WELCOME TO HARBOUR KEY’S SEPTEMBER NEWSLETTER. THE BUDGET DATE IS SET!
Summer is coming to an end, children are back at school, and we have had lots of noise over the summer about the forthcoming Budget!
The first bit of news is the change of the Budget date; the Chancellor is now delivering her speech on Wednesday 26 November 2025.
August, being the slow news season, as usual resulted in several speculative headlines about what tax increases will be announced in the Budget, escalated with the appointment of the Prime Ministers new economic adviser, who has advocated for more wealth taxes on inheritance, land and property. Headlines included imposing an 8% National Insurance on rental income, and a new bank tax, which resulted in a fall in banks and other financial institutions share price. Our advice is always don’t try and second guess what is going to happen by implementing any “knee jerk” planning actions. If you are going to do undertake an action regardless of the Budget, for example sell a rental property, then continue with the plan and try and beat the 26 November Budget date, but don’t do something only because of the forthcoming Budget, based on rumour.
COMPANIES HOUSE CHANGES
MANDATORY IDENTITY VERIFICATION FOR DIRECTORS AND PERSONS WITH SIGNIFICANT CONTROL (PSCS).
We have reported on several occasions regarding updates and changes taking place at Companies House as part of enhance Money Laundering checks/ and responsibilities.
The first notable change impacting our clients is about to go live, with ALL directors and PSCs (in the main defined as a shareholder with greater than 25%), must register and set up a mandatory verification account with Companies House.
You may have already received an email from Companies House regarding the subject about this notable change, and what needs to be completed. You only need one personal code, the same code is used for both director and PSC submissions to Companies House.
From 18 November 2025, Companies House will introduce mandatory Identity Verification requirements. This applies to all company directors and persons with significant control (PSCs). This means that you as an existing director, shareholder and PSC, must verify your identity with Companies House. Failure to register for the mandatory Companies House identity verification process, is a criminal offence. Consequences include potential financial penalties, disqualification from acting as a director, rejection of new company registrations, and the inability to file documents for an existing company. Please click the link below for further details and instructions on how to register.
Once you have registered and you have received your code, please share your personal code with us. We will hold this securely on our database as it is needed if we prepare your Company’s Confirmation Statement, as we cannot submit the statement to Companies House without your verified personal code.
COMPANIES HOUSE - MANDATORY IDENTITY VERIFICATION BLOG.
ONVIO CLIENT CENTRE - LOGIN CHANGES
Changes have been made to Onvio, our secure platform used for sending, viewing, and signing important documents, such as annual accounts and tax returns.
Login changes were introduced on 28 August and the next time you log into your Onvio portal you will need to follow these steps to update your account. These changes are to simplify and improve your sign-in experience and bring enhanced security with two-factor authentication.
- Enter your usual email address and password when prompted;
- Verify your email address by entering the validation code sent by email to that address;
- You will then be asked to set up a preferred two factor authentication method. We recommend selecting the text message option so for subsequent logins, a 6 digit code will be sent to your mobile phone by text message;
- Complete the two-factor authentication set up by entering the 6 digit code;
- Once completed, no further action is required at this time;
- For further information on alternative two factor authentication methods, click here.
We recommend setting this up as soon as possible to avoid delays in accessing, viewing and signing important documents at busy times of year such as the self assessment deadline for your tax return. To complete this process you can either open your Onvio phone app or open the Onvio website.
ELECTRIC CARS & HMRC ADVISORY RATES
For employees who have company cars, HMRC issues every quarter advisory fuel rates for business mileage claims. In its most recent release, 1 September 2025, HMRC has split fuel advisory rates for electric cars depending on where drivers charge their company cars, finally recognising price discrepancy between public and home.
From 1 September 2025, the universal advisory electric rate for company car drivers has changed, as the single rate for fully electric cars will be abolished and replaced with two different rates reflecting where a vehicle is charged as follows:
- 8p per mile for home charging; and
- 14p per mile for public charging.
It is assumed that the employee will have to show on their expenses claim, where they have charged their vehicle.
A further new step is if you can show that the public charging cost per mile is higher than the advisory rate, the higher rate can be used as long as you can evidence the position. A welcome change but will involve additional evidence to support claims.
PENSION TAX RELIEF
Higher rate taxpayers face tougher checks on claims for pension tax relief as HMRC following a spot check discovered a high level of errors and abuse. HMRC research found that a third of claims for personal pension relief by higher rate taxpayers are incorrect with numerous ineligible claims, mistaken calculations and some not even knowing how much they paid into their pension. HMRC is tightening up checks to ensure personal pension relief claims are legitimate after a spot check found ‘many claims below the current evidence threshold were incorrect’. In future, all claimants will have to provide evidence of their claims, and no changes to coding notice in respect of pension relief will be possible by phoning HMRC.
From 1 September 2025, HMRC has lowered the threshold for requiring evidence in support of new requests for higher rate or additional rate relief claims to be given through an individual’s tax code. Typical mistakes include basics like claiming for personal pension relief when taxpayer is not higher rate and pays income tax at the 20% basic rate, where relief is automatically applied through PAYE through relief at source. In other instances, claims made when the pension is under a net pay arrangement, so they already obtain relief. Under net pay, the pension contribution is removed from salary by the employer before income tax, but after National Insurance contributions are deducted.
Making sure pension tax reliefs claims are correct is why the HK team ask for as much detail as possible in respect of the claim for our clients, when it comes to the completion of self-assessment returns.
BUSINESS FINANCE WEEK 2025
Business Finance week will take place from 30 September to 9 October. The aim of the week is to help smaller businesses learn about the different finance options that may be available to them to support their individual business needs.
A list of the events, can be found HERE
DATES
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Key Tax dates for the period 1 July 2025 to 31 December 2025
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Autumn Statement - 26 November 2025.
Should you wish to speak with us about a specific matter, or just to be a sounding board or for a chat, please do not hesitate to give us a call on 01452 713277
