It is quite common to invoice a customer with terms of “30 days or net monthly account”. Small customers will be expected to pay within 30 days, while large customers will be expected to pay at the end of the month following the month of the invoice, so an invoice sent in January 2018 would be settled by 28 February 2018. Large companies do it this way because they may receive several invoices from a supplier, and will want to settle all of them with a single payment when they do their computerised cheque run. It would therefore be a good idea for the supplier to have sent a statement at the start of February listing all outstanding invoices. Typically the cheque run would be about the 25th of the month, or this February the 23rd, the date of this posting. If you give credit and have debts to collect, then you might like to have a discussion with us. Most accountants are also general business advisers as well.
Archives for February 2018
Value Added Tax deadline on 7 March 2018
Value Added Tax returns for the quarter ended 31 January 2018 are due to be submitted by 7 March 2018, and any payment which is due should be made electronically by the same date.
The Off Switch
If the Revenue send you a tax return, then you must fill it in and send it back by the deadline, or there will be a penalty.
What happens when you retire or there is a radical change in your circumstances? Sometimes the Revenue machine will just go crunching on, sending you returns when you no longer need to complete them. If necessary, we will write to the Revenue to ask them to stop sending you returns, and this is a free service to clients. We will look on the Revenue website after April 6th and check that they haven’t sent you a return, and e-mail you the evidence. You become an ex-client after that.
Often the Revenue will save us the bother of writing to them by sending us a note at about this time of year. We will still check after April 6th.
Companies with a 31 May 2017 year end
Employer Payment Summary by 19 February 2018
It can happen sometimes that when you are an employer, you have not actually made any wage or salary payments for a PAYE month such as the month from 6 January to 5 February 2018. In that case you must submit electronically an Employer Payment Summary as a NIL return by 19 February. This is too easy to overlook.
If you engage a local accountant and business advisor or a payroll bureau to do your wages, then this will be taken care of. In our case we keep a diary and do a batch of payrolls at about the same time each month. Our payroll files are bright yellow like the old P30BC booklet so we do not overlook them.
CIS Returns to 5 February 2018
Construction Industry Scheme returns for the month from 6 January to 5 February 2018 should be submitted online by 19 February. This includes NIL returns.
It is only too easy to forget the need to submit a NIL return when no payments to subcontractors have been made. If you engage a local accountant to do your CIS returns, then this will be taken care of. In our case we keep a diary and do a batch of work at about the same time each month. We aim to be the Carlisle accountants that businesses will turn to for a range of advice and services.
If you have missed the 31 January 2018 deadline
If you have missed the 31 January 2018 deadline for the submission of your income tax return for the year ended 5 April 2017, then the next deadline is 2 March 2018, when you may be charged a penalty of 5% of any tax that is due. We recommend that you see an accountant at once.
If you engage us, then we would request an advance on our fee of 50%, and the balance once you have signed the accounts and tax return. We have lots of new technology and we have the speed, but we want to be fair to everybody. Other accountants might still give you credit.
A Company which has missed the 31 January 2018 Deadline
If your company had a deadline of 31 January 2018 for the submission of its accounts to Companies House, and this deadline has been missed, then you still have something to play for, and you should contact Carlisle accountants such as David Porthouse and Co at once. You will incur a penalty of £150, but this penalty rises to £375 after 28 February 2018 if you still haven’t submitted your accounts. These penalties are £300 and £750 if you miss the deadline two years’ running. We can readily prepare and submit your accounts within the month if you contact us now.