We are delighted to announce that Sarah Hannigan has recently been promoted to Reporting Accountant. Sarah has been with us for 4 years and is currently studying towards an ACCA qualification.

She is our current Star Baker but we are in the middle of another highly competitive challenge…she’ll be hoping to keep her star!

We thought we’d ask Sarah a few questions and share them with you; 

Where were you born?

Falkirk

Where do you live now?

Denny

What do you like to do in your spare time?

Spend time with friends and family…and bake cakes!

If you won the lottery what would you buy first?

A ticket to travel the world

Dream job, apart from Drummond Laurie obviously?

Cake Baker

(here’s a picture of our 6th Birthday celebration cake – tastes as good as it looks!)

Finally share with us one of your favourite pictures>

Our little dog Allie on her 16th birthday

There are many reason why you might need to register and complete a Self-Assessment Tax Return, including;

• Self-employed sole traders earning more than £1,000
• Directors of limited companies
• Partners of both general and limited liability partnerships
• Individuals who receive rental income
• Individuals earning more than £100,000 a year

The deadline for registering for Self–Assessment is the 5^th October after the end of the relevant tax year. So if you met the registration criteria during the tax year 2018/19 (6^th April 2018 – 5^th April 2019) you have until the 5^th October 2019 to register with HMRC.

Your 2018/19 tax return will then be due by the 31^st October 2019 if being submitted on paper or alternatively by the 31^st January 2020 if being submitted online. Any tax or national insurance due will be payable by the 31^st January 2020.

Failure to register on time could result in you being fined!

If you are unsure whether or not you need to register for self-assessment or need help completing your tax return then we can help. Please contact us via email adviser@drummondlaurie.co.uk  or call us on 01324 441250.

Drummond Laurie are now recruiting for our summer 2020 intake of graduate / school leaver’s to join our successful and expanding business. The vacancies will include full study support as well as a competitive salary, and as a firm who strongly believes in the wellbeing of its employees, a generous benefits package is also included. Based in modern and accessible offices in Grangemouth our location has plentiful parking facilities.

We are looking for individuals with a strong desire to succeed, with a view to progressing their career with a forward thinking company. We offer a 3 (graduate) or 5 (school leaver) year training contract to support the completion of the CA or ACCA qualification. To be considered for the role you must have a positive attitude and be a confident and effective communicator who is hard working and dedicated.  You must have strong communication skills and have an ability to work using your own initiative and to strict deadlines.

In return we will commit our full support as you progress through your professional qualification, receiving a wide variety of practical experience along the way. You will be mentored and developed by a team with a wealth of skills and knowledge, who will strive to provide you with all the help you will need to reach your professional goals.

To find out more and details of how to apply please go to Become a CA

HMRC have recently announced the postponement of the VAT Reverse Charge within the Construction Industry. This is good news for the Construction industry who have been voicing their concerns that they would not be ready to implement the changes by the 1st October 2019.

Please be aware this is simply a delay and the reverse charge will commence on 1st October 2020.

Businesses should use the next 12 months to speak to their advisers and ensure their accounting systems are ready for the new implementation date.

In the event that you have already changed your systems and invoices in anticipation of this change going live on 1st October 2019, you should take steps to change back at your earliest opportunity.

If you have any queries on this please do not hesitate to speak to your usual Drummond Laurie contact.

All contractors will be aware of the IR35 legislation in some way or another.  The IR35 legislation requires an assessment as to whether work done by a contractor through their own limited company, or Personal Service Company (PSC) as it’s often referred to, falls within or out with the IR35 legislation.

Using well established criteria, such as Right of Substitution, Supervision, Direction and Control, Mutuality of Obligation and Business Risk, the legislation is designed to determine whether the contractor is effectively employed, or self-employed, for tax purposes.

Currently, this decision is made by the contractor.  The risk, and subsequent liability of getting this decision wrong, also lies with the contractor.  In 2017 changes were introduced to the public sector and these changes are now being rolled into the private sector in April 2020.

What is changing?

1. It is important to note here that the rules themselves are not changing, however, the responsibility for determining the contractor’s IR35 status, whilst in a particular assignment, will shift from your own PSC (i.e. the contractor), to the end client. The liability for getting this decision wrong, lies with the ‘Fee Payer’.  The ‘Fee Payer’ is the entity who pays the PSC, so this may be the end user, or more commonly, an agency.
2. If the end-client determines you to be within IR35 (or caught by IR35 legislation), any payments made to the PSC (or contractor), must be subject to a deduction of tax and national insurance as if that contractor were an employee.
3. With responsibility for determining your IR35 status lying with the end-client from April 2020, the government has developed an on-line employment  status assessment tool to assist end-clients with this exercise. The tool is known as CEST, and can be accessed online at HMRC.
4. If it transpires that, in making a status assessment, the end-client makes an error, responsibility for any underpaid tax and national insurance which arises as a result will lie with the end-client, or more commonly, with the agency (whoever is deemed to be the ‘Fee Payer’). It is worth a note that if the agency defaults on their responsibilities here, the liability will ultimately fall to the end-client company.

