Latest news with #HMRevenueCustoms
Telegraph
3 hours ago
- Business
- Telegraph
John Barnes faces threat of bankruptcy
John Barnes has been hit by another bankruptcy petition by HM Revenue & Customs. The former Liverpool and England winger is facing the renewed threat of financial ruin after HMRC lodged a petition at the High Court on Friday. It was filed almost two months after it emerged he had racked up debts of more than £1.5m in his media firm, having been banned as a company director for three and a half years. The latest liquidators' progress report on John Barnes Media Limited showed he owed HMRC £776,878 in unpaid VAT, NI and PAYE, £461,849 to unsecured creditors, a £226,000 directors loan and liquidators' costs worth £56,535. It said Barnes, who has staved off multiple previous bankruptcy petitions since 2010 and last avoided going bust in 2023 after settling a personal-tax bill of more than £200,000, had paid back £60,000 after agreeing to return the director's loan in instalments. The report anticipated that a 'small distribution' would be paid to HMRC but 'no funds' would be available for unsecured creditors. The latest bankruptcy petition against Barnes was filed just over a year after he was banned from serving as a company director. Investigations by the Insolvency Service revealed that, between 2018 and 2020, John Barnes Media Limited failed to pay more than £190,000 in corporation tax and VAT. Barnes signed a disqualification undertaking banning him from being a company director for three and a half years. Mike Smith, chief investigator at the Insolvency Service, said: 'Individuals and businesses not paying the tax they should deprives the Government of the funding it needs to provide vital public services and investment in areas such as schools, hospitals and roads. 'John Barnes had a legal duty to ensure his company paid the correct amount of corporation tax and VAT. Instead, it paid no tax whatsoever between November 2018 and October 2020, despite receiving earnings of well over £400,000. 'This disqualification should serve as a deterrent to other directors that if you do not pay your taxes while directing money elsewhere, you are at risk of being banned.' Barnes, who earned 79 England caps during a playing career spanning almost two decades, formed John Barnes Media Limited in September 2012. The company, of which he was the sole director, described itself as offering media representation services. Between November 2018 and October 2020, its turnover was £441,798. The Insolvency Service said nothing was paid to HMRC in tax during that period, despite the company filing returns showing what the VAT payments should have been. An investigation found John Barnes Media failed to pay £78,839 in corporation tax between August 2018 and January 2020, when the company ceased trading, and also failed to pay £115,272 in VAT between February 2019 and 2020. Insolvency Service investigations into Barnes's conduct as a director began in September 2023 after his company went into liquidation and while he was also facing a bankruptcy petition over a £238,000 tax bill. Barrister Nathan Webb, who represented the ex-footballer at a hearing that same month into Barnes's personal tax affairs, told the judge that his client 'just' needed time to pay. He said Barnes was employed by Liverpool Football Club 'on a salary of £200,000' and was 'very well and able to pay'. Two months later, the bankruptcy petition was dismissed after HMRC confirmed the debt had been paid and a settlement reached. In 2009, Barnes saw a bankruptcy order against him rescinded following what he described as a 'tax oversight'. In March of that year, he told Telegraph Sport: 'I don't like dealing with taxes of course. 'I just hate not having enough money. Apart from that, I don't like dealing with bills and never have done. I let my wife Andrea deal with them. I don't even like opening them. A few times my credit card has been declined when I've been travelling abroad. 'Then I have to get creative about paying the bill and have to really root around. That's much more satisfying than just having it come easily.' Recent years have seen Barnes become a leading – and sometimes controversial – commentator on racism in football and wider society. In November 2022, Liverpool said in a statement that Barnes had been appointed as a 'club ambassador' – a role that would 'see him represent the Reds at home and abroad'.
