So another year (to be fair only the second year) of Come Dine With TaxAssist has come to a close.
Just to give you a little bit of background so you know what on Earth I'm talking about:
Each Autumn we run Come Dine With TaxAssist. Team members either pair up with other team members, husbands, wives, girlfriends, boyfriends or even just mates.
We then randomly draw names out of hat and the pairings are up against two other groups.
Each group hosts the other two who then score them out of ten for food, entertainment and overall how much they enjoyed the night.
This time round we had an Australian and s*%t jumper night which just happened to be on hallowe'en and therefore (obviously) involved dookin' for miniatures... obviously.
We had French Night which featured some pretty terrible French Cafe music and charades. One of the films was Free Willy... I leave to your imagination to work out how that one was mimed out.
There was Oriental Night with some pretty fantastic cooking and finally, last week, Eighties Night.
Eighties Night involved a fair amount of plastic jewelry, espadrilles, leg warmers and Lycra!
It also featured two game shows from my youth - Bulls Eye and Play Your Cards Right!
All brilliant nights out; this year the team have really thrown themselves into the event and loads of effort was put into each evening by both the hosts and it has to be said the guests. Amazon has done very well out of us this year.
Except for Eighties Night... Richard seemed to have most of his outfit already in his wardrobe!
So all that's left now is to announce the winners which we'll do at our Christmas Night out.
All just a bit of fun through the Autumn and in the run up to Christmas but I just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone who put in so much effort to make this year's event such a good one.
Onward and upward next year with even more couples taking part and more 'interesting' and varied themed nights!
Wednesday 28 November 2018
Monday 19 November 2018
Scams - people pretending to be HMRC
Be careful out there people...
The scammers and ne'er do wells are out and about trying to con you out of your hard earned...
You may have heard of these two scams before but a timely reminder is probably in order.
Just to re-iterate - HMRC will never get in touch with you by email about a refund or money that needs to be paid to them.
So, this is how the two scams work:
Someone pretending to be HMRC will either call or email and say that you are due a refund. If it's a call they'll ask you for your bank account details so a refund can be made.
If it's an email it will either ask you to click a link and enter your bank details or respond to the email with bank details. In both instances horrible things will happen to your PC...
Sometimes the email received looks pretty convincing but often it just doesn't look right; it doesn't have the right layout or privacy message and often the English isn't very good.
The real giveaway, though is if you hover (DO NOT CLICK) over the email address - it may say HMRC in the description but when you hover it comes up with something completely different.
So, the real HMRC will never ask for your account details this way. If a refund is due it will either be paid to account details submitted with your tax return, by cheque or there will be a refund via PAYE in your salary.
The second scam is even more worrying.
Someone pretending to be from HMRC will call and say that you have an unpaid tax bill that has to be paid today if you are to avoid enforcement action. Sometimes it's by email.
Usually the amount isn't very much - maybe £300 - £500 - and the person on the other end of the 'phone will ask you to make a payment by card immediately.
Over the 'phone.
Or face dire consequences.
HMRC will never ask for money in this way. If you are concerned that a call may not be from HMRC ask for some proof over the 'phone or tell the person that you will hang up and call in to the HMRC public telephone numbers.
NEVER GIVE ANY INFORMATION AWAY. YOU MAY GET ASKED FOR YOUR NATIONAL INSURANCE NUMBER TO PROVE WHO YOU ARE.
DO NOT GIVE IT.
The best plan of action is simply to hang up because the more you engage with these people the more they will sound credible and you'll doubt yourself.
If you are really unsure about whether it's HMRC and you're one of our customers - give us a call - 0131 202 9888 - and we'll call HMRC for you just to set your mind at rest.
And the people the scammers are targeting: older people and students.
Please share this blog to get the message out there.
The scammers and ne'er do wells are out and about trying to con you out of your hard earned...
You may have heard of these two scams before but a timely reminder is probably in order.
Just to re-iterate - HMRC will never get in touch with you by email about a refund or money that needs to be paid to them.
So, this is how the two scams work:
Someone pretending to be HMRC will either call or email and say that you are due a refund. If it's a call they'll ask you for your bank account details so a refund can be made.
If it's an email it will either ask you to click a link and enter your bank details or respond to the email with bank details. In both instances horrible things will happen to your PC...
Sometimes the email received looks pretty convincing but often it just doesn't look right; it doesn't have the right layout or privacy message and often the English isn't very good.
The real giveaway, though is if you hover (DO NOT CLICK) over the email address - it may say HMRC in the description but when you hover it comes up with something completely different.
So, the real HMRC will never ask for your account details this way. If a refund is due it will either be paid to account details submitted with your tax return, by cheque or there will be a refund via PAYE in your salary.
