High days and holy days

As we wait for Lord Carter to give his revised opinion, a correspondent has pointed out to me the problems that a 30 September deadline would cause for Jewish tax practitioners. Judaism works on a lunar calendar, but with an extra month added in some years to bring the calendar back into line. The new year, the month of Tishri in the Jewish calendar, typically starts in what is September on the western calendar, and for the first three weeks of Tishri there are a number of festivals from the two day festival of Rosh Hashanah through to the week of Sukkot. In 2008 this will not be so much of a problem, because Rosh Hashanah will start at nightfall on September 29th, so only one day of the proposed tax return final month would be lost. However, in 2009 it starts with sunset on September 18th, and Yom Kippur starts at sunset on 27th.

For Muslims it would be even worse. Also working on a lunar calendar but without the 'leap' months, the Islamic year is 11 or 12 days shorter than the solar year. The month of fasting, Ramadan, therefore migrates through the seasons. In 2008 it should fall almost entirely within September.

It's fairly hard to avoid all major religious festivals, but to time a change so as to cause that much of a problem for two of the major religions of this country, and of our profession, seems a tad insensitive...

Widdecombe & Galloway...

Not the name of a new two partner firm of tax advisers, but just two of the signatories to Early Day Motion 2262. If what we are saying commands the respect (sic) of both arch-Conservative Ann Widdecombe and old-style Broad Left (those were the days...) George Galloway, it must be right. I mean, correct...

There are 70 signatories now, a very respectable score for a motion that is criticising current government policy. If you haven't contacted your MP yet, please do - even though Carter is in the process of reviewing the evidence it is possible that he will finish before the House rises for the summer recess, so it would be good to have as many signatures as possible on it.

There's more in this week's magazine; particularly explaining that this review by Lord Carter should not be underestimated, it's not an off-the-cuff remark that he's made just to make us feel better about it. It's not by any means a done deal yet, but it is clear that some movement is on the cards.

Meanwhile I'm off this afternoon to see England v Trinidad & Tobago on the big screen at a Baker Tilly party in Crawley. It's a hard life being Taxation editor...

Beginning of the end

Lord Carter has said that he will 'look again' at the change to the tax return deadlines. Speaking at an ICAEW conference on efiling today, he said:

'Clearly in the area of accelerated self-assessment filing there has been some controversy. People have made the case to me informally that this should be looked at again. Given what people have said, if a case can be made for reconsidering that, I will look at it again, and I look forward to seeing that evidence.'

It's not over yet, but the first aim of the campaign has now been achieved - it has been accepted that the issue of the filing date was not the subject of sufficient consultation during the review and that it needs to be properly considered. With all the evidence that has been amassed since, surely the deadline will be kept at 31 January for online filing.

Whilst all of you who were supporting the campaign will no doubt be very pleased, Lord Carter couldn't resist a little dig. He said that when his review had been published he had received letters saying 'thank you for giving me my Christmas back.' Presumably they were not representative of the profession as a whole, he said today. Presumably not...

Sign language

Thanks to all who have written to their MPs over the recess; the number of MPs who have signed EDM 2262 has shot up to 36. If you haven't got round to writing yet, please do, and encourage all your colleagues to write as well.

You can reassure MPs that it is an all-party motion, with support from Labour back-benchers as well as those from the Opposition parties. The number of MPs who have already signed should help persuade others that they should sign too.

I'm writing this while taking a break from writing an article for next week's magazine on tax credits. As far as I can see, the new £25,000 disregard means that for many self-employed claimants, spending money on a one-off expense this year will at worst cost them very little in disposable income, and at best will actually make them money... With £1.8 billion overpaid last year, there are surely better things for the government to do than make a change to tax return deadlines which no-one has asked for?

96 not out!

Congratulations to Armstrong Watson in Carlisle, for submitting 'No to November' forms from 96 of its staff! Anyone else want to try for more? We need the slips in by 30 June, always assuming that the government doesn't see sense before then.

Have you contacted your MP yet? If you haven't found their details yet, why not use the website www.theyworkforyou.com which will give you everything you need? It even lets you find out who your MP is by entering your postcode.

Transposition error

There's always got to be one howler...

In this week's issue, 1 June, page 241 we ask you to write to your MPs to sign the EDM. Unfortunately we've said it is EDM 2622, when actually it is 2262. Sorry; they should find it anyway because it's going to be near the top of the list, but if you have read this before writing please change it. We've changed it on the website.

Get writing or emailing if you haven't already; the more MPs sign the bigger the impact the EDM will have. Post a comment here to let us know who you have been in touch with.

One of the comments below says that government ministers won't sign EDMs, which is true. It's also true that you can only write to your 'own' MP. However, you can be a bit creative about this. If you live in one constituency where a government minister is the MP but work in another where the MP is a Labour backbencher, write to the one where you work.

Meanwhile, the joint bodies have released their research findings. 89% of respondents were against the change to the deadlines. 92% expected provisional returns to increase. 66% thought they would have difficulty in recruiting the extra staff required, and 71% expected to have to cancel staff summer holidays. Maybe we should be getting the hoteliers of Devon and Cornwall to support us...