What to do if you've missed the pension deadline
In October 2017 The Pensions Regulator (TPR) introduced step by step guidance for employers that have missed their duties start date (staging date).
First, they need to clarify what their automatic enrolment duties are and comply with them immediately. The actions required by the employer depend on how late they are in setting up a pension scheme.
If the employer is less than six weeks after their duties start date...
Postponement can be applied to delay the assessment of the workforce and there is no need to backdate contributions. Postponement can for a period of up to three months from the duties start date, giving extra time to meet legal auto enrolment duties if needed. In this case, the employer must issue communications to all employees informing them about auto enrolment and detailing what their rights are.
Alternatively, the staff can be enrolled into the workplace pension scheme. The employer may choose to backdate their employees scheme membership to the day that they first met the age and earnings criteria to be put into a scheme and to backdate contributions as well.
If the employer is more than six weeks after their duties start date...
The employer will need to pay any contributions that they should have made back to the duties start date. The employer will need to work out what these contributions are and backdate them.
Backdating contributions
- When the pension scheme is set up, the employer should tell the pension provider that they need to backdate the contributions.
- The employer will need to work out how much they will need to backdate and from when.
- The employer should re-run their payroll process for the period back to when employee first met the criteria for automatic enrolment, this will provide the employer with the contribution amounts that need to be backdated.
- The employer must pay any unpaid employer contributions and give the option to their staff to pay their own – unless employer decides to pay it for them.
- The employer needs to pay staff contributions into their chosen scheme on an ongoing basis, each time they run their payroll.
BrightPay will be exhibiting at Accountex 2018, stand 430
Does QuickBooks Assistant have the answer?
Artificial intelligence for accounting is landing in the UK. Because software provider Intuit QuickBooks is launching QuickBooks Assistant after its US introduction last year.
And the group says the chat-bot will tell you how much you made last month. How much you're going to make next year. And how much tax you owe!
QB Assistant is a "virtual assistant" that "offers a conversational chat experience", says the company. It combines data-driven insights and natural language processing to understand intent and identify context. From tax obligations to expense tracking, cash flow and profitability.
Business insights from QuickBooks Assistant
So those who work for themselves can ask questions or state requests and access insights easily.
“We are delighted to be launching QuickBooks Assistant in the UK, ” says Dominic Allon, vice-president and managing director of Intuit Europe (above).
He adds that direct data feeds are, or will soon, be available with major UK banks including Royal Bank of Scotland, NatWest, HSBC, Lloyds, Bank of Scotland, Barclays and Santander.
Smarter connections
Also announced at QuickBooks Connect at London Printworks recently was the integration of QuickBooks Self-Employed and QuickBooks Online Accountant. Soon to be available, the integration provides "smarter connections" between self-employed workers and accountants.
So, as the UK sees a big uptick in self-employment, with those workers now accounting for 15 per cent of all those in work, accountants are taking on more self-employed clients than ever.
New integration
"The new integration allows accountants that use QBOA to access their customers’ QuickBooks Self-Employed portals through their own account. It provides a seamless, collaborative client workflow. And it saves accountants valuable time by eliminating the extra step of logging into a separate portal," says the company.
“Our commitment to continued innovation for our customers – from our use of artificial intelligence and machine learning to partnering with key financial institutions and providing seamless integration between products – underlines our role in helping to foster a strong fintech ecosystem in the UK,” says Dominic Allon.
“A major part of this is better preparing our customers, whether business owners or accountants, for the introduction of Making Tax Digital (MTD). Technology that offers a smooth experience will empower customers to prepare for MTD and file taxes digitally with ease and confidence.
"This will free them up to make smarter decisions, smarter connections and smarter money.”
Cyber criminals target HMRC
The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has published a report stating that HMRC was the most targeted government website in 2017 with 16,047 internet imposters found and removed.
Active Cyber Defence (ACD) was launched last year as part of the National Cyber Security Strategy to improve matters by disrupting cyber attacks that affect the UK.
Key points from the NCSC’s report include:
- The UK’s share of global phishing attacks dropped from 5.3% (June 2016) to 3.1% (Nov 2017)
- 121,479 phishing sites hosted in the UK were removed and 18,067 worldwide spoofing UK government
- Takedown availability times for sites spoofing government brands down from 42 hours to 10 hours
- A significant drop in scam emails from bogus ‘@gov.uk’ accounts (total of 515,658 rejected)
Much cyber security work to do
It is clear from the results of the report that the ACD is helping to combat cyber crime but there is still much more work to do.