The second scam is even more worrying.
Someone pretending to be from HMRC will call and say that you have an unpaid tax bill that has to be paid today if you are to avoid enforcement action. Sometimes it's by email.
Usually the amount isn't very much - maybe £300 - £500 - and the person on the other end of the 'phone will ask you to make a payment by card immediately.
Over the 'phone.
Or face dire consequences.
HMRC will never ask for money in this way. If you are concerned that a call may not be from HMRC ask for some proof over the 'phone or tell the person that you will hang up and call in to the HMRC public telephone numbers.
NEVER GIVE ANY INFORMATION AWAY. YOU MAY GET ASKED FOR YOUR NATIONAL INSURANCE NUMBER TO PROVE WHO YOU ARE.
DO NOT GIVE IT.
The best plan of action is simply to hang up because the more you engage with these people the more they will sound credible and you'll doubt yourself.
If you are really unsure about whether it's HMRC and you're one of our customers - give us a call - 0131 202 9888 - and we'll call HMRC for you just to set your mind at rest.
And the people the scammers are targeting: older people and students.
Please share this blog to get the message out there.
Monday 5 November 2018
What's on in 2018 (or at least what's left of it...)
Is time pinging by really fast for anyone else?
Or is it just me?
www.xmasclock.com (just saying)
Actually I know the answer to that question. Everyone I ask says that 2018 has flashed by like no other they can remember.
It was summed up neatly when I overheard one of our team (who's 24 (when I was 24 years old Friday seemed like a lifetime away on a Monday morning)) talking to a colleague.
'Monday morning, again!' said the colleague with a bit of a sigh in her voice.
'I wouldn't worry about it,' says our 24 year old, 'it'll be Friday again in five minutes!'
And I get the sense that time isn't going to slow up just yet, especially when there's so much to get through in 2018 - and into 2019 if I'm honest.
Okay, so let's start with tax (well we would, wouldn't we).
Having delayed its introduction for a year Making Tax Digital is very much on the radar again - and HMRC have confirmed that the new process for reporting will go live from April 1st 2019.
Without doubt, no more delays, it is happening... according to HMRC.
I actually learned what HMRC is trying to do with Making Tax Digital the other day. They want to become the most digitally enabled tax authority... in the World.
Nice
The first group of businesses to go live with Making Tax Digital are VAT registered limited companies... and companies with turnover of more than £85,000 even if not VAT registered - because they are making non-VATable supplies for example.
What MTD means is that companies and eventually just about everyone, will have to submit returns to HMRC four times a year and then submit a consolidating return, too. It all has to be submitted digitally.
Over the first year returns will simply include the headline figures. In future HMRC will have access to the background workings...
With Making Tax Digital on the horizon it's time to start the conversation again and we'll be out to all our customers who are affected by the new legislation with suggestions, plans, communications and processes... we'll do it bit by bit over the next five months.
Ahead of our communication about MTD if you have any questions get in touch - it's better to know!
Or is it just me?
www.xmasclock.com (just saying)
Actually I know the answer to that question. Everyone I ask says that 2018 has flashed by like no other they can remember.
It was summed up neatly when I overheard one of our team (who's 24 (when I was 24 years old Friday seemed like a lifetime away on a Monday morning)) talking to a colleague.
'Monday morning, again!' said the colleague with a bit of a sigh in her voice.
'I wouldn't worry about it,' says our 24 year old, 'it'll be Friday again in five minutes!'
And I get the sense that time isn't going to slow up just yet, especially when there's so much to get through in 2018 - and into 2019 if I'm honest.
Okay, so let's start with tax (well we would, wouldn't we).
Having delayed its introduction for a year Making Tax Digital is very much on the radar again - and HMRC have confirmed that the new process for reporting will go live from April 1st 2019.
Without doubt, no more delays, it is happening... according to HMRC.
I actually learned what HMRC is trying to do with Making Tax Digital the other day. They want to become the most digitally enabled tax authority... in the World.
Nice
The first group of businesses to go live with Making Tax Digital are VAT registered limited companies... and companies with turnover of more than £85,000 even if not VAT registered - because they are making non-VATable supplies for example.
What MTD means is that companies and eventually just about everyone, will have to submit returns to HMRC four times a year and then submit a consolidating return, too. It all has to be submitted digitally.
Over the first year returns will simply include the headline figures. In future HMRC will have access to the background workings...
With Making Tax Digital on the horizon it's time to start the conversation again and we'll be out to all our customers who are affected by the new legislation with suggestions, plans, communications and processes... we'll do it bit by bit over the next five months.
Ahead of our communication about MTD if you have any questions get in touch - it's better to know!
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