Have you paid for your benefits?

By now your Employers Return of Benefits in Kind form P11D(b) should have been submitted to HM Revenue & Customs.

If you provided any benefits to your employees, as these are not taxed through the PAYE system you will have Class 1a National Insurance of 12.8% to pay to HM Revenue & Customs by 19th July 2008.

If you have not already sent your cheque in settlement of this liability, the payment can be included in your July payment for PAYE.  Alternatively it can be sent separately with a covering letter and the Class 1a National Insurance payslip which you should have received direct from HM Revenue & Customs.

When sending payment we would recommend that you include your PAYE reference, accounts office reference and the words ‘Class 1a National Insurance Liability 2008’ on the back of the cheque to assist HM Revenue & Customs with the correct allocation of your payment.

In the current climate, knowing exactly where you are each and every day, in respect of how well you are performing to your break-even point is vital. For our guidance on how to calculate and put in place good systems to ensure you know where you are and can take decisive action with speed, please email jenny@a4gsolutions.co.uk and we will email you our FREE Help Sheet.

Central bankers around the world continued to find themselves between a rock (slower growth) and a hard place (higher inflation) last week. But with oil falling on St. Swithin’s Day, central bankers will be hoping we are about to see 40 days of price declines. That would provide some much-needed help to keep price pressures under control.

In the UK, consumer price inflation (CPI) jumped to 3.8% in June - another record high, up from 3.3% in May. Policymakers are bracing themselves for inflation rising well above 4% in the months ahead, and it is increasingly likely that the peak will be above 5%, given the impact of higher energy prices on utility bills. Thankfully, there is still scant evidence that higher inflation is sparking a wage-price spiral. In May, employment also reached a record high of 29.6m, but wage growth remained subdued at 3.8%, down from 3.9% in April. (Readings below 4% are consistent with meeting the Bank of England’s 2% inflation target). The headlines

concentrated on the 12k rise in unemployment over the past three months, but the labour market is standing firmer than we might have expected. The number of people in jobs is still rising, albeit at a slower pace and unemployment actually fell by 24k in the month of May to bring the rate of unemployment back to 5.2% - which is very low by historic standards.

"Anything is possible. You can be told that you have a 90% chance, a 50% chance or a 1% chance, but you have to believe and you have to fight."

Lance Armstrong