Wishing all our clients a very happy New Year, we hope 2022 is a little more settled for us all!
There have been a few announcements recently and we are setting these out below for your information.
COVID Grants for the Hospitality, Leisure and Accommodation Industries
A further grant round has been agreed to the sector and the government issued the funds to local councils on 7th January 2022 for them to administer to businesses. This grant was issued to help the sector through cancellations at a usually busy time.
Grant amounts are based on rateable values as follows –
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businesses with a rateable value of £51,000 or above: £6,000
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businesses with a rateable value between £15,000 and £51,000: £4,000
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businesses with a rateable value of £15,000 or below: £2,667
Along with funds for discretionary funding for other businesses that have been severely impacted by COVID again recently.
These grants are being awarded and administered by your local councils, we would advise you to sign up for their business notifications or check their websites for details around applying for the funds.
Statutory Sick Pay Reimbursement
The government have also reinstated the reimbursement to employers of up to 2 weeks Statutory Sick Pay for employees who have been unable to work due to COVID.
We are awaiting HMRC to update the claim portal and guidance on this so we are unsure when this will apply from and if any previous reclaims will be taken into consideration. We will update employers as soon as we can.
In the meantime, please do get proof of COVID from your employees, this can be in the form of a confirmation of a positive COVID test or a request to isolate from NHS UK.
Self-Assessment Tax Returns
As with last year, HMRC have waived their late filing and late payment penalties to allow taxpayers (and Accountants) a bit more breathing space to file tax returns. The deadline for submission remains on 31st January 2022 BUT taxpayers will not receive a penalty if the return is filed by 28th February 2022.
HMRC have also waived their late payment penalty providing liabilities are settled by 1st April 2022 or a time to pay arrangement has been agreed. Time to pay arrangements have also been made easier and can be completed online through your government gateway account rather than having to call HMRC.
We are still pushing to meet the 31st of January 2022 deadline for clients though, so if you are still due to send us your tax return information then please do so ASAP. If you have sent your information already, thank you, we will be in touch ASAP with your draft returns.
Should you have any questions or require anything further then please do not hesitate to get in touch with the team.
Very Best
The DA Team