Tax cuts welcomed by rural businesses
Rural businesses will welcome today’s decision to abolish the fuel duty escalator and cut the employers’ national insurance contribution, according to industry experts. The cuts, announced by Chancellor George Osborne in his 2013 Budget this afternoon, will see the planned 3% fuel tax rise in September cancelled. Employers’ national insurance will be reduced by an […]
HMRC’s relaxation of RTI reporting by small employers is an important step
The NFU has been involved in a series of robust but constructive discussions with HMRC who have also promised to work with employer representatives over the summer to seek further improvements to real time reporting. NFU head of tax Michael Parker said: “As a result of this decision, businesses with fewer than 50 employees, who […]
Drop-in centres for SPS 2013 applications
The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) will be opening five Single Payment Scheme (SPS) drop-in centres in England this year. Increasing numbers of applicants are choosing to make their claims online, saving time, paperwork and money while also benefiting from the reassurance of an instant receipt. This surge in online activity has reduced the demand for […]
Groundbreaking SPS payment performance continues
The Rural Payments Agency has achieved its end of March SPS payment target more than five weeks ahead of schedule, paying 98.4 percent of SPS customers and 97.2 percent of the estimated fund value by 19 February 2013. This is the best ever performance on the part of the Agency which has now paid £1.6 […]
Single Payment Scheme 2013 – online applications now open
The free SPS Online service has opened today (26/2) and claimants who use it benefit from an automatic check for common errors, no postage fees and an instant online receipt. RPA Customer Services Director Justin Chamberlain said: “Increasing numbers of SPS claimants are finding that is quicker and easier to make their SPS claims online […]
FUW tells farmers to take action on mis-sold loans
Welsh farmers were urged today to check if they have been mis-sold a fixed rate loan account during the period 2006 to 2011. “There are farmers who are discovering to their detriment that loans taken out during this period are not what they were meant to be,” said Farmers’ Union of Wales business development director […]
F.D.Bird family farmers plough on to expansion
The group is made up of the original farming partnership and storage business, F D Bird & Sons; the quarry and aggregates operation, Yarrows Aggregates, and Heron Lakes Luxury Lodge Park. All four elements of the business are based in Beverley, East Yorkshire. The new finance agreement will free up working capital for the entire […]
Agriculturalists still waiting on relief from bank mis-selling
Banks are being put under pressure to speed up compensating the scores of farmers thought to be struggling as a result of mis-sold interest rate protection products. The scandal emerged in the summer last year, when the Financial Services Authority (FSA) revealed “serious failings” in the way these complex hedging products had been marketed to […]
FUW issues Single Payment fraudsters warning
The Farmers’ Union of Wales today warned Welsh farmers that they may become the target for fraudsters seeking to obtain their bank details over the telephone or online to coincide with the release of their Single Farm Payments. “The Welsh Government and other UK agriculture departments have already been made aware by UK banks that […]
