01 October, 2007
New Wage and Holiday entitlements
The government has announced the changes in National Minimum Wage (NMW) rates from 1st October 2007. The table below sets out current and future rates.
NMW rate Current From 1/10/07
Adult rate (age 22 and over) £5.35 £5.52
Development rate (age 18-21) £4.45 £4.60
Development rate (age 16-17) £3.30 £3.40
Increase in holiday entitlement
DTI has announced some changes to their original proposals to increase the annual leave entitlement. An increase in the statutory minimum holiday entitlement is announced. The implementation will be in two phases. The first phase takes effect on 1 October 2007 when the statutory annual leave will increase from 20 to 24 days (4 to 4.8 weeks).
The second phase will be on 1 April 2009 when the leave will increase from 24 to 28 days (4.8 to 5.6 weeks).
The following table is a summary of the new regulation.
Worker works 5 days a week and currently has a total of 4 weeks’ holiday
Leave year is January to December
Period Initial annual Additional New total leave
Entitlement entitlement entitlement
Oct to Dec 2007 20 1 21
Jan to Dec 2008 21 3 24
Jan to Dec 2009 24 3* 27
Jan to Dec 2010 25 1 28
Worker works 5 days a week and currently has a total of 4 weeks’ holiday
Leave year is April to March
Period Initial annual Additional New total leave
Entitlement entitlement entitlement
Oct 07 to Mar 08 20 2 22
Apr 08 to Mar 09 22 2 24
Apr 09 to Mar 10 24 4 28
*3 days to be given from 1 April 2009
Highlights
- The statutory leave will still be capped at 28 days
- The additional holiday can be inclusive of bank holidays. Therefore employers who currently offer their workers 20 days’ holiday plus 8 bank holidays will already meet the increased statutory minimum holiday entitlement.
- Part-time workers will be entitled to the additional leave on a pro-rata basis.
01 August, 2007
New website
Raymond's have launched new web site. The followings are the benefits for our clients.
• You can view, print, download your Accounts , Tax returns at any time
• Your own secure account with unlimited space
• Easy access to your accounts data any where in the world
• Secure login via https server
• No more waiting for office hours, you are in contact with us 24x7
• You can send your queries by email to us via your own accounts online
• You can upload your documents security – no need to send them by post!
• Easy trace records of our communications
• Fortnightly newsletters: keeping you updated in today's dynamic financial world
08 March, 2007
Victory of tax payer in Arctic Case
The House of Lords has dismissed HM Revenue and Customs' appeal in the so-called "Arctic Systems" case. HMRC had challenged husband and wife, Geoff and Diana Jones' remuneration structure (commonly used by spouses) in which they formed a family company and paid themselves a low salary and a relatively higher dividend payment in order to maximise tax efficiencies.
The particular element on which the case was dismissed was that, while the court agreed that if a husband made a "gift of income" to his wife, he should be taxed on it in full; if there was a transfer of an actual share in the company (which there was in Mr and Mrs Jones' case), the dividend income associated with that share is taxable only on the wife. David Kilshaw, head of private client advisory at KPMG, said: "Tens of thousands of couples who run businesses together will breathe a sigh of relief". The spectre of horrendous tax bills has disappeared. Thousands of businesses have literally been saved from bankruptcy by the House of Lords. HMRC have lost this case and they have no further recourse to appeal. However, Mr and Mrs Jones won because of the particular way that they had structured their company – ie because Mrs Jones had an actual share in Arctic Systems with real rights. Couples running businesses together need to check that they have appropriate arrangements in place or they may find that they still have high tax bills.
