From January 1, changes to EU VAT place supply service rules to digital services. This means the place of taxation will be determined by the location of the consumer, not the location of the supplier; VAT for such things as ebooks and downloads will be payable to the country where the service is bought instead of to the country of the supplier. Previously, small businesses with turnovers of less than £81k/annum had been exempt. VATMOSS (VAT Mini One Stop Shop) means, unless registered for VATMOSS, customer sales will have VAT payable to each country at that country’s rate. Affected Sole Traders and Self-Employed will be required to register at the Information Commissioner’s Office and transaction records are needed to be kept for ten years.
It is expected that, during January, the government is to make the digital image of a cheque legal tender, with HM Treasury setting out rules and timeframes during the first six months of 2015. There will no longer be the need to go to a branch to deposit a cheque, instead institutions will be able to process a picture or scan of a signed physical cheque.
Landlords and rent rises, mortgages and housing, business and economic developments all riding on the back of anticipated interest rate rises makes our prediction for the year a safe one; this will be the year of predictions. As well as reduced stock causing high demand and (for some areas) rent rises, changes from the Mortgage Market Review and influence from the Bank of England has kept property prices relatively stable, however, recent alterations to Stamp Duty and a general lack of property supply have margins continuing to be squeezed and a majority of the nation looking to the headlines of wage increases and interest rate rises.
With an historic level of 0.5% since March 2008, interest rates haven’t risen since then. Rate setters have voted only 18 times to increase rates since 1997 and 26 times to cut them and 166 times to keep them the same. Which of these numbers will be altered in 2015?
Image and Article credit: Copyright SUF © 2015
