July 2020 News Update – featuring additional news developments from our newsletter series

The government is about to launch it’s Eat out to help out scheme. From 3rd until 31st August, you can get a 50% discount when you eat in at restaurants. New applications to the first round of SEISS have now closed. Applicants who received a grant in the first round and new applicants can apply to benefit from the second round of SEISS from 17th August. Earlier this month the Chancellor ruled out plans for a so-called ‘£500 shopping initiative’, during his mini-Budget, with the Eat out to Help out initiative unveiled for struggling pubs and restaurants instead. In a further move, VAT will be cut for six months, reduced from 20% to 5% to incentivise the public to spend money over summer. Plus The Fix your Bike Voucher Scheme allows members of the public to receive a voucher worth up to £50 towards the cost of repairing an unused bicycle. 

Eat out to Help out launches in August

In the coming days the government launches it’s Eat out to help out scheme. From 3rd until 31st August, you can get a 50% discount when you eat in at restaurants that are registered with the Eat Out to Help Out Scheme. You don’t need a voucher to use this scheme because it will be automatically available to you at participating restaurants and applies to food and non-alcoholic drinks to eat in, up to a maximum of £10 per diner. Valid every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday between 3 and 31 August and you can do this as many times as you like. You can use it at the same time as other offers and discounts and there is no minimum spend. Restaurants, cafés, bars, pubs work and school canteens are all eligible to participate. To find out more or find a participating restaurant Click here. 

Second round of Seiss opens on 17th August

New applications to the first round of SEISS have now closed. Applicants who received a grant in the first round and new applicants can apply to benefit from the second round of SEISS from 17th August. Individuals will be able to claim a taxable grant worth 70% of their average monthly trading profits, paid out in a single instalment covering three months worth of profits, and capped at £6570 in total. The eligibility criteria are the same for both grants, and individuals will need to confirm that their business has been adversely affected by coronavirus. An individual does not need to have claimed the first grant to receive the second grant: for example, they may only have been adversely affected by COVID-19 in this later phase. Click here to read more.

Government Voucher Schemes Unveiled

Earlier this month the Chancellor ruled out plans for a so-called ‘£500 shopping initiative’, originally put forward by Resolution Foundation think tank to help restart the economy following the pandemic. The Resolution Foundation says its idea would be a more effective way to jump start a recovery than a temporary VAT cut, or one-off cash gifts from the state to individuals, which have also been considered in Whitehall. However Mr Sunak ruled out this scheme during his mini-Budget, with the Eat out to help out initiative unveiled for struggling pubs and restaurants instead. In a further move, VAT will be cut for six months, reduced from 20% to 5% to incentivise the public to spend money over summer. The Chancellor said the tax cut will apply to eat-in or hot takeaway food from restaurants, cafés and pubs, accommodation in hotels, B&Bs, campsites and caravan sites, as well as cinemas, theme parks and zoos. The government is also offering £50 bike repair as part of plans to boost cycling and walking. An initial 50,000 vouchers will be available online later in the day on a first-come, first-served basis. The prime minister also announced that bikes will be made available on the NHS as part of the strategy. The Fix your Bike Voucher Scheme allows members of the public to receive a voucher worth up to £50 towards the cost of repairing a bicycle. The scheme is open to anyone in England who has an unused cycle in need of a repair. To apply click here.

Prestige Business Management Referral Programme

Our simple referral programme has been designed to reward loyal customers who, thanks to the power of word-of-mouth, introduce new clients to Prestige Business Management.

All you need to do is tell everyone about Prestige Business Management (reminding them to tell them your name). Once they’ve signed-up to one of our packages, depending on what type of business they are, you could get up to £100. Even more if you refer more than one individual.

If you’d like to read more about our scheme please please get in touch.

