One key provision of the Act is the new corporate offence of failing to prevent bribery, which renders businesses liable to a potentially unlimited fine (amongst other penalties) for unlawful acts of bribery by their employees, agents, business partners or other associated persons, unless that business can show that ‘adequate procedures’ were taken to avoid the alleged acts of bribery occurring.

The Act places the emphasis very much on the implementation of avoidance measures and places corporate entities firmly in the firing line of the Serious Fraud Office.

Moreover, a business’s conduct overseas is now within the remit of the Act and the UK Courts, as long as that business has a base in the UK.

In order to avail themselves of the adequate procedures defence, businesses need to take steps now to review their activities and to identify areas of exposure, where measures can and should be taken to reduce risk.

Anti-corruption policies within staff handbooks will form the foundation of a business’s defences, together with clear guidelines and training on the giving and receiving of gifts and corporate hospitality. However, audit and financial controls will also be a pre-requisite for most and some may also wish to extend risk assessments to business associates.

National and international businesses must take this new legislation seriously and ensure that they take appropriate steps as soon as possible or risk hefty fines.

FIND OUT MORE

For those of you who have a UK base and would like to learn more about the Bribery Act, including how to avoid liability for your business, please join us at our FREE briefing session on the 14^th September which we are hosting at Bicester Golf and Spa together with our legal partner, Brethertons LLP;

A webinar will follow later in the month.

If you would like to join us to find out more about how to protect your business, please register your interest now with David Nelson on davidn@clarkhowes.com. Full details will be on our web shortly.

The seminar aims to help facilitate American businesses setting up in the UK, and will give an idea of issues such as British compliance requirements. This will not be an event to miss for enterprising individuals in the Boston area, as the expertise of the Clark Howes team may turn out to be invaluable for a business looking to grow internationally.

The seminar is by invitation only – so if you would like to attend please do not hesitate in contacting David Nelson on the address below, as places are limited.

If you are unable to attend or would like to see how the team got on, the content and photo’s of the seminar will be available to download in the next edition of this newsletter – so watch this space!

davidn@clarkhowes.com

By way of a company introduction we thought it might be worth touching on who we are, or more importantly what we do, as we think we are one of those “best kept secrets” here in the UK.

Major worldwide corporations in fast food, oil and sportswear spend billions on globalising their brand with strong identifiers in their logo.

Our logo is unashamedly and proudly the UK £ sign rotated and spelling the CH prefix of our company name.

Our ethos isn’t flash, we place our core values of quality, expertise, knowledge and service as our brand.

We look after the interests of close to 100 UK subsidiaries with parent companies in all five continents.

Our oldest overseas client has been with us over twelve years and one CFO has taken us to four companies.

We are different, VC recognised for our work quality, approved by many Embassies in the UK as a key service provider and associated with many Chambers of Commerce worldwide.

Our four offices (five from September) cover London, Birmingham and the major industrial centres.

Our staff comes from commerce so recognise that timetables and deadlines are vital to running an efficient, profitable business.

They take the time to find out what you need and then deliver it!

Our growth has come through satisfying the each specific need of each individual client.

We have been doing this for fifteen years, we do it right.

For more information on the services we provide visit our international page on the Clark Howes website.

www.clarkhowes.com/international-business

A new workplace pension scheme called NEST (National Employment Savings Trust) will be one of the qualifying schemes and will be open to any employer who wants to use it to meet their obligations.

The initial roll out of the scheme will be October 2012 but this will impact on employers with 120,000 employees or more. For those with a more modest workforce the start date varies; for example, those with less than 500 employees the date is 1 January 2014 and for those with less than 50 employees the earliest start date is 1 March 2014.

Employees eligible for automatic enrolment will be:

• those who are not already active members of a qualifying scheme
• are aged at least 22 years and below the State Pension age, and
• earn over £7,475 gross a year.

The qualifying scheme may be the existing employer pension scheme if it meets certain conditions or if an employer does not have a qualifying scheme, they will have to set one up or use a NEST pension scheme.

Minimum contributions levels for qualifying schemes are as follows:

Minimum Contribution	Employee  Pays	Tax Relief	Minimum Employer Contribution
8%	4%	1%	3%

Employees will be able to opt out of the scheme if they so wish. However, for those employees within the scheme it is expected that the employer will have to contribute at least 3% of ‘qualifying’ earnings. These earnings are the employees’ basic salary plus commissions, bonuses and overtime between £5,035 and £33,540 a year (in 2006/07 terms but to be uprated). Pension contributions are to be phased in.

A great deal more information is starting to be released and can be viewed via The Pensions Regulator website.