Telegraph
30-07-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
How to hit this summer's tax payment deadline and avoid steep interest charges
If you complete a self-assessment tax return, then you'll be familiar with the fact that there's a deadline to file that return and pay your tax bill to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), which is January 31. However, you may also need to make a second payment by the end of July – called a payment on account. You're required to pay half of an estimated tax bill ahead of submitting your next tax return, and failing to pay on time means you'll be charged interest on the outstanding tax. Interest is currently set at 8.25pc. Here's what you need to know about this lesser-known second tax charge. What is payment on account? Who has to make payments on account? How do payments on account work? How to reduce payments on account Payments on account FAQs What is payment on account? For those who file annual tax returns through self-assessment, a payment on account is an advance payment you make towards your future tax bill. Rather than paying all the tax due through self-assessment in one lump sum after filing your tax return, your estimated payment is split into two. You pay half in January and half in July. A payment on account reflects what HMRC estimates will be half your tax bill for the current tax year. The amount is usually half of the previous year's bill, as HMRC assumes you will continue earning at the same level. Who has to make payments on account? Payments on account are for those who have previously paid a self-assessment tax bill of £1,000 or more and where less than 80pc of tax is taken through PAYE (Pay As You Earn). This mostly applies to self-employed workers – those who operate as a sole trader, partnership or even individuals who work as directors under a limited company. Those receiving a high income from savings and investments can also need to make payments on account if the interest from savings, dividend income and perhaps any rental income from property makes up more than 20pc of your income. Sarah Coles, head of personal finance at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: 'It could happen if, for example, you had earned income of £46,000 and you had savings of £250,000 outside an Isa making 5pc a year – compounding daily. Less than 80pc of your income would be taxed through PAYE, so you'd need to make a payment on account. 'If you had a specific plan to spend the money, you could apply to have the payment on account reduced, but if you planned to leave it saved or invested, you'd need to pay it.' How do payments on account work? By January 31, you will have paid the tax bill for the tax year ending April 5, the year before. You will also pay half of the estimated bill for the current tax year. Then by July 31, you need to pay the second half of the expected tax bill. Once you have submitted your tax return, the bill the following January will make up the difference between the estimate and reality, where you may be required to make an extra balancing payment, or you'll get a refund if you've overpaid. On that same day, you'll make the first payment on account for the next tax year – that is, half of what you're expected to owe for your next tax bill. It's important to put aside enough money for your tax bill for your self-assessment tax return as early as possible – especially if you're newly self-employed – to avoid any nasty January surprises. Example Let's say your bill for the 2024-25 tax year is £6,000, but it was £3,600 in 2023-24. You would make two payments on account of £1,800 each (£3,600 in total) on January 31, 2025 and July 31, 2025 towards this, since HMRC would assume you'd earn the same amount as the year before. Since your earnings increased, these payments wouldn't cover the amount of tax you owed, so you'd need to make a balancing payment the following January. That would mean that the amount due by midnight on January 31, 2026 is made up of a balancing payment of £2,400 for the 2024-25 tax year (£6,000 minus £3,600), and then the first payment on account of £3,000 (half your 2024-25 tax bill) towards your estimate for 2025-26. This means the total you will have paid is £5,400 by January 31 2026. You then make a second payment on account of £3,000 on July 31, 2026. If your tax calculation for the 2025-26 tax year ends up exceeding the total of your two payments on account, you'll need to make a balancing payment by January 31, 2027. How to reduce payments on account The payments on account system can be a helpful way of splitting up your tax bills into more manageable chunks, but if your earnings drop, or if you are about to start an employed role where more than 80pc of your earnings will soon be taxed at source, it can be galling to know you're overpaying and will have to claim a tax refund from HMRC. In this case, you may be able to reduce your payments on account, but you'll need to apply for a reduction from HMRC by following these steps: File an application online, or Fill in, print and post form SA303. Alternatively, you can ask your accountant to do this on your behalf. When applying, you must include the level of income you expect to receive over the coming year so HMRC can recalculate your revised payment. While you can apply to pay less, it's important to note that if your tax bill ends up being higher than expected, you will have to pay interest on the difference – so don't take these steps unless you're sure your tax bill will drop. If you don't reduce the payments and you end up overpaying, you'll get a refund, but no interest will be paid to you. Reducing your savings interest If income from savings and investments has resulted in the need to make a payment on account, there are other ways to reduce your tax bill. Firstly, if you haven't used all of your Isa allowance, consider moving assets inside an Isa wrapper to reduce your tax bill – and payment on account.
Times
20-07-2025
- Business
- Times
Business is an easy target for tax. Ministers should resist
T ucked away in a devolution bill this month was a provision that has unsettled the commercial property industry. The deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner, set out to ban upward-only rent reviews, a mainstay of property valuations for decades, saying the change would 'make it easier for small businesses and community groups to compete'. Even those who supported it pointed out that high-street retailers and leisure operators face far bigger challenges, many imposed by the government. The sectors, which tend to employ low-paid and part-time workers, have shouldered a disproportionate amount of the £25 billion extra national insurance burden announced in October's budget. Analysis of HM Revenue & Customs figures last week found that payrolled employment in the hospitality industry fell by 83,800 jobs in the nine months after the budget, while employment in retail fell by 45,600. April's steep rise in the minimum wage has also had a big impact. Business rates are another factor. Before the election, Rachel Reeves promised to reform the deeply unpopular tax on property occupancy before replacing it altogether. In fact, October brought tinkering that will result in retail and hospitality tenants paying more by 2026. • Business rates hike would drive up food prices, chancellor told There was a dab of jam tomorrow, in that after that point businesses in those sectors will pay less for small properties. But that will be funded through higher charges on occupants of properties valued at more than £500,000. The property agency Gerald Eve has estimated that more than 16,000 buildings will be hit. They will include 1,800 supermarkets, 860 department stores and 483 warehouses but also hospitals, schools and universities. Our deputy political editor, Harry Yorke, reports today that the retail industry is warning this added strain on big shops could force them to push up food and clothing prices, stoking inflation. Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium, says retailers 'are doing everything they can to shield customers from … mounting pressures, but there is only so much they can absorb'. The truth is that retail and hospitality are easy to tax because they have big payrolls and are rooted in the UK. That does not make it right. They have already had to grapple with the shift towards online shopping. They have swallowed plenty of tax medicine. These companies employ the 'working people' Labour wants to protect. Squeezing them may be fiscally expedient but it is shortsighted. Labour's failure to get means-testing of winter fuel payments and cuts to welfare past its backbenchers leaves Reeves with a hole to fill this autumn. The temptation will be to come back for more. The chancellor should be mindful of the pain high-employment sectors have suffered before she raises taxes further. She should also get on with reforming business rates.