The world is changing and cyber criminals are adapting. Ransomware and data theft attacks are becoming more frequent and the cost to the victims in these situations is mounting.
Despite the threat of a cyber attack, many companies are not prepared. It is crucial for businesses to stop ignoring these security threats. A good starting point for companies would be a secure cloud backup facility.
BrightPay now offers a secure cloud backup to save your payroll information. BrightPay Connect is built using a design structure that maximises payroll data security.
Each user will have their own login details and password. BrightPay Connect utilises the Microsoft Azure platform, which gives customers reliability and security updates. BrightPay Connect also offers an automatic backup feature which additionally allows users to restore payroll information.
BrightPay will be exhibiting at Accountex London 2018 on stand 430.
HMRC extends MTD income tax pilot with soft launch
HMRC is pressing on with MTD by inviting the self-employed to join its pilot for keeping business records and income tax filing digitally instead of by self-assessment tax forms.
All the information you need to get started is here on the HMRC's website. The scheme is open to sole traders with one business whose accounting year ends after 5 April 2018.
The HMRC says: "By signing up to HMRC’s secure service, you’re helping to test a new way of working out your tax as part of the making tax digital pilot. This means you’ll see an estimate of how much tax you might owe as you go, rather than waiting until the end of the tax year."
How it works, according to HMRC
- You can choose from a number of software options. At present there are only two groups on the HMRC approved list, IRIS and Rhino. But more are expected to follow.
- Once you have the software, record your income and expenses digitally "If you want to carry on using your current recording method to keep your business records, make sure that the software you use to send updates to HMRC can link to this to automatically transfer the data."
- Use your software to send your income and expenses summary to HMRC every three months.
- "You can view an estimate of the tax you might owe at the end of your accounting year, based on the information you have provided so far in your business tax account as well as through your software."
- "Send a final report to confirm your income and expenses at the end of your accounting year. If you need to claim allowances and reliefs, you can do this within that final report. You’ll be able to see a tax calculation for the year."
Croneri quotes tax policy adviser Brian Palmer of the Association of Accounting Technicians: "I do anticipate that if the VAT MTD-pilot is a success, and the subsequent mandation phase goes well, there will be a slow but steady stream of self-employed businesses joining the income tax pilot," he says.
"As confidence grows in the pilot, accountants and tax advisers may decide self-employed start-ups should be on-boarded straight into MTD, to avoid the need to transition from the current regime when mandation comes back on the table."
Daily Insight: Cyber Security insurance and GDPR... Big Four break-up call
Your're never far from a GDPR story these days. I came across one today about the growth in the market for insurance against cyber attacks.
It's expected to balloon to about $10 billion by 2020. A good analysis by the FT says that cyber cover has become one of the fastest growing parts of the global insurance sector.
The analysis concludes that the introduction of the GDPR is expected to trigger even more demand for cover, although it acknowledges that, at the moment, the main focus for companies is on compliance.
However, it quotes Sarah Stephens, head of cyber at brokerage JLT. “We are seeing clients wanting ‘full coverage’ for GDPR, which is wider than traditional cyber insurance policies. For example they want to include things that go wrong in data handling,” she tells the FT.
Big Four break-up call
Big Four Another 'group' that is rarely out of the news is the 'Big Four' accountants. Today the Financial Reporting Council is joining the debate over whether the group should be broken up. The FRC has called for an inquiry into the case.
Chief executive Stephen Haddrill said that the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) should look into the possibility of “audit only” firms in a bid to enhance competition in the sector, according to the Financial Times.
“There is a loss of confidence in audit and I think that the industry needs to address that urgently. In some circles, there is a crisis of confidence,” he said.
Daily Insight: Dodd's final dodge... and more on tax avoidance
Welcome to the final Daily Insight of the week. If you are new to the site, this is our regular trawl through the day's finance and accounting headlines where I get to share the stories that made me stop and think.
And, as we're pausing to reflect, here's a reminder of who we are and what we're aiming to do. I am Ian Moss and I'm the editor of Accounting Insight News. We're a new content platform for accounting and finance professionals, brought to you by the people who organise Accountex London and Accountex Summit North.
