By Mark Jones, director of Carmarthen-based Clay Shaw Butler chartered accountants and business consultants. The Money Matters column appears in the Pembrokeshire Herald, the Carmarthenshire Herald and the Llanelli Herald newspapers.By Mark Jones, director of Carmarthen-based Clay Shaw Butler chartered accountants and business consultants.
New company car advisory fuel rates have been published. They took effect from 1 December 2018.
The guidance states: ‘You can use the previous rates for up to one month from the date the new rates apply’.
The rates only apply to employees using a company car.
The advisory fuel rates for journeys undertaken on or after 1 December 2018 are:
Engine size Petrol
1400cc or less 12p
1401cc – 2000cc 15p
Over 2000cc 22p
LPG
1400cc or less 8p
1401cc – 2000cc 10p
Over 2000cc 15p
Diesel
1600cc or less 10p
1601cc – 2000cc 12p
Over 2000cc 14p
HMRC guidance states that the rates only apply when you either:
- reimburse employees for business travel in their company cars
- require employees to repay the cost of fuel used for private travel
You must not use these rates in any other circumstances.
If you would like to discuss your company car policy, please contact the team at West Wales chartered accountants Clay Shaw Butler.
In other news, university students are being targeted by scammers with fake tax refunds in an effort to steal money and personal details, warns HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).
The scammers are using seemingly legitimate university email addresses (for example ‘@uc.ac.uk’) in order to avoid detection.
The tax authority has received thousands of fraud reports in just a few weeks from students at colleges across the UK.
This is the first time HMRC has seen a tax scam attack directly targeting university students in such high volumes.
The Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Mel Stride MP, said:
“HMRC will never inform you about tax refunds by email, text or voicemail. If you receive one of these messages it is a scam. Do not click on any links in these messages, and forward them to HMRC’s phishing email address.
“Although HMRC is cracking down hard on internet scams, criminals will stop at nothing to steal personal information. I’d encourage all students to become phishing aware – it could save you a lot of money.”
The Director of Action Fraud, Pauline Smith, said:
“Devious fraudsters will try every trick in the book to convince victims to hand over their personal information, often with devastating consequences. It is vital that students spot the signs of fraudulent emails to avoid falling victim by following HMRC’s advice.
“Together with HMRC, we work tirelessly to stop fraudsters in their tracks and to prevent unsuspecting members of the public from falling victim to fraud.”
HMRC is encouraging all universities to raise awareness of scams and many have already begun taking action to warn their students of the risks.
Often HMRC related email scams spoof the branding of GOV.UK and well known credit cards in attempt to look authentic. The recipient’s name and email address may be included several times within the email itself.
Fraudulent emails and texts will regularly include links which take students to websites where their information can be stolen. Between April and September this year, HMRC requested that 7,500 of these phishing sites be deactivated. This compares to around 5,200 requests during the same period in 2017.
You can find out more about money matters on the Clay Shaw Butler website (under our news for business section) –
http://www.clayshawbutler.com/news/latest-news-for-business
We have a strong and experienced team with great local knowledge all geared-up to helping you get the very best from your finances – whether that is as an individual or as a business.
We stay ahead of the game by putting great store by continual professional development for our staff.
With Investors In People status at Clay Shaw Butler, we care passionately about making sure our staff have all the tools they need to serve you, our customers.
Weblink – http://www.clayshawbutler.com
The team at Clay Shaw Butler can be contacted on 01267 228500.
The team at Clay Shaw Butler are on Twitter. Look for @clayshawbutler.
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