HMRC has begun writing to self employed taxpayers who may have unknowingly built up gaps in their National Insurance record, a problem that could reduce the State Pension they eventually receive. The issue, confirmed by HMRC in late July, is estimated to affect as many as 800,000 people who registered as self employed between 2015 and early March 2024. What went wrong Self employed individuals are required to notify HMRC that they have started trading by completing a form called CWF1, separately from simply including self employment pages on a self assessment tax return. HMRC has confirmed that where this form was not submitted, even by taxpayers who correctly completed the self employment section of their return every year, Class 2 National Insurance contributions were not always assessed and recorded properly. The result is that some years of trading may not count as qualifying years towards the State Pension, despite the individual believing their affairs were fully up to date. A re

Landlords across Bradford, Leeds and Birmingham are being reminded that HMRC now draws on a wide network of third party data sources to check whether rental income has been correctly declared. New guidance issued in the week of 27 July confirms that HMRC continues to write to landlords encouraging them to disclose any income from let property, alongside reminders of upcoming obligations under Making Tax Digital for Income Tax. Where the data comes from HMRC's approach relies on information supplied by parties outside a landlord's own tax return. This includes records held by tenancy deposit schemes, letting agents and online booking platforms. Since January 2024, platforms such as Airbnb and Booking.com have been required to report host earnings to HMRC under international reporting rules known as DAC7. Combined with Land Registry records and deposit scheme data, HMRC can build a fairly complete picture of who owns a rental property and what income it is likely to generate, even before

Andy Burnham’s rise to Prime Minister is examined for its business impact, with a clear look at possible effects on tax policy, business rates, cash flow planning, and succession decisions, plus practical steps to consider amid uncertainty.

A Month End Convergence Worth Planning For July brings together two separate obligations landing on almost exactly the same dates, and businesses that treat them as one combined task rather than two distinct liabilities often find themselves undercalculating what is actually owed. For the tax month ending 5 July 2026, the standard PAYE, National Insurance and Construction Industry Scheme payment deadline applied, due by 19 July 2026 for postal payments or 22 July 2026 for electronic ones. At the very same time, employers who had filed P11D and P11D(b) forms earlier in the month faced the deadline for paying the Class 1A National Insurance contributions arising from employee benefits, due by 19 July for postal payment or 22 July if paid electronically. Two liabilities, arrived at through entirely different calculations, converging on the same pair of dates. This is exactly the kind of overlap that catches out businesses that manage payroll and benefits reporting as separate workstreams

The Deadline Most Businesses Have Never Heard Of Not every deadline in the accounting calendar applies to every business, and the CT61 quarterly return is a good example of one that only becomes relevant once a company's affairs reach a certain level of complexity. For the quarter ending 30 June 2026, businesses required to file this return needed to do so by 14 July 2026, fourteen days after the quarter closed. Many business owners will never encounter this obligation at all. Others, once their company begins making certain types of payment, will find it becomes a genuinely recurring part of their quarterly routine. What The CT61 Actually Is The CT61 is a quarterly return used to report Income Tax deducted at source on interest payments or certain other payments a company makes. This typically arises when a company pays interest to a lender, such as a director who has lent money to their own company, or to another business, in circumstances where the company is required to deduct basi

A Deadline About People, Not Just Numbers Most of the deadlines covered so far in this series relate fairly directly to tax owed on profits or payments already made. This one is slightly different in character. The P11D and P11D(b) deadline, falling on 6 July 2026, is about formally reporting the benefits and expenses provided to employees and directors throughout the tax year, and then settling the employer's National Insurance liability that arises from those benefits. It sits at the intersection of payroll, employee reward and tax compliance, and it is one of the deadlines most likely to be underestimated by businesses that have grown or changed their benefits offering since the previous year. What P11D And P11D(b) Actually Cover A P11D form reports the value of benefits in kind and certain expenses provided to an individual employee or director during the tax year that ended on 5 April 2026. This might include things like private medical insurance, company cars available for privat