We'll be updating you regularly with news, views and features from the world of accounting and finance, in, we hope, an engaging, entertaining and thoughtful way. There's plenty of interesting stuff on the site already and there'll be lots more in the future.
Why not sign up for our free Accounting Insight News newsletter and receive a fortnightly update delivered straight to your inbox.
Tax-averse Knotty Ash comic
Anyway that's the commercial break over, so on with the serious stuff. Ken Dodd, the 90-year-old tax-averse Knotty Ash comic who died this week, has had the last laugh with the HMRC. And it's not me saying that. It's everyone!
Virtually all media organisations in the UK, from the Sun to accountingWEB, used the same 'last laugh' headline to describe Doddy's final tax 'dodge'. He was fined for serial tax evasion after a high profile court case in 1989. At that time, it was revealed that Ken had about 300 grand packed in suitcases in his attic.
Now, worth about £7.2 million, he married his long-term partner a couple of days before he passed, in an effort, it would seem, to avoid paying about £2 million "to the taxman". Funny thing, money.
Tax avoidance crackdown
Now I don't know if this is coincidental but, not long after digesting the news about Doddy, I found this headline on the ICAEW's website economia. "Treasury announces tax avoidance crackdown."
On Thursday, the finance act, which includes “tough” measures to address VAT fraud and close loopholes on offshore tax avoidance, received royal assent.
Unpaid VAT
Economia says: "The measures are aimed at making online marketplaces like Amazon or Ebay more responsible for paying unpaid VAT of their sellers.
"Online marketplaces are liable for VAT where they knew or should have known that an overseas online seller should have been VAT-registered but was not."
The Treasury also aims to deter high earners from using complicated structures to avoid reporting how much they really earn, and rogue operators of illegal landfill sites will be forced to pay tax.
Have a great weekend!
Accountex London reveals first Keynote speakers
Accountex London 2018 will be delivering more inspiring content than ever before, thanks to the addition of a second Keynote theatre at London ExCeL on 23-24 May .
Among the big names confirmed are:
- Accountancy futurist Chris Hooper, CEO of Accodex.
- Kath Haines, chief executive of CABA.
- Alex Falcon Huerta FCCA – founder of Soaring Falcon Accountancy and winner of Xero’s MVP (Most Valued Professional) Award 2017.
- Business networking expert Itzik Amiel.
- Strategist James Ashford, CEO of GoProposal.
- Cloud Pricing creator Mark Wickersham.
The new theatre (Keynote B), sponsored by Compleat Software, will also host the inaugural British Accounting Marketing Awards, presented by Amanda C Watts and the TwentyTwo Agency; in association with Accountex.
Outstanding marketing
Designed to recognise and celebrate outstanding marketing by accounting firms across the UK, the awards ceremony will take place at 5pm on opening day (Wednesday 23 May).
Other new speakers in Keynote B include:
- Rob Brown, founder of BD Academy, sharing his strategies that can help "fuel business growth and career opportunities".
- Jo Tomlinson, owner and MD of Business Works UK, outlining how cloud accounting is changing the way that accountants provide value-based advisory services.
- Warren Cass, founder of Practice Advantage and award-winning entrepreneur, discussing ‘Influence in a changing world.
150 Accountex London speakers in 16 theatres
Accountex 2018 will feature over 180 CPD-accredited Keynotes, seminars and workshops. Full details are now available for four of the show’s 16 theatres, including Keynote B.
“Accountex is always a great opportunity to get up to speed with everything that’s happening in the accounting industry. It’s a chance to meet with peers, and like-minded individuals, who all share one common cause – to help accountants in both practice and commerce,” says popular returning speaker Rudi Jansen, founder of Accoa and author of The Highly Profitable Accountant.
With 150 expert speakers in all, event organiser Diversified Communications says there’s still plenty of big announcements to come.
Consider it a pilgrimage
“Sage, Xero, Intuit QuickBooks, ACCA, ICAEW, Compleat Software, IRIS, Wolters Kluwer, TaxCalc, FreeAgent – the list goes on and on – will all be sending their top experts to share the most up-to-date and relevant news, views, insights, advice, and inspiration for Accountex visitors this May,” says Zoe Lacey-Cooper, Accountex’s event director.
