News

03/02/2010

InVOICE February 2010

From the Chief Executive

I trust those of you with your own businesses were able to avoid New Year 'tax hangovers' for yourselves and your clients, and the 31st January deadline was met with relative ease.

Hopefully none of you will have fallen foul of the misleading tax coding notices issued by HMRC, and the outrageous phishing emails issued in HMRC's name. More information on these incidences can be found in this issue of InVOICE.

2010 has been a busy year at the office so far, and we are currently helping candidates prepare for the centre-based manual bookkeeping examination taking place next week.

On 10th February, sitting down to complete a challenging three-hour examination paper, will be over 400 candidates from as far afield as Saskatchewan in Canada and Geraldton in Western Australia.

I would like to wish you all the best of luck, and hope I will have the opportunity to welcome some of you as members at this year's regional seminars.

Garry Carter

Chief Executive

InVOICE is the newsletter for UK members of the Institute of Certified Bookkeepers. This is the first newsletter of 2010.

Please note that articles may be published straight to the Latest News section of the website so please do check the headlines which can be found in the top left of the website homepage.

InVOICE contains news articles, links and regular sections that we feel will be of interest. If there is anything that you would like to see, whether a regular feature or a one-off, please let us know. Email your ideas to invoice@bookkeepers.org.uk

MEMBERSHIP MATTERS

Seminar bookings underway

Bookings are now being received for the latest round of members' regional seminars and student revision days.

Many of you have already confirmed your places, but if you have yet to book in please do so in the Events section of the online shop, or by telephone if you prefer. To find your nearest event, please see our useful online map...

Bogus members tracked down

The ICB has detected an increase in the number of bookkeepers falsely claiming ICB status.

Many use the ICB’s crest and designatory letters. Some of the offenders are students who have not taken or, more worryingly have failed the ICB’s examinations. Others are completely unknown to us and have just decided that being seen to be a member gives them a huge advantage. “As far as we are concerned”, says ICB director of IT, James Carter, “this is frau...

The Institute’s Patron, His Royal Highness Prince Michael of Kent, inaugurated the Global Economic Summit on Trade and Investment, on 20 January in Mumbai. He was speaking in his capacity as Patron of the Genesis Initiative. Genesis, a cross-party parliamentary group that represents small business owners, was established to promote small business policy development in the United Kingdom but is now represented at the European Parliament and across the world....

MLR

Have you completed your annual MLR Systems Review?

DON’T FORGET TO CARRY OUT AN ANNUAL MLR SYSTEMS REVIEW

ICB Director of Compliance, Ray Cross, reminds members to review their systems and files annually....

ICB chief executive, Garry Carter, raised his concern at the latest meeting of the Anti Money Laundering Accountants Affinity Group in January that bookkeepers and accountants who had been expelled from membership of a professional body could register for money laundering supervision with HMRC without having to complete any form of fit and proper test......

FINANCE MATTERS

Tax Returns Email Scam

Tens of thousands of fraudulent e-mails were sent out prior to the 31 January tax return deadline, according to a report by the BBC. Recipients are told they are due a tax refund and asked to fill in an online form with bank or credit card details.

Victims who respond to these e-mails run the risk of having their bank accounts emptied or card limits used and their details sold on to criminal gangs. Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has warned taxpayers not to respond to the "phishing" e-mails. ...

Members up to the challenge

Last year's announcement regarding changes to the ICB membership requirements has been reflected in the increased number of qualifications being achieved so far this year.

14% of examination entries for the upcoming February manual examination have been received from existing computerised members seeking to satisfy the new criteria......

HMRC apologises for error

HMRC has published a statement of explanation for a recent blunder. Yourselves, your employer, or your clients may well have received multiple, or incorrect, notices of a tax-code change this year. HMRC has begun using a new National Insurance and PAYE system to consolidate customers' records and automatically issue coding notices, with the aim of ensuring all tax codes are accurate. The problem arose, however, when rogue coding notices started to be received......

Lawrence Churchill CBE was appointed as the Chair of the NEST Corporation (National Employment Savings Trust). He will start as Chair Designate from 1 February 2010 and take on the full responsibilities as Chair on 5 July 2010, when the NEST Corporation is established. He will start by....

Reminder: February filing deadlines

February 2010 Deadlines 1st: Due date for payment of Corporation Tax for period ended 30 April 20...

Online Filing Information

Confidential about online filing?

An article by By Karen Thomson, MIPPdipAssociate Director of Policy, Research & Strategic Visibility Institute of Payroll Professionals

Many of you will remember Karen from her popular and informative talk at last year's annual conference....

Following last year's successful meetings, the members' regional group has organised another meeting in the Oxford area: Monday 22nd February 2010 6pm Location: Yarnton, Oxford OX5 This informal members' meeting will include an interactive discussion on the topic of 'How to find new clients', looking at proven marketing techniques for bookkeepers. Members are most welcome to come along and discuss other topics and network with fellow members. The meeting is FREE to members of ICB ...

STUDY CORNER

Examiner's Feedback from last manual examination

436 candidates are booked in to complete the next centre-based manual bookkeeping examination taking place on Wednesday 10th February. If you are one of them, you are well advised to download this pdf report from our examination markers regarding the most recent manual sitting, identifying areas of the paper where candidates commonly lost marks. Do not let yourself be caught out by silly mistakes! In the Resources Section of the Members Area you can read further archived Exa...

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