The Umbrella Companies Blog Archive: April 2009
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Just a quick one today, there have been a number of things today that have reminded me that it's once again the season for bogus communications from HMRC.

We've had a phishing email come in today apparently from HMRC talking about a tax rebate. I am about to put the text of the email in, but please be aware that WHAT FOLLOWS IS NOT ACTUALLY AN EMAIL FROM HMRC, the email address is faked.

From: HM Revenue and Customs Online [mailto:supprefnum-id-41gz@hmrc.gov.uk]
Sent: 29 April 2009 12:56
To: XXXXXXXXXXXX
Subject: HM Revenue and Customs REFUND Notification - Please Read This

After the last annual calculations of your fiscal activity we have determined that you are eligible to receive a tax refund of J667.50
Please click on the link to proceed: [link removed for your safety]
A refund can be delayed for a variety of reasons.
We apologize for any problems caused, and is very grateful for your collaboration.

Deliberate wrong inputs are criminally pursued and indicated.

Sincerely,
Brenna Rusko
Tax Refunds Department


Copyright © 2009 HM Revenue and Customs - All rights reserved.

As a simple security measure, please don't click on any links within unsolicited emails, no matter what they promise, no matter who they claim to be. If HMRC were to contact you it would never be by email they would either call or post it. If you are really concerned you can visit the HMRC Fraud and Scams page. Or forward the email itself to phishing@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk they cannot respond to every email, but I am sure they will do their best. Do not take no response as a good sign.

Hugo
30/04/2009

Let's face it, the umbrella company or payroll provider industry is quite a dry subject for conversation (I would certainly try to skip over it pretty quickly if I was asked about it at a party). But it's important to you because you want to be paid on time, claim expenses and know you are compliant and it's what we do here. Keeping you informed of news on taxation, HMRC and all the rest we think might be important. It's our duty to you.

We try to keep you informed in a number of ways as we recognise everyone has their own preference of how to be kept in touch. Online we have this blog, Susan's Legal Bits, and the Agency News sections (all of which will be updated in the next week or so), and offline we have The BottomLine our seasonal newsletter (which is due out in the next few weeks), our Important Notices and any regular updates. We also send you letters and notices via text.

Is all this output too much? How much of it does anyone read? Speaking personally I am very much an "internet person". If a company doesn't publish something on the net then I'm not really interested, and I am guessing that if you're reading this the same may be true for you.

We want to find out what's best for you. Do we produce too much information for you to conveniently read? Would you like to increase or reduced the amount we send out? Would you just like it all available here on the net? Most of our communications are fairly one sided so I thought I should offer you the opportunity to have your say. You can get in touch by clicking Hugo here or below, we would be very interested to hear your thoughts.

Hugo
29/04/2009

What can we say of the budget this year? Once you made your way past the mind numbing numbers there was very little in the way of nasty surprises for the likes of you and I apart from the usual rise in duty for alcohol, tobacco and petrol. Perhaps the best we can say is that it was mercifully short.

So with that behind us (or ahead of us if you think of the all the debt we will need to repay as a country), and perhaps to more mundane things it's reached that time of the year to start thinking about how long you will be putting off completing your self-assessments (should you be required to fill one out).

For those of you that have to fill out a self assessment for the first time it's not that bad, especially if you've kept yourself to PAYE work the whole year. It's simply a matter of taking the figures from the forms you've been sent and entering them on the self assessment. For those of you that were self employed at any point in the year, things are more complicated, too complicated for a simple blog, but to make your life easier, if you used CIS or SOLO for your self employed work, you will be getting a statement detailing the amount of work you've done as well as any CIS tax that may have been deducted for the CIS guys.

We are running our self assessment completion service for Umbrella company employees again this year (the details of which you can find here) for £85 + VAT and the closing date for using the service is the 31st of August.

Even if you aren't planning on using the service I encourage you to download the form because of the rather useful checklist it has on it. It just lets you know what you will need to have ready to fill your form out.

One of the things a lot of you will notice this year is the lack of P11Ds. This is because of our expense dispensation. You will only receive a P11D this year if you have claimed for expenses not covered by the dispensation such as training or tools or safety clothing.

All that said the deadlines are a long way off, 31st of October for paper submission and 31st of January for electronic submission, so right now a much more pressing matter is that it's Friday, and the weekend looks like it could well be barbeque weather.

Hugo
24/04/2009

For a number of years the internet has been seen as the place for contractors to find work. But with demand falling - especially in things like IT, even the job sites appear to be proving less than effective.

