在国际财经证书中，acca证书的地位如何?

6 Charles and Jane Miro, aged 31 and 34 years respectively, have been married for ten years and have two children

aged six and eight years. Charles is a teacher but for the last five years he has stayed at home to look after their

children. Jane works as a translator for Speak Write Ltd.

Speak Write Ltd was formed and began trading on 6 April 2006. It provides translation services to universities. Jane,

who ceased employment with Barnham University to found the company, owns 100% of its ordinary share capital

and is its only employee.

Speak Write Ltd has translated documents for four different universities since it began trading. Its biggest client is

Barnham University which represents 70% of the company’s gross income. It is estimated that the company’s gross

fee income for its first 12 months of trading will be ￡110,000. Speak Write Ltd usually agrees fixed fees in advance

with its clients although it charges for some projects by reference to the number of days taken to do the work. None

of the universities makes any payment to Speak Write Ltd in respect of Jane being on holiday or sick.

All of the universities insist that Jane does the work herself. Jane carries out the work for three of the universities in

her office at home using a computer and specialised software owned by Speak Write Ltd. The work she does for

Barnham University is done in the university’s library on one of its computers as the documents concerned are too

delicate to move.

The first set of accounts for Speak Write Ltd will be drawn up for the year ending 5 April 2007. It is estimated that

the company’s tax adjusted trading profit for this period will be ￡52,500. This figure is after deducting Jane’s salary

of ￡4,000 per month and the related national insurance contributions but before any adjustments required by the

application of the personal service companies (IR 35) legislation. The company has no other sources of income or

capital gains.

Jane has not entered into any communication with HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) with respect to the company

and wants to know:

– When the corporation tax computation should be submitted and when the tax is due.

– When the corporation tax computation can be regarded as having been agreed by HMRC.

Charles and Jane have requested a meeting to discuss the family’s finances. In particular, they wish to consider the

shortfall in the family’s annual income and any other related issues if Jane were to die. Their mortgage is covered

by a term assurance policy but neither of them have made any pension contributions or carried out any other long

term financial planning.

Jane has estimated that her annual after tax income from Speak Write Ltd, on the assumption that she extracts all of

the company’s profits, will be ￡58,000. Charles owns two investment properties that together generate after tax

income of ￡8,500. He estimates that he could earn ￡28,000 after tax if he were to return to work.

The couple’s annual surplus income, after payment of all household expenditure including mortgage payments of

￡900 per month, is ￡21,000. Charles and Jane have no other sources of income.

Required:

(a) Write a letter to Jane setting out:

(i) the arguments that HMRC could put forward, based only on the facts set out above, in support of

applying the IR 35 legislation to Speak Write Ltd; and

(ii) the additional income tax and national insurance contributions that would be payable, together with

their due date of payment, if HMRC applied the IR 35 legislation to all of the company’s income in

2006/07. (11 marks)

1 Stuart is a self-employed business consultant aged 58. He is married to Rebecca, aged 55. They have one child,

Sam, who is aged 24 and single.

In November 2005 Stuart sold a house in Plymouth for ￡422,100. Stuart had inherited the house on the death of

his mother on 1 May 1994 when it had a probate value of ￡185,000. The subsequent pattern of occupation was as

follows:

1 May 1994 to 28 February 1995 occupied by Stuart and Rebecca as main residence

1 March 1995 to 31 December 1998 unoccupied

1 January 1999 to 31 March 2001 let out (unfurnished)

1 April 2001 to 30 November 2001 occupied by Stuart and Rebecca

1 December 2001 to 30 November 2005 used occasionally as second home

Both Stuart and Rebecca had lived in London from March 1995 onwards. On 1 March 2001 Stuart and Rebecca

bought a house in London in their joint names. On 1 January 2002 they elected for their London house to be their

principal private residence with effect from that date, up until that point the Plymouth property had been their principal

private residence.

No other capital disposals were made by Stuart in the tax year 2005/06. He has ￡29,500 of capital losses brought

forward from previous years.

Stuart intends to invest the gross sale proceeds from the sale of the Plymouth house, and is considering two

investment options, both of which he believes will provide equal risk and returns. These are as follows:

(1) acquiring shares in Omikron plc; or

(2) acquiring further shares in Omega plc.

Notes:

1. Omikron plc is a listed UK trading company, with 50,250,000 shares in issue. Its shares currently trade at 42p

per share.

2. Stuart and Rebecca helped start up the company, which was then Omega Ltd. The company was formed on

1 June 1990, when they each bought 24,000 shares for ￡1 per share. The company became listed on 1 May

1997. On this date their holding was subdivided, with each of them receiving 100 shares in Omega plc for each

share held in Omega Ltd. The issued share capital of Omega plc is currently 10,000,000 shares. The share price

is quoted at 208p – 216p with marked bargains at 207p, 211p, and 215p.

Stuart and Rebecca’s assets (following the sale of the Plymouth house but before any investment of the proceeds) are

as follows:

Assets Stuart Rebecca

￡ ￡

Family house in London 450,000 450,000

Cash from property sale 422,100 –

Cash deposits 165,000 165,000

Portfolio of quoted investments – 250,000

Shares in Omega plc see above see above

Life insurance policy note 1 note 1

Note:

1. The life insurance policy will pay out a sum of ￡200,000 on the death of the first spouse to die.

Stuart has recently been diagnosed with a serious illness. He is expected to live for another two or three years only.

He is concerned about the possible inheritance tax that will arise on his death. Both he and Rebecca have wills whose

terms transfer all assets to the surviving spouse. Rebecca is in good health.

Neither Stuart nor Rebecca has made any previous chargeable lifetime transfers for the purposes of inheritance tax.

Required:

(a) Calculate the taxable capital gain on the sale of the Plymouth house in November 2005 (9 marks)

10 Which of the following factors would cause a company’s gearing ratio to fall?

1 A bonus issue of ordinary shares.

2 A rights issue of ordinary shares.

3 An issue of loan notes.

4 An upward revaluation of non-current assets.

A 1 and 3

B 2 and 3

C 1 and 4

D 2 and 4

(ii) Explain the organisational factors that determine the need for internal audit in public listed companies.

(5 marks)