Year End Tax Review 2009/2010 Contents Lead articles The year ahead... This year, next year Pension hit Employees Too much NIC NIC and pensions Company cars Tax-free benefits Business - General Time to incorporate? His and hers Family bonus Profit and loss Show me the money Can't pay, won't pay? Turning back the clock Business - VAT Standard VAT or flat VAT? VAT goes down - must come up? European revolution A good start for VAT Happy returns? Investments Top-up savings Rainy day money Capital Gains Gains favoured Splitting gains A place in the country Holiday lets end Families Family fortunes Where there's a Will Credits and debits Piggy banks Still trustworthy? Administration Penalty shoot-out Paperwork, paperwork Pay tax later Opportunity knocks again Charity Give and save Non-Domiciled People Home and away Interest Interesting times

Paperwork, paperwork The taxman sometimes seems to believe that the main reason for running a business is to fill in official forms. He wonders how you can be late submitting something to him, when that is the most important task there is! The penalties for lateness start off annoying and end up very expensive, particularly for VAT. If you have been late filing VAT returns, you will be sent a "default surcharge liability notice". If you are late again within 12 months - usually the next four returns - you may have to pay a penalty based on a percentage of the VAT outstanding. The percentage goes up every time you are late - the maximum rate is 15%, which is very harsh if you are just a day over. Sometimes even the most careful trader gets into difficulties, and it is possible to get out of the fine if you have a "reasonable excuse". But it's better to identify the possible problems and do something about them. If you have received a liability notice, it's really important to file four returns on time and get rid of it. It's worth taking advice on the various ways available to make this easier. Action Point! Do you have difficulty filing VAT returns and paying on time?