Covid-19 - Grants, Loans, Reliefs & Deferrals Archives - Grunberg & Co

Did you know that Covid-19 grants are taxable?

admin — Fri, 14 Jan 2022 09:11:54 +0000

Some people may not have been aware that Covid-19 support grants and payments are taxable, therefore must be declared on tax returns.

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has issued a reminder to ensure that companies include these when submitting tax returns.

If you are unsure whether the grant your company received falls in this category, HMRC has provided a list of the following grants that are taxable:

test and trace or self-isolation payments in England, Scotland and Wales
Coronavirus Statutory Sick Pay Rebate
Coronavirus Business Support Grants (also known as local authority grants or business rate grants)

Payments that fall within these categories should be classified as income for calculating taxable profits, when completing the tax return.

However, companies that received grants related to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) or Eat Out to Help Out will also be required to record them on the Company Tax Return using the specified CJRS/ Eat Out to Help Out boxes.

Be aware of the deadlines

For filing company tax returns (CT600), the deadline is 12 months following the end of the accounting period covered.

Whereas for Corporation Tax, the submission deadline is dependent on any taxable profits as well as when the accounting period ends.

Self-Assessment tax returns for the tax year 2020/2021, as well as any tax owed, are due on 31 January 2022.

However, HMRC has recently announced that customers would be granted an extra month to file and pay any tax due before penalties are incurred, in response to the impact of coronavirus.

Further guidance on how to complete and submit your company’s tax return can be found here.

For advice and support, contact our expert team today.

The post Did you know that Covid-19 grants are taxable? appeared first on Grunberg & Co.

New COVID financial support announced

admin — Wed, 22 Dec 2021 12:47:30 +0000

Following the impact on businesses in England of the current ‘Plan B’ covid measures and the impact of Omicron on trade in the hospitality sector in particular, the Government has announced a new support package.

The package comprises three elements:

Dedicated support for the hospitality and leisure sectors in the form of one-off grants worth up to £6,000 per premises. There will also be more than £100 million in discretionary funding for local authorities to support other businesses.
The reintroduction of the Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme (SSPRS) for employers with fewer than 250 employees. This will apply to up to two weeks’ COVID-related absence and is effective immediately, with employers able to make retrospective claims from mid-January.
£30 million for cultural organisations through the Culture Recovery Fund.

There will also be £154 million in funding to the devolved administrations in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland to provide similar support.

The grants for the hospitality and leisure sectors will be administered by local authorities and the Treasury says they will be available “in the coming weeks”.

For advice, contact us today.

The post New COVID financial support announced appeared first on Grunberg & Co.

Take advantage of the extension to the Recovery Loan Scheme

admin — Mon, 29 Nov 2021 10:48:46 +0000

Find out how your businesses can benefit from this Government-backed funding.

Although much of the COVID-19 financial support has been withdrawn, the Government still wants businesses to access funding to aid their recovery.

That is why the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, has extended the Recovery Loan Scheme until 30 June 2022 – instead of it ending on 31 December this year.

Intended to bridge the gap between the previous Coronavirus loans and regular credit conditions, the Recovery Loan could be worth up to £10 million per business, or up to £30 million across a business group.

However, as part of the extension to this scheme, certain criteria will change from 1 January 2022, including:

The scheme will only remain open to small and medium-sized enterprises
The maximum amount of finance available will decrease to £2 million, per business
The Government guarantee offered to lenders will fall from 80 per cent to 70 per cent.

To apply for the Recovery Loan Scheme, businesses need to check the list of accredited lenders on the British Business Bank’s website here.

Not sure if you are eligible or need help making an application?

Speak to us for assistance

The post Take advantage of the extension to the Recovery Loan Scheme appeared first on Grunberg & Co.

More than £1 billion handed to businesses through Recovery Loan Scheme, latest figures reveal

admin — Tue, 26 Oct 2021 14:08:16 +0000

More than £1 billion has now been awarded to businesses through the landmark Recovery Loan Scheme, the latest figures have revealed.

The report, published by the British Business Bank (BBB), comes ahead of the initiative closing at the end of this year.

Launched in April 2021, the Recovery Loan Scheme supports borrowing up to £10 million for individual businesses and up to £30 million across a group and is supported by 76 accredited lenders.

The cash – of which 80 per cent is guaranteed by the Government – can be used for a variety of business purposes, including managing cashflow, growth, and investment.

In addition, no personal guarantees are taken on facilities up to £250,000.

The report shows that the scheme has now passed a significant milestone, lending over £1 billion to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the form of 6,190 independent facilities, such as loans, overdrafts and invoice or asset finance.

Commenting on the success of the Recovery Loan Scheme, Catherine Lewis La Torre, CEO at the BBB, said: “Businesses up and down the country are beginning to look beyond the pandemic towards the opportunities available to them in the recovery.

“The BBB is committed to supporting smaller businesses in accessing the finance they need to grow sustainably in the future. In meeting the £1 billion milestone, the Recovery Loan Scheme is demonstrating its impact by helping thousands of companies to fund their further development.”

