Last year Companies House replaced the annual return with the new annual confirmation statement which required limited companies to declare People with Significant Control (PSC) information. Where changes had occurred during the year, these could be updated on the confirmation statement.

However from 26 June 2017, new anti-money laundering measures mean any changes to PSC’s will need to be reported as they happen.  A company has 14 days to update their register and another 14 days to submit forms PSC01 or PSC09 to Companies House.

This is a significant change and directors/shareholders need to be aware of their responsibilities. If their accountant handles their company secretarial duties then they need to inform them promptly.

IR35 legislation has been around for many years and until now has been the responsibility of the contractor to determine whether they were within the rules on disguised employment. If they provide their services through a personal service company under circumstances where they would be employees if they had contracted directly with the client then they are caught by IR35 and subject to tax and national insurance on a deemed payment.

From April 2017 new legislation was introduced meaning that where the service is provided to a public sector employer, either directly or through an intermediary, then it will be the responsibility of the public sector employer to decide whether IR35 applies and inform the contractor or intermediary. It they deem that the contract falls within IR35 then they or the intermediary must deduct tax and national insurance and account working in the public sector or these through their payroll real time information (RTI) submissions.

Any contractor working for a public sector employer should now have been notified of their employment status. This will affect both the amount of the payment received from their employer (or intermediary) and also what travel expenses that can be claimed.

If they are affected then they need to assess the cash implications to their business.

George Osborne announced Making Tax Digital back in 2005, but HMRC did not provide much information until early 2017. The intention is that all businesses and landlords will make quarterly submissions to HMRC of their turnover and taxable profits. This would replace the need to file annual tax returns.

A more detailed timetable for its implementation was included in the March 2017 budget:

• April 2018 – All businesses and landlords paying income tax with turnover over the VAT threshold of £85,000
• April 2019 – Businesses and landlords under the VAT threshold but with a turnover of over £10,000
• April 2020 – Any business paying corporation tax

This legislation has been dropped due to the announcement of the General Election but this is likely to be only a temporary delay as both the government and HMRC have indicated their intention that quarterly digital reporting will become mandatory.

HMRC argue that quarterly reporting will provide greater certainty and reduce errors due to better record keeping, but the cynical would say the greatest benefit will be to government borrowing. Once HMRC have quarterly figures it is only to be expected that they will expect taxpayers to pay quarterly rather than to pay after the end of the tax year, as they currently do.

Larger businesses and those already submitting quarterly VAT returns may already be using accounting software that will facilitate the digital reporting but it is likely to have big implications for landlords and small businesses who currently use spreadsheets to produce accounts at the year end to file their tax returns. HMRC has indicated they will provide an online filing tool but as yet we have little information as to what this will entail but small businesses and landlords will have to change the way they operate so that they can submit the necessary information quarterly.

All business owners need to be aware of the implications both for record keeping and for cashflow.