus of up to £1,200 on maximum savings of £2,400 for 4 years from the date the account is opened. After the 4 years, the Help to Save account will be closed and savers will not be able to reopen or open another Help to Save account. The account balances are expected to be rolled over into successor accounts.

There are no limits on how the money used can be spent, but it is hoped that the money will be saved for urgent costs. Money paid into the account can be withdrawn at any time, but this could affect the size of the bonus payment. The Government is urging anyone else eligible to use the scheme, to look at the benefits as the take-up of the scheme has been far less than expected. It is estimated that some 3.5 million people could use the scheme.

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Filing Deadlines for a Company Confirmation Statement

23 March 2019/in News/by Georgia

As well as filing accounts with Companies House, there is a further requirement to check that the information Companies House holds about your company is correct every year. This is facilitated by the filing of an annual company confirmation statement. The confirmation statement was introduced in June 2016 and replaced the annual return form.

A confirmation statement must usually be filed at Companies House once every 12 months and rather than resubmitting data every year, the confirmation statement only needs to be updated if you have changes to report. If there are no changes then you just need to confirm the information is correct and submit the statement.

The following details need to be checked:

– The details of your registered office, directors, secretary and the address where you keep your records

– Your statement of capital and shareholder information if your company has shares

– Your SIC code (the number that identifies what your company does)

– Your register of ‘people with significant control’ (PSC)

Any necessary updates to the statement of capital, shareholder information and SIC codes can be made when submitting the confirmation statement. However, the confirmation statement cannot be used to report changes to your company’s officers, the registered office address, the address where you keep your records and people with significant control. These changes must be filed separately with Companies House and this should be done at the same time or prior to submitting the confirmation statement. The confirmation statement can be filed online (at a cost of £13) or by post (at a cost of £40).

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Filing Deadlines for Company Accounts

19 March 2019/in News/by Georgia

The normal deadline for filing private limited company accounts is 9 months after the company’s financial year end, known as the accounting reference date. For example, many companies have a year-end date of 31 March and are therefore required to file their accounts by 31 December. For public companies, the time limit is 6 months from the year end.

The deadline for filing your first set of accounts with Companies House can be complicated. If the first set of accounts cover a period of more than 12 months, the filing deadlines are as follows:

– Within 21 months of the date of incorporation for private companies
– Within 18 months of the date of incorporation for public companies
– Or (for either company type) 3 months from the accounting reference date, if this is longer than the above time limits.

For example, a private company incorporated on 1 January 2019 with an accounting reference date of 31 January, has until midnight on 1 October 2020 (21 months from the date of incorporation) to deliver its accounts.

If the first set of private company accounts cover a period of 12 months or less, then the normal filing deadline applies.

There are automatic late filing penalties if your company accounts are delivered late. The penalties depend on how long has passed from the due date for payment and whether the company is private or public.

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