3 September 2024

Self-Assessment: the evolution

For many self-employed workers, Self-Assessment has always been the way they declare their tax liabilities. However, Self-Assessment has only been in place since 1996 and was created to streamline the tax collection process for those with any untaxed income who need to declare and pay tax on it. Back then, the online service we know today did not exist, so how did we get from zero to 97% of Self-Assessment filers submitting their tax returns online?

Read the full article here.

Need to register for Self-Assessment? Top 5 myths – debunked

Anyone who needs to complete a Self-Assessment tax return for the first time to cover the 2023 to 2024 tax year, should tell HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) by 5 October 2024.

There are plenty of myths about who needs to file a Self-Assessment return before the 31 January 2025 deadline and HMRC today debunks some of the most common ones.

HMRC clarifies some common myths about Self-Assessment tax returns.

Employers targeted in illegal working crackdown

The Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, announced last month that the government would crack down on unscrupulous employers who are hiring migrants illegally and exploiting vulnerable people, alongside extensive work to disrupt the criminal networks that bring the workers to the UK. 

Read the full article here.

Over 130,000 people to benefit from life-saving health checks

More than 130,000 people across the country will be better protected from diseases such as heart disease, kidney disease and diabetes, as the government rolls out a life-saving health check programme to workplaces across the country for the first time.

The checks, which can be completed quickly and easily for employees at work, record a range of information about each patient, which is then used to determine their cardiovascular risk.

Read the full article here.

Government-funded childcare offer launched

As of yesterday, (Monday 2 September), hundreds of thousands of eligible working parents of children from 9 months old will begin to access 15 hours of government-funded early education per week.

For parents of primary school-aged children, new “wraparound” childcare places will be available before and after school, sounding the starting gun on long-term reform to deliver an early education and childcare system from the end of parental leave to the end of primary school, boosting parents’ work choices and children’s life chances.

Read the full article here.