Afternoon all.
We have painted a dilapidated bench, done the garden and visited a Chinese supermarket.
Squiggle, I like your colour choice for the kitchen - I'm wearing a pale turquoise top right now.
I'm glad you are starting to feel a bit better.
I hope everyone is having a good day.
It's been a tough day. HMRC have launched their consultations this morning on mandatory quarterly accounts reporting, They are still aiming for this to be in force from April 2018. The aim is to have the most digitally-advanced tax administration in the world. The only trouble is a lot of people aren't the most digitally-advanced in the world.
Then the client who has the horrendously complicated collective investment scheme (I mentioned it on 27 July here) rang me up this afternoon to say he had an investment in a similar scheme which he's had since 2012 and hadn't mentioned it to me before. I just don't have the time or inclination to sort this out as it will go back several years and I told him as such and he'd have to find someone else to sort this out. It's a pity as I've known him for quite a few years.
Breaking News: A mass fight has broken out in a petrol station. 23 people arrested in Total!
El Loro posted:It's been a tough day. HMRC have launched their consultations this morning on mandatory quarterly accounts reporting, They are still aiming for this to be in force from April 2018. The aim is to have the most digitally-advanced tax administration in the world. The only trouble is a lot of people aren't the most digitally-advanced in the world.
Then the client who has the horrendously complicated collective investment scheme (I mentioned it on 27 July here) rang me up this afternoon to say he had an investment in a similar scheme which he's had since 2012 and hadn't mentioned it to me before. I just don't have the time or inclination to sort this out as it will go back several years and I told him as such and he'd have to find someone else to sort this out. It's a pity as I've known him for quite a few years.
I think you've made the right decision, El.
pirate1111 posted:Breaking News: A mass fight has broken out in a petrol station. 23 people arrested in Total!
Hi Pirate
*night owls* 
evening all
yogi your day sounds fun 
what colour is the bench now?
squiggle, your colour scheme sounds lovely, I bet your kitchen feels homely 
El, oh my word. Well, well done you for not putting yourself through the hassle of sorting out that muddle!
Will accountants still be able to file the digital tax returns on behalf of clients? And will our own personal files have to be digital rather than on paper? I currently print my spreadsheets out monthly and add them to my folder with receipts, payslips etc, and then submit the entire folder to my accountant. They then file my tax return for me.
pirate1111 posted:Breaking News: A mass fight has broken out in a petrol station. 23 people arrested in Total!
Evening Summer.
The bench is covered in white primer at the moment but it will eventually be blue.
How was work today?
Sorry Summer got to go.
Goodnight and sweet dreams to you and Ros.
It sounds pretty I can just imagine it next to a pretty plant pot
sweet dreams yogi, I hope you sleep well
Leaving goodnight hugs for Ros and velvet & moonie if you pop in
i'll causing trouble in the darnie thread
Good morning everyone
A sunny day here.
Summer, accountants should be able to file the digital quarterly data for their clients. However as this will involve more work their fees will be higher than at present - two to three times the current cost is quite possible. Some accountants may accept data from clients in the form they currently do but on a much more frequent basis. Some accountants will require their clients to use cloud accounting packages. That will involve more admin time being spent by clients than at present.
There will be a substantial cost to all those affected either in higher fees from accountants, or less available time to generate income when they do more of the work involved.
The smallest accountants who work by themselves with no staff may have to make the decision to close down or to merge with a larger practice.
There will be a sizeable proportion of people who faced with higher costs and considerably greater hassle will decide enough is enough and give up.
The HMRC's and government's attitude is that they only want people in this country who are highly digitally competent and anyone else is not welcome.
I hope everyone has a good day
Good morning everyone.
The sun is shining again.
Got lots of visitors coming today so won't be around until evening.
Have a good day everyone.
Good morning a sunny day here, I've took a chance and hung my laundry out
oh my god El, and these costs will be every quarter too?! 
I don't know how small businesses will survive such a massive increase
Yogi, I hope you have a good day with your visitors
Summer, you might want to look and respond to HMRC on one of the consultations. This is the one most relevant to you:
https://www.gov.uk/government/...om-the-consultations
Good morning everyone, such a beautiful morning I think your washing will be dry by the time you're home again Summer.