“It's the only UK event that annually attracts so many of the profession’s leading innovators and key thinkers together in one place at one time. In just two days our visitors will be able to take away real-time solutions and ideas, which will help them to continue to provide the best all-round accountancy service possible. That’s why so many recommend it and call it their favourite show of the year,” she says.
“Consider it a pilgrimage – ‘it’ and ‘everyone’ is all there,” agrees Paul Dunn, chairman of B1G1 (the show’s returning charity partner).
For further seminar details, visit www.accountex.co.uk/education-programme. All Keynotes and seminars are free to attend, and allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.
Accountex Summit North inspires launch of Women in Accountancy group
It's International Women's Day and it's also Women in Accountancy day. Because a new platform for female professionals launches today, inspired by the Accountex Summit North conference in Manchester this week.
There, Elaine Clark, of cheapaccounting, chaired a round-table hot-topic discussion called Women in Accountancy. She was joined by Accountex events director Zoe Lacey-Cooper and, afterwards, it was decided that it would be a good idea to set up an association for women in the profession.
Women in Accountancy
Zoe says: "After the session we swapped emails because everyone wanted to keep in touch. Elaine and me decided to take it a step further and we are going to head up the new group. We are going to start it off on LinkedIn and take it from there."
Elaine takes up the story: "Having called out Accountex over their lack of female speakers on the programme for the first Accountex North Summit I could hardly then refuse the challenge of running a session specifically aimed at women in accountancy.
Standing room only
"I had a minor panic shortly before the event wondering if anyone would actually be interested. But, thankfully, the session was oversubscribed with standing room only."
Attendees from industry and practice saw a diverse group discuss issues that women in the profession face daily. The view is that they want more women speakers at events. They want to hear about women who have succeeded in accountancy, the challenges they have faced and how they have overcome them.
Elaine adds: "They want sessions where they can join in, share experiences, have healthy debates and learn from others. They want to be inspired and given the confidence to succeed in the world of accountancy."
And that's how the Women in Accountancy (WIA) movement was born. Follow the progress of WIA on Accounting Insight News.
Accountex Summit North: keeping you in the picture
Accounting Insight News editor Ian Moss shares his take on Accountex Summit North 2018...
I could easily (well, probably not that easily) write thousands of words about my experience of Accountex Summit North, but I won't.
Instead, I'll jot down a few considered recollections and let you look through our photograph gallery of some quality moments from the event, which was held for the first time at Manchester Central on Tuesday 6 March. After all, 16 pictures is, proverbially, worth 16,000 words. So that sounds like a pretty good deal.
Judging by the smiles of the 1,000-plus attendees and the subsequent social media feedback, the Summit was a success.
Keynote was buzzing
The exhibitor pods were packed, the keynote auditorium was buzzing and the break-out theatres were 'standing room only'.
Former BBC business reporter Declan Curry set the tone with a thought-provoking keynote presentation on the commercial landscape, from Carillion to Brexit.
I was lucky enough to catch up with the energetic Damon Anderson from Xero who put me in the picture regarding the future. James Ashford of GoProposal was equally high energy, affable and engaging.
Scary flight into the future
Also in the new breed category was Ed Molyneux, of Edinburgh-based FreeAgent. He's a former RAF fighter pilot and you can tell. His breakout theatre presentation, 'Rise of the Robots, Accountancy at a Crossroads' was a thrilling and at times scary flight into the future.
But he brought his accountancy audience back to earth safely with an example, bizarrely, of travel agents. Despite prophets of gloom saying online holiday booking would drive them out of business, the opposite has in fact happened.
There are now just as many out there as 30 years ago, but they provide a more bespoke, advisory service. Sound familiar?
Expert in his field
With his trademark bow-tie, Andrew Hubbard of Tolley Tax had the appearance of a university lecturer from the 1950s. He's certainly an expert in his field and his packed session on Making Tax Digital had the audience riveted.
"There is concern that the tax pilot has not tested enough of the sector," he said with a hint of irony that spoke volumes of the anxiety this issue has raised in the accounting profession. "Records for ALL VAT transactions MUST be kept digitally by LAW. Just think about that for a minute." He paused, and people thought...
Elaine Clarke of cheapaccounting, hosted two round-table discussions, on 'Women in Accountancy' and on 'Sole Practitioners'. Both were well attended and lively. Continuing the theme of MTD and accountant-client relations, Elaine asked: "Is it time we got the whip out?"