To be eligible for a Recovery Loan, you must be trading in the UK and be able to evidence that your business has been adversely impacted by the pandemic and would be viable if it were not for Covid-19 disruption.

The scheme will close to new applications on 31 December 2021.

For help and advice with related matters, please get in touch with our team today.

The post More than £1 billion handed to businesses through Recovery Loan Scheme, latest figures reveal appeared first on Grunberg & Co.

Businesses can still access the Recovery Loan Scheme

admin — Wed, 23 Jun 2021 12:46:47 +0000

Businesses affected by Coronavirus can still access the Recovery Loan Scheme (RLS) launched in April, despite the closure of applications for other Government loan schemes, including the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS).
The RLS opened for application on 6 April 2021, following the closure of several other Government loan schemes on 31 March 2021.
Finance worth up to £10 million, backed by a Government guarantee is available in the form of:

Term loans
Overdrafts
Invoice finance
Asset finance

Personal guarantees are not required for loans of less than £250,000 but can be for loans above this level at the lender’s discretion, although not over Principal Private Residences.
Crucially, businesses that have already accessed CBILS, the Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CLBILS) or the Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS) can still access the RLS, although amounts borrowed under previous schemes could affect the amount they can borrow under the new scheme.
The RLS will close on 31 December 2021.

The post Businesses can still access the Recovery Loan Scheme appeared first on Grunberg & Co.

Insolvency Service to be given new powers to tackle directors who misused COVID loan schemes

admin — Fri, 21 May 2021 08:39:45 +0000

Directors of dissolved companies who have benefited from the Government-backed Coronavirus loan schemes, who now do not intend to repay them, could find themselves facing tough sanctions.
The Government has announced that the Insolvency Service will be given new powers to investigate directors of companies that have been dissolved to avoid the repayment of loans.
Currently, the Insolvency Service has powers to investigate directors of live companies or those entering a form of insolvency, where they believe wrongdoing or malpractice may have occurred.
Where evidence of either activity is uncovered, directors can face sanctions, including a ban of up to 15 years.
The new legislation will extend these investigatory powers and sanctions so that they can be applied retrospectively, enabling the Insolvency Service to also tackle directors who have inappropriately closed companies that have benefited from Bounce Back Loans.
The new measures will also help to prevent directors of dissolved companies from establishing a new, near-identical business under a slightly different name, which often leaves customers and other creditors, such as suppliers, out of pocket.
The new rules will be included in the Ratings (Coronavirus) and Directors Disqualification (Dissolved Companies) Bill, which will cover England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Similar proposals were announced as far back as 2018 but will be made a reality as part of the Government’s commitment to combat Bounce Back Loan fraud, as announced in this year’s Budget.
Compensation orders
Introduced in 2015, compensation orders make directors financially accountable for the consequences of their unfit conduct. This means that they may have to personally repay money owed to creditors.
These can be sought by the Insolvency Service via the courts following insolvency proceedings, if the director is subject to a disqualification order or undertaking and their conduct has caused a quantifiable loss to one or more creditors of an insolvent company.
Although they are rarely employed by the Insolvency Service, there is potential scope for these to be used alongside the new investigatory powers and sanctions within the Ratings (Coronavirus) and Directors Disqualification (Dissolved Companies) Bill to recover losses from the misuse of the Covid support schemes.
Although neither the Insolvency Service nor the Government has given any inclination to increase its use of these orders, they could potentially be applied to directors of insolvent businesses, who are perceived to have misused the Bounce Back loans and CBILS.

The post Insolvency Service to be given new powers to tackle directors who misused COVID loan schemes appeared first on Grunberg & Co.

Time is running out to join the VAT Deferral Scheme

admin — Fri, 21 May 2021 08:37:11 +0000

Companies now have less than one month left to join the VAT Deferral New Payment Scheme.
The deadline to join the scheme on 21 June has prompted HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) to issue a fresh warning to businesses that haven’t already joined the scheme, that they face a five per cent penalty if they do not make some form of payment arrangements next month.
Last year, more than half a million businesses deferred VAT payments in response to COVID-19, after the Government announced a three-month deferral for the first tax quarter of 2020.
Companies that deferred VAT payments due between 20 March 2020 and 30 June 2020 were given the choice earlier this year to pay the deferred VAT in full by 31 March, set up a payment plan under the VAT Deferral New Payment Scheme by 21 June or make other suitable arrangements with HMRC by 30 June.
The VAT Deferral Payment Scheme allows taxpayers to schedule payments monthly. The scheme lets business owners pay their deferred VAT in equal instalments, interest-free and choose the number of instalments by direct debit, from two to 11 (depending on when they joined the scheme).
For example, if a business joined by 19 May 2021, they can now pay nine equal instalments, whereas if they join on 21 June 2021, they will make eight instalments, or fewer should they wish to pay the deferred VAT quicker.
To benefit from the scheme, HMRC says businesses must:

Join the scheme on their own – an agent cannot do this on their behalf
Still have deferred VAT to pay
Be up to date with VAT returns, including correcting any previous errors
Join by 21 June 2021
Pay the first instalment when joining
Pay instalments by Direct Debit, where possible (alternative payment methods are available on request).