Wow EL I had no idea it was as bad as that Will you be able to manage? I should imagine it's like an earthquake in your profession and in all sorts of clients both small and large who need help with their tax returns. What a headache, and whatever for for goodness sake?
I hope you have a lovely day with all your visitors Yogi.
Barchester Chronicles was a pure delight EL, as you said it was a good choice. Alan Rickman, I believe it was his acting debut, was magnificent and the rest of the cast were a joy.
Enjoy your day everyone, for Moonie,
Squiggle, what is not known at this time is if the April 2018 start date will be delayed. Many people think that to implement the most ambitious tax IT project in the world in such a short time is absurd. If it is imposed from then the result will be the biggest mess of all time.
I doubt if I would want to carry on given that I would be faced with a massive increase in workload. There's some work which I could carry on with as it doesn't apply to those people whose gross income from self employment or rental is under ÂĢ10k. I also have charity-like clients who don't file tax returns. I do have a work pension which I can start using at some point so won't be dependant purely on the state pension. But the longer I can delay drawing on the work pension, the more I would get so don't want to start using it as soon as I'm 65.
I'm glad you loved Barchester Chronicles. Alan Rickman had done a bit of television work before but this was his first significant success. He had also appeared on stage. One of the strongest British actors and much missed.
Thank you for the link El, I have time read some of it but will keep coming back to it too. I think I can (mentally) cope with any changes as long as I have enough time to get my head around it. As for the rest, I will just have to increase our prices and hope that the customers understand, and that we can survive.
I can see why they think it would be simpler in the long term, but I don't think it's going to be easy- what if our technology lets us down and we can't afford replacements..? Or what if we can't get online due to no fault of our own..? Etc etc
i I have faith that all will work out; it's just going to take a lot of sorting out.
meanwhile, are you having a good day? I've just had my lunch outside
P.S. squiggle, how are you today?
and moonie, come back soon!
Summer, as you say it's not going to be easy. My biggest concern is the extreme short period of time for this to be implemented. Even if the software apps and HMRC were to be ready by April 2018, it doesn't allow any time for millions of people to become sufficiently prepared to use the software. The start date should be postponed by at least 1 year for there to be the slightest chance of avoiding total chaos. (that's not just me saying that, the various accountancy organisations are too).
Just look at the delays in the implementation of the universal credit system.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Credit. It was supposed to be rolled out nationally in October 2013 to new claimants. It's now expected that the complete roll out won't be completed until 2021.
The self assessment tax system is considerably more complex than the universal credit system.
As far as technology is concerned, some of the questions in the consultation are for people to respond with issues of cost at the outset and also on an ongoing basis. That's why it's so important for as many self assessment people to respond to HMRC rather than leaving it up to a handful of people and accountants. I think it will be possible for those who want to to make more frequent data notifications to HMRC rather than the required 3 monthly - that way the data isn't lost if there's a mishap with your equipment. There's also the option of using cloud accounting so that the data is there even if your equipment is broken. I think the requirement to file data with HMRC will be within 1 month of the end of each 3 months.
The most important thing is for people to keep right up to date at all times with their data recording. Although you do, many don't.
Hi Summer, I am feeling better and stronger thank you which as you can imagine is very welcome. Hindsight is 20/20 of course but if I had known then what I know now I wouldn't have taken the prescribed medication for as long as I did - it certainly did harm. Oh well the doctors do their best for you and sometimes it's a bit of guesswork. I hope your day is going well, I am sure your washing will be completely dry by the time you get home.
Thank you El, I certainly will respond and I'll spread the word among my friends too. No one has any idea of the changes, even though I did mention it months ago when you first told me. There seems to be no info filtering down to us from HMRC themselves.
I do update my records every single week, so I think the data system for me personally, will be manageable. It's the increase in accountancy fees that will worry me, but I'll deal with it as and when. I've just activated my pension scheme for the staff, our staging date isn't until May 2017 but I'm getting organised early and have just started paying monthly towards the cost of the set up
Im just heading out for the evening but I'll be back later
Squiggle, I have heard other cancer survivors say that about the medication too. Sending you gigantic get well soon hugs!
