VAT ONLINE SERVICES 

As you may be aware, all businesses with an annual turnover of over £100,000 in the twelve months up to 31 December 2009 will be required to submit their VAT returns online from 1 April 2010 and also pay their VAT electronically.  If HM Revenue & Customs believe that you fall into this category they should have already contacted you about this.

If you think that you fall into this group and you have not already registered for online services you should do so as soon as possible.  To do this you need to access HM Revenue & Custom’s website (www.hmrc.gov.uk/vat) and have the following information about your VAT position at hand:- 

1. Your VAT registration number;
2. Your postcode as recorded on your VAT return;
3. The date you originally registered for VAT;
4. The final month of the VAT return you last submitted;
5. The ‘Box 5’ figure (amount due to pay/receive) on your last VAT return. 

Once you have completed the registration process, you will be sent an activation code in the post.  You should then go back onto the website and use this code to access your online services.  Please note that this code must be used within 28 days of issue for it to remain valid.  This process only needs to be completed once. 

When this is done, you can start using the online services to submit your VAT returns.  The online VAT return is similar to the paper return that you have been using.  Another service you can avail of is the email reminder service which will remind you when your next online VAT return is due. 

The other change in the rules is that from 1 April 2010 you will also have to pay your VAT liability, if any, electronically.  This may be done by direct debit, internet banking etc. 

If you should need assistance registering for, or using, the online services, we can help you with any of the following:- 

• registering you for online services; 
• preparing and submitting your online VAT returns; 
• submitting your online VAT returns based on manual returns prepared by you.

 Should you require any further information or assistance please contact Amanda at this office.

Our client, Philip Donaghy, has released a book about his life to date to include his horrific car accident which has left him in a wheelchair and requiring 24 hour nursing care.  A brief description of the book is detailed below.

One rainy night in 1998, Philip Donaghy was paralysed in a car crash. It was just an accident, a stroke of bad luck that shattered a young man’s dreams and ambitions. Against the odds, Philip left hospital and now lives in his own home with nursing care around the clock. The car crash was not the only accident to blight Philip’s youth. His life was an accident from the moment of his conception in an institution for the mentally ill. Philip was taken from his mother days after his birth and reared in a children’s home in Belfast. At the age of six, he was fostered by relatives and felt unloved by them. When he was 11 he found out that he had no father. Philip has fought desperately with his family and the health authorities ever since to find out who his father is. He has faced a conspiracy of silence and shame. More than the car crash, Philip’s anguish over his identity has held him back from achieving his full potential. Philip has dreams. When he finds out who he is, he wants to marry and to raise a family of his own.

You can purchase this book by following this link:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Life-Just-Accident-Philip-Donaghy/dp/1450201571/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1268908117&sr=8-1-spell