The new payment scheme is part of a wider Government package of support, now worth more than £400 billion, which is helping to protect millions of jobs and businesses during the pandemic.
The new payment scheme will continue to help the economy recover by enabling businesses, impacted by the pandemic, to manage their cash flow at this critical time.
Click here to join the scheme today
Eligible businesses that are unable to use the online service can ring the HMRC Coronavirus Helpline on 0800 024 1222 to join the scheme or make alternative arrangements to pay until 30 June 2021.

The post Time is running out to join the VAT Deferral Scheme appeared first on Grunberg & Co.

HMRC contacts self-employed individuals who could be eligible for fourth SEISS grant

admin — Fri, 16 Apr 2021 09:37:20 +0000

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is now contacting self-employed individuals who could be eligible for the fourth round of the Government’s Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS).
The fourth round of the scheme covers the period from 1 February 2021 to 30 April 2021 and is worth 80 per cent of three months’ average trading profits, paid in a single instalment capped at £7,500.
HMRC is contacting self-employed individuals whose 2019-20 Self-Assessment tax returns show trading profits of no more than £50,000 and which are equal to or greater than income from other sources.
Where someone is not eligible based on their 2019-20 Self-Assessment tax return, HMRC will then assess their eligibility based on their average trading profits for 2016-17, 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20.
However, not all self-employed individuals who meet these trading profit requirements and are contacted by HMRC will be eligible for the fourth grant. They must also have traded in both the 2019-20 and 2020-21 tax years, be currently trading but impacted by reduced demand or unable to trade because of the pandemic, declare their intention to continue trading and ‘reasonably believe’ there will be a ‘significant reduction’ in trading profits between 1 February and 30 April 2021.
Self-employed individuals applying for the fourth round of grants will need to keep evidence of the impact of Coronavirus on their business activity. They must also decide if they consider a reduction in trading profits to be ‘significant’, a decision HMRC says it cannot make because “individual and wider business circumstances will need to be considered when deciding whether the reduction is significant”. Previous grants from the SEISS do not need to be taken into account in this decision.
The application portal for the fourth grant will open in ‘late April 2021’.
A fifth grant will cover the period from May 2021 to September 2021. Unlike the first four rounds of the scheme, it will be paid at two different rates, depending on the reduction in trading profits a self-employed individual has seen. Those whose turnover has fallen by 30 per cent or more in the year to April 2021 will once again be eligible (subject to other conditions) for a grant worth 80 per cent of three months’ average trading profits capped at £7,500. Meanwhile, those whose turnover has fallen by less than 30 per cent during this period will be eligible (again subject to other conditions) for a grant worth 30 per cent of average trading profits, capped at £2,850.
Applications for the fifth round will open in late July.

The post HMRC contacts self-employed individuals who could be eligible for fourth SEISS grant appeared first on Grunberg & Co.

New claims needed to continue receiving working from home tax relief

admin — Fri, 16 Apr 2021 09:36:31 +0000

Employees who are continuing to work from home as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic and whose expenses have not been reimbursed by their employers should make new claims to continue receiving working from home tax relief.
This is because claims made in the 2020-21 tax year, which ended on 5 April 2021, will not be carried over automatically to the current 2021-22 tax year.
The relief is intended to cover tax-deductible additional costs incurred by people working from home as a result of the pandemic, such as heating and metered water.
People can choose either to claim relief at a flat rate of £6 a week, which translates to weekly savings of £1.20 or £2.40 for basic and higher rate taxpayers respectively, without needing to submit evidence or they can claim for the actual costs incurred if these are above £6 a week.
Self-Assessment taxpayers can claim the relief on their Self-Assessment tax returns for 2021-22, while people who do not complete a Self-Assessment tax return can claim via gov.uk here.

The post New claims needed to continue receiving working from home tax relief appeared first on Grunberg & Co.

Coronavirus Restart Grant

admin — Wed, 07 Apr 2021 08:36:02 +0000

Businesses in the non-essential retail, hospitality, leisure, personal care and accommodation sectors can now access one-off cash grants of up to £18,000 from their local council.
The Restart Grant scheme opened nationally on 1 April 2021 and is now being rolled out by local authorities across England.
Eligible businesses will be paid:

a one-off grant of up to £6,000 in the non-essential retail sector
a one-off grant of up to £18,000 in the hospitality, accommodation, leisure, personal care and gym sectors.

Your business may be eligible if you are:

Based in England
Pay business rates
In the non-essential retail, hospitality, accommodation, leisure, personal care or gym sectors
Trading on 1 April 2021 (this includes businesses currently closed due to restrictions).

However, you may not be eligible if your business:

Is in administration, insolvent or has been struck off the Companies House register; or
Has exceeded the permitted subsidy allowance

It is down to each local councils’ discretion, as to whether a business meets the eligibility criteria for this grant scheme.
To apply you will need to find your relevant local authority by clicking here.
If you need assistance with claiming this grant or you are unsure of your eligibility, please speak to our team.

The post Coronavirus Restart Grant appeared first on Grunberg & Co.