Internet links: The Pensions Regulator website Basic employers guide

]]> http://clarkhowes.preview.uk.com/2011/07/28/workplace-pensions-reform/feed/ 0 http://clarkhowes.preview.uk.com/2011/07/28/hmrc-extend-tax-cheats-campaigns/ http://clarkhowes.preview.uk.com/2011/07/28/hmrc-extend-tax-cheats-campaigns/#comments Thu, 28 Jul 2011 12:01:23 +0000 clarkhowes http://www.clarkhowes.com/?p=2861 Continue reading →]]> HMRC have announced that they will be launching new campaigns over the next year targeting VAT defaulters, private tutors and e-marketplaces.

HMRC will use more IT, such as ‘web robot’ software, to search the internet and find targeted information about specified people and companies. Using the software, HMRC feel that they can pinpoint more accurately people who have failed to pay the right tax. The software, used with HMRC’s Connect computer system, also helps find people who are trading without telling HMRC.

The Connect computer system alerts HMRC to previously invisible tax evasion by matching a vast amount of HMRC and third-party data. It can identify previously hidden relationships, uncovering anomalies between such elements as bank interest, property income and lifestyle indicators before homing in on unexplained inconsistencies.

HMRC announced last month that a campaign targeting VAT rule-breakers trading above the £73,000 turnover threshold but who have not registered for VAT will be launched in the summer.

Other campaigns to be launched in 2011/12 will focus on:

• those who provide private tuition and coaching
• e-marketplaces, which buy and sell goods as a trade or business
• trades, which will build on HMRC’s plumbers’ campaign and give an opportunity to another group of ‘tradespeople’ to declare unpaid tax.

Mike Wells, HMRC’s Director of Risk and Intelligence, said:

‘We want to make sure HMRC listens to as many informed views as possible for our future campaigns. We want the views and experience of people and organisations outside the department to play a fuller part in the campaigns that we design for customers.’

‘By being open about our areas of interest for the coming year we hope to maximise that exchange of information and ensure we reduce the tax gap and help customers pay what they owe.’

‘We will use the information we gather to pursue people who choose not to use the opportunities we provide for them to put their affairs in order on the best possible terms. It will be more expensive if we come and find people, so I urge them to come forward and disclose voluntarily.’

Internet link: News release

As part of this plan the cheque guarantee card has been withdrawn as of 30^th June 2011; there is no longer a facility in the UK to guarantee a cheque payment with a bank card. However, it is important to note that only around 7% of cheques last year were guaranteed under the scheme, and the upper limit (£250) is actually lower than the average value of a personal cheque.

After implementing phase one of their plan to scrap cheques, the Council was heavily lobbied by, among others, the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) and the Forum of Private Businesses (FPB).  Although many retailers no longer accept cheques, a significant proportion of small businesses and their customers do not currently have access to electronic payment systems, which would put them at a huge disadvantage, especially in the current economic climate.

In a survey conducted by the FPB an overwhelming 95% of firms said that they regularly paid other businesses by cheque and 55% said that it was their most frequent method of payment. This reliance on the cheque is reflected in the fact that, although cheque use has declined steadily from its peak in 1990, there are currently over a billion cheques written each year, around 4.4 million every day.

In response to the general outcry over the enforced scrapping of the cheque the Payments Council reversed this plan and announced that the demise of the cheque will be as a response to market demands; the humble cheque will continue to exist for as long as businesses and consumers need them.

The reversal of a decision by a committee made up of some of the largest companies in the UK shows how powerful the voices of small and medium enterprises are. Kent University estimates that over 95% of UK employees now work in small to medium businesses; certainly an economic force to be reckoned with!

A few Chequered facts for you:

• The ancient Romans are believed to have used a form of cheque in the First Century BC.
• The first cheque was written in the UK in 1659 by Nicholas Vanacker.
• At their peak in 1990, around 4 billion cheques were written in the UK.
• Harrods was the last major retailer in Britain to stop accepting cheques.
• The average value of a personal cheque payment is £227.
• Since 1990 the common identifier on all UK cheque guarantee cards has been William Shakespeare.
• The world’s first £1m cheque was apparently written in Cardiff’s coal exchange 1901 (equivalent to £77837086.09 in today’s money!).

The cause of the problem appears to be that HM Revenue & Customs failed to calculate how many extra bills it would need to send out this year.

Some grace will be given to those affected to pay their bill without being charged a penalty.

30 days is given from receipt of the statement  (which tells you how much tax is owed) to pay the second payment on account.

Online customers will still be able to check their statement online and pay over the internet.

A spokesman for HMRC said: ‘We are sorry if anyone experiences any inconvenience.’

If you have already got your statement, then you need to pay it now.

If HMRC has not received your payment by Sunday, you will start paying interest at 3 per cent on what you owe.

Click Here, to view the HMRC information page

‘Pegasus’ won the race sponsored by Pegasus Gym, with £1,000 also going to one lucky listener of Mix 96 Radio in Aylesbury.

Clark Howes’ entry ‘Howie’ finished in a mid table position in the race but flew the flag for Buckinghamshire accountants on home turf at the event held in Fairford Leys, Aylesbury near the Clark Howes offices.