Beware tax credit renewal scams

Tax credits applicants should be vigilant and alert to potential scams, HMRC has warned. In the 12 months to 30 April 2021, HMRC responded to more than 1,154,300 referrals of suspicious contact from the public. More than 576,960 of these offered bogus tax rebates. In the same period, HMRC has worked with telecoms companies and […]

What is the Unclaimed Estates List?

If an individual dies and for whatever reason executors or the Treasury Solicitor’s department are unable to track down beneficiaries, the unclaimed estate falls under the care of the Bona Vacantia and Government Legal Department. The Division publishes a list of unclaimed estates which have been recently referred, but not yet administered, and historic cases […]

Business risk is increasing

COVID disruption has added a further layer to the business risk cake. Do you know how many of your customers are at risk of failure? It is estimated that between 20% and 30% of small businesses, and a sprinkling of larger concerns, will cease to trade as we start to emerge from COVID lockdown; if […]

Informed v guesswork

First, let’s define these terms. “informed” – a decision or judgement based on an understanding of the facts of the situation. “guesswork” the process or results of estimating or concluding something without sufficient information to be sure of being correct. And between these two extremes varying degrees of certainty will apply. From a business point […]

Beware bogus contacts from HMRC

None of us are particularly thrilled to receive communications from HMRC, but fraudulent contacts, by email and other means, are becoming commonplace and innocent members of the public are being left out of pocket. According to HMRC, in the 12 months to 30 April 2021, they responded to more than 1,154,300 referrals of suspicious contact […]

VAT Deferral Scheme deadline

The online portal for the new VAT payment scheme closes on 21 June 2021. Over half a million businesses deferred £34 billion in VAT payments due between March and June 2020 under the VAT Payment Deferral Scheme. Businesses had until 31 March 2021 to pay this deferred VAT or, if they could not afford to […]