What to do next

Start entering into dialogues with your current end-user company now, especially where you are involved in an assignment which is likely to run over April 2020.

As end-client companies will potentially be held liable for any underpaid tax and national insurance, we anticipate that they will take their new responsibilities in this area very seriously and will be open to discussions with their contractors.

Each individual case will be different, so it is important to also consult with your accountant to discuss your specific circumstances.   Please get in touch, if we can help, email adviser@drummondlaurie.co.uk.

It is important to note that the proposed legislative changes have not yet been finalised, and are unlikely to be until later this year.  However, we do not anticipate significant changes to the proposals. 

We should all be aware that new Capital Gains Tax [CGT] reporting procedures come into force from 6^th April 2020.  These procedures will affect those disposing of second homes or rental properties, i.e. residential properties which are not your main principal residence.

The person disposing of the property will be required to submit a “payment on account return” within 30 days of completion of the sale notifying HMRC of the gain.  They will also be required to make a payment on account of the CGT within the same timescale.  Therefore, when selling a relevant property for a gain on the 7^th April 2020, this would previously require to have been included on a personal tax return due to be submitted by 31^st January 2022 with the tax payable by the same date.  Under the new rules, a payment on account return must be submitted by 6^th May 2020 with the tax payable on the same date.  People selling relevant properties are advised to contact their tax advisers in advance of the transaction completing in order to establish the tax payable and to make arrangements to submit the return and the payment within the required timescales.

At Drummond Laurie we try to keep our clients informed so that they can plan ahead and have no surprises!  For more information please contact us via email adviser@drummondlaurie.co.uk or call us on 01324 441250.

We were delighted to be able to sponsor the Youths 200m at the 163rd Alva Highland Games for the second successive year earlier this month.  The games took place at Johnstone Park in Alva in glorious sunshine and in front of a crowd of over 3,000 spectators. The race was won by Caleb McLeod from Pitreavie and the prizes were presented on behalf of Drummond Laurie by William Main.

The games were the first in a series which were part of the annual “week away” taking in such locations as Rosneath, Burntisland, Inveraray and Mull. One of our team, Andrew Gibson, took part in races at each of these highland games with the aim of winning some hard earned prize money. It was a successful week for him ending with a win in the Open Mile at Mull Highland Games retaining his title from 2018.

Grandparents and other family members under state pension age who look after children under 12 while their parents are at work may be able claim valuable tax credits. These are known as “specified adult childcare credits” and they count as a national insurance credit for those who don’t otherwise work. The reason this is important, is because you need at least 10 years’ worth of credits to qualify for the state pension, and at least 35 years’ to get the full £8,767.20 a year. Missing out on just a year’s credit could mean that you are losing out on £250 and over a typical 20 year retirement, this could amount to around £5,000.

YOU can apply for specified adult childcare credits if :

• You are a grandparent, or other family member caring for a child under 12
• You were over 16, and under state pension age when you cared for the child
• You live in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, but not the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man
• The child’s parent (or main carer) is entitled to child benefit and has a qualifying year for national insurance without needing the parent’s class 3 national insurance credits which they receive automatically from child benefit – they can check their national insurance record online to see if they have any gaps in contributions
• The child’s parent (or main carer) agrees to your application by countersigning the form to confirm that you cared for their child for the period stated and you can have their class 3 national insurance credit for the period stated

Please contact Lucy Murray at lucy.murray@drummondlaurie.co.uk if you would like to know more about this.

The sun was shining on Saturday for Doune & Dunblane’s 72^nd Agricultural Show.

Among the attendees was our very own Margaret Bunyan and her son Owen, who enjoyed a great family day out and catching up with a number of friendly faces.

Drummond Laurie were proud to be one of the show sponsors again this year and help support the local farming community.

Congratulations to all our clients who took part in the show and to the winners too!

An internship at Drummond Laurie CA is a very rare and unique opportunity for those considering a career in accountancy to experience first-hand what life is like as a trainee accountant.

Over the course of the internship successful candidates will gain real practical experience within a highly skilled team consisting of a mix of qualified and non-qualified individuals who together boast a breadth of knowledge and experience.

It allows people to sample our culture and working environment to decide for yourself whether it is right for you upon completing your studies and many of our previous interns have gone on to have extremely successful careers with us after completion of their internship.

This year we are absolutely delighted to have two interns join us over the summer.

Fiona Mulder is about to start her 4th year at the University of Strathclyde studying Accounting and Business Law.  Fiona hopes to gain some real hands on experience over the summer enabling her to return to her final year at university with a clearer idea of what the future may shape up to be!

Craig Martin is 24 years old and is a 3^rd year student at the University of Stirling.  He is working towards completing an Honours degree in Accountancy and Finance and hopes to learn a lot from this experience and gain an insight as to what it is like to work in accountancy practice.  Outside of work, he has a passion for football and travelling.

We often have opportunities for experienced and qualified people, please check out our careers page CLICK HERE