Monday 16 February 2015

£100 penalty being abolished by HMRC? Don't cheer too loudly yet.....


A discussion document entitled "HMRC Penalties" has been issued which promotes the view that, in future, the automatic £100 penalty for failure to file a personal tax return by the due date is likely to be abolished.  However, before cheering and celebrating the fact that the date of 31 January will no longer hold any terrors, be careful what you wish for!

Whilst nearly 2.5 million individuals failed to file their Self Assessment return by the due date,  generating "a nice little earner for HMRC", nevertheless, the Government has realised that small scale penalties, such as the £100 penalty, are costly to collect.  So now HMRC are exploring possible new ways of "encouraging" compliance.

One proposal is for a "points" system based on the number of transgressions  and the magnitude of the tax at stake, which will then result in points being incurred - not so much "points mean prizes" as "points means penalties"!  And more severe penalties than currently imposed!  However, HMRC has not addressed for how long the points would remain valid nor any of the finer detail.  In order to address the problem of habitual late filers, HMRC will be looking for patterns of failure in complying with deadlines and the new approach would apply across the board to all taxes - so, for example, the filing of VAT returns as well as personal tax returns would be brought together under one umbrella "personal account" which could be more easily monitored for non-compliance. 

As with other recent HMRC initiatives, there is concern being expressed for those taxpayers who are not computer-savvy nor have access to computers eg some seniors or low-paid groups.  Such ideas as "personal accounts" must be considered in the context of such taxpayers.   

This is a consultation document and views are requested from any interested parties by 11 May 2015; the professional tax and accounting bodies will be responding to this Consultation and we will report on the results of the consultative process. 

Tuesday 10 February 2015

PetersonSims - Partners on the Tour de Finance 2015 at the British Embassy in Paris


We are delighted to announce that, as in previous years, we are partners on the Tour de Finance and will be speaking at the prestigious evening event, hosted at the British Embassy in Paris on Wednesday 15 April.

This year's Tour de Finance starts on Tuesday 17 March in the Maine-et-Loire with two events and then continues in Deux Sevres on Thursday 19 March:

17 March Chateau de Colbert, 49360 Maulevrier

18 March Ackerman (Maison de Vins)  49400 Saumur

19 March Chateau de Javarzay 79110 Chef-Boutonne

This week of events is then followed by an Evening Event hosted by the British Ambassador at the British Embassy in Paris on Wednesday 15 April

Further events are being held:

19 May Villa Duflot  66000 Perpignan

20 May Chateau de Cabezac 11120 Bize-Minervois

21 May Cote-Mas 34530 Montagnac

Further dates for September 2015 in the Alps Region will be announced later in the year

Saturday 7 February 2015

Important Changes to the Auto-Entrepreneurs' Regime in France


Following the Pinel Act of June 2014, some significant changes to the AE regime have been introduced at the end of 2014 and early 2015:

·       traders and artisans are now required to be registered with their local Chamber of Commerce or Industry or Crafts

·       this registration, of course, comes at a cost - ranging from 0.007% to 0.044% based on turnover

·       there is now a mandatory requirement to attend 30 hours of "training" provided by these Chambers at a typical cost of 260€

·       for 2015 there is a reduction and harmonisation of the levels of cotisations:
 
       - 13,3 % pour les activités d'achat revente,
- 22,9 % pour les prestations de services commerciales et artisanales,
- 22,9 % pour les activités libérales relevant du régime de retraite du RSI,
- 22,9 % pour les activités libérales relevant du régime de retraite de la Cipav  

·       except in the year of commencement, AEs are now subject to the CFE tax which is levied by their local commune and varies from commune to commune

·       all AEs must now operate a dedicated bank account for their AE activity

·       certain artisans must state, on their estimates and invoices, their professional insurance policy number

·       access to training is now conditional upon payment of cotisations

·       for 2016 there will be a merging of the different types of existing micro-regime under the title of micro-entrepreneur