Times
17-07-2025
- Business
- Times
Hospitality and retail jobs plummet since Rachel Reeves's budget
Jobs at pubs, bars, hotels and supermarkets have contracted at the sharpest pace in recent history since Rachel Reeves's budget in October, at which she announced that employer national insurance contributions (NICs) would rise by £25 billion from April. An analysis of figures from HM Revenue & Customs by The Times showed that pay-rolled employment in the retail sector fell by 45,600 in the nine months since the budget. On average, the sector added 3,400 jobs over that same period in the previous ten years, suggesting that the national insurance increase has prompted retailers to cut staff. The minimum wage also rose by 6.7 per cent in April. The same trend is evident in the hospitality sector. Since the budget, pay-rolled employment has fallen by 83,800 compared with an average gain of 30,900 over the same nine-month period in the previous decade.
Telegraph
14-07-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
HMRC staff lose £2m of taxpayer-funded laptops and mobile phones
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) employees have lost £2m worth of taxpayer-funded laptops and mobile phones in the past five years, The Telegraph can reveal. Around 2,300 mobile phones and 507 laptops have gone missing since 2021, a Freedom of Information request found, as well as 23 USB computer memory devices. In the past year alone, staff at HMRC have lost around 10 mobile phones and two laptops every week. The tax office insisted it took immediate action to deactivate the missing devices and prevent any further losses. In addition, over the same time period, 145 phones were logged as having been stolen, along with 627 laptops and two memory devices. The average cost of replacement was estimated at around £500, taking the cost of the lost phones and laptops to almost £1.5m. The bill to replace the stolen electronic equipment was another £386,000. HMRC officials said the figures may be too high as often equipment is found at a later date. It comes after scammers posing as taxpayers stole £47m from the online HMRC accounts of 100,000 people. The tax office has faced criticism for allowing staff to work from home. In 2023, The Telegraph revealed thousands of HMRC staff were not going into the office at all. There has also been a long-term decline in the standard of service offered by HMRC to taxpayers. A document published by The Telegraph last year showed that in 1995, the tax office answered 99pc of calls within 15 minutes. By comparison, 63pc of callers waited longer than 10 minutes before speaking to an adviser in 2024. The latest figure revealing the cost of lost and stolen equipment at HMRC does not include the security implications associated with so much equipment disappearing. Officials at HMRC said that all equipment is locked with a codeword, and that it can be remotely wiped clear of data after it is reported missing. William Yarwood, at the TaxPayers' Alliance campaign group, said: 'It's a disgrace that HMRC has lost or had stolen millions of pounds worth of taxpayer-funded tech. 'If the taxman expects the public to keep track of every penny they owe, the least they can do is keep track of their own phones and laptops. 'This sort of negligence would never fly in the private sector – it's time HMRC cleaned up its act.' Cyber security expert, Graham Cluley, said: 'Any security-savvy organisation that equips its staff with laptops and smartphones needs to put measures in place to handle how to ensure data remains secure if devices are lost or stolen. 'Furthermore, and it sounds like HMRC has done this, there should be a way to remotely wipe devices if they are mislaid to further reduce the chances that an unauthorised party can extract sensitive data from them. 'All users should be reminded of the importance of locking their computing devices when they are not in use, or set them to automatically lock if they are accidentally left unattended. 'If these sensible measures have been adopted by HMRC, chances are that sensitive data will not fall into the wrong hands – and the only cost will be the cost of replacing the lost hardware, rather than the potentially much larger cost of a data breach.' An HMRC spokesperson said: 'We take quick action to deactivate any lost or stolen devices and investigate all security incidents, taking steps to reduce future recurrences.'
