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Tax return
deadline just around the corner
IF you still haven't sent
in your 2011 to 2012 Self Assessment tax return, you've got just a
few days left to do so and avoid a penalty.
Send your 2011 to 2012 return to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC),
after 31 January 2013 and you'll receive a £100 late-filing penalty;
even if you don't have any tax to pay, or you pay your tax on time.
The more you delay, the more you pay, as you'll be hit with further
late-filing penalties after 3, 6 and 12 months.
HMRC found that people often felt a real sense of relief, or peace
of mind, once they sent in their return; like a weight being lifted
from their shoulders. A new ad campaign is encouraging people who
still haven't sent their return to "do it today, pay what you owe
and take a load off your mind", so they can experience
"inner
peace".
And don't forget, 31 January 2013, is also the deadline for paying
what you owe for the 2011 to 2012 tax year; visit:-hmrc.gov.uk
for information on payment options.
Further information on completing your tax return is available by
visiting HMRC's website at:-
hmrc.gov.uk/sa. If
that doesn't answer your question, call the Self Assessment helpline
on:- 0845 9000 444; open from 8.00am to 8.00pm, Monday to Friday, and
8.00am to 4.00pm on Saturday. |
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Green Party:- 'Green
Deal is not enough'
THE GREEN Party has
criticised the government's home insulation scheme as being
insufficient to encourage meaningful change.
The government's 'Green Deal', in which a loan is provided to
meet the costs of home insulation, is meant to cut the carbon
emissions of 14m homes. However, the scheme provides no guarantee of
any financial incentive for each household, as the loan repayments
offset falls in energy bills.
Cllr. Andrew Cooper, Green Party energy spokesperson and Councillor
for Newsome, Kirklees, said:- "The lack of foresight on the
Green Deal will earn it a place in the public policy textbooks as a
perfect example of how to get it wrong. The Green Party's 2010
manifesto proposed a straightforward energy efficiency programme,
genuinely free at the point of purchase, which would have clearly
incentivised households to sign up, and would have created in the
region of 80,000 jobs. Instead we have a 'Green Deal' in which a
home insulation loan is repaid through your energy bill, so the
effect upon fuel poverty, jobs and emissions is likely to be
negligible.
The Green Party has real experience of planning a successful free
home insulation scheme. From 2007-'10, the Kirklees Warm Zone (KWZ)
was the largest local authority home insulation scheme in the UK,
and the first to offer free loft and cavity wall insulation to every
suitable property. Cllr Cooper proposed the amendment that made the
scheme free.
Cllr. Cooper said:- "In Kirklees, the Warm Zone scheme saw
over 50,000 homes insulated, £3.9m of fuel expenditure saved per
year, and over 300 jobs created directly and indirectly. Friends of
the Earth and the WWF have used the KWZ as a model of best practise,
and both the London Assembly and Scottish Assembly have requested
our help to make their own insulation schemes work. The government's
energy policies are all headlines, but no coherent content. How can
they talk about carbon efficiency with a straight face while cutting
feed-in tariffs for micro-generation and giving tax breaks to shale
gas?" |
