HW Chartered Accountants

Alternative approaches to reward and incentivise staff.
Dear __FIRST__ No matter how stable your company is despite the economy, it is likely your staff will have concerns and uncertainty. It is important to ensure your staff continue to be motivated and feel supported. In this issue of RED we examine alternative approaches to reward and incentivise staff including salary sacrifice arrangements and reviewing what motivates the individual in order to consider alternative benefits. In addition we consider some positive measures that can be adopted to ensure teams remain strong and motivated through these difficult times. Andy Minifie Group Managing Partner

Tax News

HMRC Penalty Regime Major changes have taken place to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) penalties regime for inaccurate returns from 1 April 2009. Minimum and maximum penalties apply for each degree of behaviour that give rise to the inaccuracy. The possible penalties are: Reasonable Care taken: 0% Careless Error: 0% - 30% Deliberate Error: 20% - 70% Deliberate & Concealed Error: 30% - 100% The new penalties apply to most taxes initially but will be extended subsequently. The new regime is likely to result in more severe penalties than those currently levied by HMRC for similar errors.
Company Cars Major changes are expected to the taxation of business expenditure on cars purchased from April 2009. The Capital Allowances available are to be changed so that rather than businesses claiming 25% of the cost of car, (capped at a maximum of £3,000) the claim will be reduced to 10% for the majority of cars (no cap) or 20% for lower emission cars (less than 160g/km)(no cap). Expenditure will go into one of the two Capital Allowances pools i.e. 10% or 20%, and a balancing allowance will not be available when a vehicle is disposed. The old regime will continue for cars acquired before 1 April 2009.

Click below to read more on the articles in this edition.

A look at how salary sacrifice schemes can be used to tailor individual benefits.