It's time to start entertaining other options and probably one of the most head slappingly obvious of those is making use of any social networks you belong to. I'm not just talking about the business networks like linkedin, but things like facebook, twitter and forums you may belong to. These networks are just another form of "word of mouth", and offer a way of reaching far further than your usual circle.

Being out of work is hardly something to conceal (especially in the current economic climate), and just by mentioning it you are potentially saving yourself some work, and gaining access to jobs that you may not see through normal channels.

Even if there is nothing immediate, you will get some moral support and people will keep an ear to the ground. Like all these things the longer you are on them, the larger your network becomes and the greater the chance of an opportunity coming your way so if you aren't already registered research which ones are for you (or ask your friends and colleagues which ones they use) just make sure it doesn't take over your life!

Hugo
22/04/2009

Let's face it, the law can be a tricky thing at the best of times where interpretations and "loopholes" abound. We at Gabem work with this all the time. There is no such thing as an approved set of procedures from HMRC for what we do. We need to rely on (expensive) legal advice and case law. You can bet that the guys from thepiratebay who were prosecuted and sentenced to a year in prison today in Sweden would have liked clear black and white legal advice. Maybe they thought they did.

In simple terms, they created a website that listed links to people who were sharing parts of files, be they copyrighted or not. They weren't hosting any of the files and they had no input into what was available. Under Swedish law that made things somewhat tricky. As far as the guys at thepiratebay were concerned they were in the clear even if it was a little "under the radar". It wasn't until today that there was a clear ruling on the matter.

This difference between the letter of the law and interpretation of events happens all the time; does taking a pen from work count as theft? Well yes it does, but who hasn't done it by accident or on purpose? It's a rare employer that would make a fuss about something so small.

The sticky area of expenses is another case in point. We all know it's possible to pad out expenses or make a mistake (see my earlier blog referring to the Home Secretary's recent embarrassment). Some companies may see it as just something that happens and accept it but HMRC is not nearly so forgiving as technically its fraud. This is why HMRC is focussing so much of its energy on our sector. They believe, rightly, that as a result of the fraud the Exchequer is losing millions of pounds. It is only a matter of time before companies and individuals will be prosecuted and be liable for back payment of tax.

This is the reason that we monitor expenses as stringently as we do even with our recently awarded dispensation. We've sought the best advice to ensure that not only are we as compliant as possible, but you are as safe as possible. I am sure you will agree that its better to sleep at night rather than risking an investigation and costly fine , all for a few extra pounds.

Hugo
17/04/2009

We are introducing a new phone system. Not the most exciting news admittedly, however, it's introduction in intended to make your calls to us more efficient. Some of you may already have experienced the new system as Eileen, our Customer Services Manager and Gemma, one of our team leaders have been trailing the system over the last few days. You may not have noticed any difference but hopefully you will have seen an improvement in the speed in which we can access your details.

Essentially our new phone system identifies who is calling by your number which is stored in our system and automatically brings up your name and details. Hopefully this will enable us to give you the answers you need much more quickly.

The system is going live to the whole of customer services tomorrow, and if you have any comments we would love to hear them.

Don't forget that the new legislation concerning the amount of holiday you are entitled to comes into force this week (the beginning of the new financial year). We will be taking provision for 28 rather than 24 days so don't forget to check regularly how much holiday pay you have accrued and use it when you have no work or intend to take a holiday.

As you may have noticed Susan has updated her legal bits today, covering holiday pay in a little more detail, and discusses a proposal put forward with regard to paternity pay .

If I don't speak to you before Easter, have a fantastic few days, even if you are working. I hope the weather holds out.

Hugo
08/04/2009

As you may have noticed on the front page we now have an expense dispensation! That it has been granted now in a period when HMRC is tightening its stance on issuing dispensations is exceptional.

Whilst there is no such thing as "HMRC approval" it does demonstrate that HMRC have faith that our expense procedures are compliant and stringent; enough that we are trusted to do some of their legwork for them.

I would hope that this is a good sign for the umbrella company industry as a whole, and not just for us. HMRC has made it clear that they are unhappy with the lack of compliance in the industry and are determined to stamp it out. However, by granting this dispensation HMRC is showing that when a company does the right thing it will be recognised.

Hopefully by recognising compliant businesses HMRC are taking a significant step towards accepting the industry as a legitimate part of the contracting industry, vital in preserving the flexible nature of freelancing at a time when that flexibility is desperately needed.

Hugo
03/04/2009