We are here to support you and your businesses during these uncertain times. If there is anything we can do to help please get in touch, we’re happy to help if you have financial concerns or simply need to talk to someone about how this might impact your business or personal position.
You can visit HM Government's Business support finder to see what support is available for you and your business.
VAT Deferral
The VAT payment deferral scheme went live on 23 February 2021.
In order to take advantage of the scheme you need to have deferred VAT payments under the VAT Payment Deferral Scheme between March and June 2020. This deferred payment can be paid in 2 to 11 monthly instalments.
You will need to opt-in to the VAT Deferral New Payment Scheme and can do so online (by clicking here) from 23 February 2021 until 21 June 2021. Business can easily set payment up through the new payment scheme portal. Unfortunately Gopsall are unable to opt-in to the scheme on your behalf/as your agent. The earlier you opt-in to the scheme the more instalments are available to spread the cost.
Eligible businesses that are unable to use HMRC's online services can ring the HMRC Coronavirus Helpline on 0800 024 1222 to join the scheme until 30 June 2021.
If you do not opt-in to the new VAT deferral scheme you should pay the deferred VAT in full by 31 March 2021. If you do not you will be liable to a 5% penalty for late payment.
Following the government’s announcement on 31 October of a further lockdown period commencing on 5 November, it has been announced that:
Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS or furlough scheme)
This CJRS will be extended until March 2021.
The level of the grant will mirror levels available under the CJRS in August, so the government will pay 80% of wages up to a cap of £2,500 and employers will pay employer National Insurance Contributions (NICs) and pension contributions only for the hours the employee does not work.
As under the current CJRS, flexible furloughing will be allowed in addition to full-time furloughing.
To be eligible, employees must be on an employer’s PAYE payroll by 23:59 30th October 2020. This means a Real Time Information (RTI) submission notifying payment for that employee to HMRC must have been made on or before 30th October 2020.
The £1,000 one-off Job Retention Bonus, originally planned to be paid to employers that retained previously-furloughed employees until the end of January 2021, has been withdrawn. It is expected to be replaced with a new employee retention incentive at an appropriate time.
The guidance currently available can be found here.
Self Employed
The Government has announced more generous support to the self-employed.
The extended SEISS is for self-employed individuals and members of partnerships who have been previously eligible for the SIESS first and second grant, although you do not need to have made a claim previously. To qualify you must be able to declare that you intend to continue to trade and are either: currently actively trading but are impacted by reduced demand due to coronavirus or were previously trading but are temporarily unable to do so due to coronavirus.
The first grant will cover a three-month period from 1 November 2020 until 31 January 2021. The grant will now cover 80% of average monthly trading profits, paid out in a single instalment covering 3 months’ worth of profits. The grant is now capped at £7,500 in total.
The second grant will cover a three-month period from 1 February 2021 until 30 April 2021. The Government will review the level of the second grant and set this in due course.
The grants will be subject to income tax and National Insurance. The online service to claim the next grant will be available from 30 November 2020 and further details of how to claim are expected to follow shortly.
Bounce Back and Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme
The application deadline for both loan schemes has been extended to the end of January 2021.
Businesses who have borrowed less than their maximum (i.e. less than 25% of their turnover) under the Bounce Back loan scheme will be able to top-up their existing loan. Businesses will be can make use of this option once.
Grant Scheme
Businesses required to close in England due to local or national restrictions will be eligible for the following:
Local Authorities in England will also receive one off funding of £1.1 billion to support businesses more broadly over the coming months. They will be able to use this funding at their discretion.
Income tax payments
Self-assessment income tax payers can extend the deferment of their tax bill for a further 12 months from January 2021 to January 2022, under the ‘Time to Pay’ self-service facility. This will include 31 July 2020 payments which have been deferred as well as liabilities that fall due 31 January 2021.
Bounce back loans / CBILS / new loans
To give small businesses more time and flexibility Bounce Back Loans will become "Pay as You Grow", so the loan repayment period can be extended from six to ten years. Businesses can move to interest only payments or defer payments if they are ‘in real trouble’ for up to six months. It has been confirmed that this will not impact businesses credit ratings.
The government’s guarantee for the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loans (CBILS) will also be extended to 10 years making it easier for lenders to give businesses more time to pay.
As well as extending the application window for current coronavirus loan until the end of November 2020, the Chancellor has also advised there will be a new government backed loan scheme introduced in January 2021. Further details on this are expected to follow nearer the time.
VAT deferred
Businesses who deferred their VAT bill earlier this year will no longer have to pay it back in a lump sum in March 2021. Instead business will be able to pay this, interest free, over an 11 month period during the financial year 2021-22.
VAT in hospitality and tourism
The 5% rate of VAT will remain in place for hospitality and tourism until the end of March 2021, it will not go back up to 20% in January 2021 as previously planned.
Previous announcements:
The packages of measures to support individuals and business through this period of disruption are shown below. A number of which are automatic so you do not need to apply for them.
The Treasury has also announced that the proposed reforms to IR35 (off-payroll working) will be delayed 12 months to April 2021.
Other useful information can be found at:
HM Government Coronavirus: what you need to do
How to keep you and your employees safe
Guidance for employers and businesses
Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) Employer Guide
To help prevent the spread of the virus, and to protect our team and clients, we will not be attending face to face meetings in the short term. All meetings will go ahead via telephone or video calls. If you have a meeting in the diary with us and you haven’t heard from us yet we will be in touch shortly.
Should you need to attend our offices, for example to drop off documents, please contact us in advance to arrange a convenient time, one of the team will meet you at the door.
Most of our team will be working remotely from home with a skeleton team in the office. Many of our team regularly work remotely and as such we already have the systems and technology in place to continue operating with minimal disruption to the service you receive from us. You may also find the following tools useful to assist with meetings and remote working:
So please contact us as and when you need to, by telephone or e-mail.
From our team to yours, look after yourselves and keep in touch.