Summer, as you say not many people know about the intended changes. It was reported in the newspapers at the time it was announced and it got some publicity as a result. An online petition was started complaining about having to do 4 tax returns a year. There were enough people who signed for there a debate in parliament. The trouble was that they were complaining about having to do a lot of tax returns and that's not the case. People will have to report financial data quarterly. That's not the same though to many people it won't seem that way. With a tax return at present you have to enter details of any employment income, pension income or bank interest - that won't be necessary with digital tax accounts as your digital tax account will get automatically adjusted for those types of income - employers submit RTI info as you know - and that will filter down into your digital tax account - banks will have to provide details of interest they've paid to customers to HMRC and that will filter through. That's more complicated to get that implemented as at present banks don't have your NI number or your UTR number and they will need to have that.
I think it likely that self employed people will be expected to do accounts on a cash basis rather than an accruals basis. It does make it simpler. It's fine for cash orientated businesses, but cash accounts for businesses which work on credit and have stocks, debtors and creditors, and lots of fixed assets are near meaningless. Also anyone who needs a mortgage or loan, the lenders are unlikely to accept accounts prepared on a cash basis.
I'm glad you've got your employee pension scheme set up. I had a client ring me today about that. She wanted to know if she would have to set a scheme up. I said she didn't as she's self employed and has no staff.
For those with smart TVs, one day you'll be watching something, think you might like to go there, so stop the programme, ask your TV for the location, then get it to work out flight and acomodation details.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-37048822
Why the BBC put this article in their business section is very odd considering that most people would never think to look on that part of their site.
Evening all.
It's been a very busy day with visitors.
I haven't read back yet and I need to go to the CBB thread. It's all go today!
Goodnight and sweet dreams, Ros.
Hug for Summer and any other night owls.
*night owls* good night yogi I hope CBB wasn't more painful than your root canal
My goodness El, that is complicated! I hope the bank still favours me because I already have a mortgage. It's the first time buyers I feel for, as if it isn't already hard enough for them. I fear errors are going to occur during the transitional period.
Thank you so much for all the information today
night yogi and summer
Good morning another bright & sunny start here I hope you all slept well
I'm off today and have a few little jobs to do, but other than that, it should be quite homely today
Good morning everyone
Cloudy here at present but expected to be another sunny day.
You may hear on the news today about accountants etc now being able to be fined huge penalties for helping clients avoid tax.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-37101020
I think it unlikely that I will ever get done as I gon't get involved with questionable tax avoidance schemes. Suggesting to clients that they could save tax by putting money in an ISA or a pension is fine.
I hope everyone has a good day
Good morning everyone.
It's dry and bright up here.
Hubby and I are planning a trip to the seaside today, for a nice walk along the shore.
Have a good day everyone.
The one piece of news from the Olympics which is worth reading by everyone including anyone who has zero interest in sport.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-37102355
It's what the Olympics is really about. The famous quote from Pierre de Coubertin, regarded as the man who started the modern Olympics:
"The important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win, but to take part; the important thing in Life is not triumph, but the struggle; the essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well. To spread these principles is to build up a strong and more valiant and, above all, more scrupulous and more generous humanity."
El Loro posted:Yogi, I hope you and Mr Yogi have a nice time at the seaside
Thanks El. I'm convinced Mr Yogi only wants to go, because there is chippy which does brilliant fish and chips. I won't be having any.
Good morning everyone, the wind is starting to get up so I think the weather is changing, it's been lovely though.
Have a great day at the seaside Yogi, surely a small piece of fish and a few chips wouldn't hurt, after all you have to have lunch Have a nice day pottering about Summer.
Enjoy your day everyone
I never thought I would do this, but I've just cancelled my sky tv!
A couple of months ago I called them to reduce my package, to save money, but mostly because I don't use the extra services enough. I was quoted ÂĢ16 something per month in future, with no contract and I happily agreed to that, which is what I paid last month. This month I have been billed ÂĢ20.
So I rang up to query it and was told the lower price was a one month only offer (really :rolleyes) and that price is in fact ÂĢ20 and that's the lowest package they do.
I asked to then cancel my subscription, and when put through to the cancellation team I was told that I should not have been told that it's ÂĢ20 because they can actually offer me the ÂĢ16 something price... But I'd have to sign up for another 12 month contract!
The young man on the phone was lovely, very apologetic and we had a good chat. However, I did not give in and I have cancelled. He laughed out loud when I told him I'm going to use the money next month to buy myself a new pair of slippers
I'm not angry, I find it rather amusing, but that really does say a lot about sky customer service doesn't it