What You Missed From Our Blog – Summary

What to Expect from Postponed MTD

Making Tax Digital (MTD) makes it mandatory for businesses to keep digital accounting records and complete their VAT submissions to HMRC via an Application Programme Interface (API), utilising MTD compliant software. This is what to expect from postponed MTD. HMRC will expect full compliance from businesses by keeping digital accounting records by April 2021. This is what to expect from postponed MTD. The roll out of MTD Phase 2 has been postponed until April 2021 to allow businesses the breathing space to concentrate their limited resources and cash flow on surviving the COVID-19 crisis. We still expect to be told when the new MTD Phase 2 timeline will be finalised. HMRC will expect full compliance from businesses, to reaccrue tax revenue which was decimated during the pandemic, by the time that the soft landing period elapses.

Important Updtaes to CJRS 

Here are some of the key updates to the CJRS scheme that might affect your business. The government will pay firms a £1000 bonus for every staff member kept on for three months when the furlough scheme ends in October. Employers need to claim by 31 July for employees furloughed through CJRS for periods ending on or before 30 June. Employees will no longer be able to use a CJRS grant to cover National Insurance (NI) and pension contributions for furloughed employees from 1 August. You or your clients can submit August claims in advance, from 20 July. You or your clients can use HMRC’s online examples and calculator to help work out what you can claim, for claims ending on or before 31 July. From 10 July you will also be able to use these to help you work out claims ending on or before 31 August. Click here to access the calculator. He warned “hardship lies ahead”, but vowed no one will be left “without hope“, in a statement to MPs. Mr Sunak stated that this announcement is merely the next stage “in a fight to recover and rebuild after coronavirus”. He rejected calls to extend the furlough scheme beyond October, saying it would give people “false hope” that they will have a job to return to, and “the longer people are on furlough, the more likely it is their skills could fade”. He conceded that jobs would be lost but said he would “never accept unemployment as an inevitable outcome” of the pandemic. We are likely to hear further details about how the package will be paid for in the Chancellor’s Autumn budget.

How will her Majesty’s Government Manage the £300bn Deficit?

In the wake of the Covid-19 global pandemic follows a financial crisis in the making and a huge question is how will the government manage the £300bn deficit? Covid-19 has caused a seismic economic shock and the aggregation of a staggering national debt with the bill rising by £20bn in a fortnight as tax revenue dwindles and state spending soars to head off economic meltdown. The mounting cost of government schemes to help Britain through its worst recession in more than three centuries, will result in a £300bn deficit in the current financial year, a report has forecast. “Tax will have a key role to play” says The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) along with European Union, suggesting this in terms of both revenue and how tax is structured following the pandemic. Tax-reform will become vital post COVID-19. The OECD report, ‘Tax and Fiscal Policy in Response to the Coronavirus Crisis: Strengthening Confidence and Resilience’ published on 15th April suggests that the UK may be particularly affected, given that the lockdown, in all its forms, has lasted for 15 weeks so far. A fundamental reform of the tax system is to be called for to ensure taxes are supportive of growth whilst being straightforward and manageable by the taxman to quell tax abuse and aid the UK’s recovery.

July’s Top Tips from Prestige Business Management

With eased lockdown measures it’s the perfect time to enjoy the summer. Here are some of our top tips for making the most of your free time.

1. With a potential second wave of Covid-19 predicted for winter, the summer months are the perfect time to spend more time outdoors, where the virus is more likely to be damaged by sunlight or drift away on  a breeze. 
2. The perfect opportunity to finally meet up with family and friends is the Eat out to Help out scheme throughout August and receive 50% of food and non-alcoholic drinks. 
3. Fix your bike. 50,000 vouchers worth up to £50 per unused bike means you can finally dust it off and get back on the road whilst the government compliments this with more stringent safety measures for van and truck drivers. 
4. Most UK residents are continuing with precautionary behaviours. A poll of more than 2000 UK residents compared people’s attitudes towards lockdown rules at the start of April with those at the end of May and found compliance remained high.
5. Make the most of outdoor activities while the warm weather lasts. One study in China found that 98 per cent of super-spreading events, where transmission is disproportionately high compared with normal transmission rates, happened indoors.

To find out more visit our website – https://www.prestigebm.co.uk/

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