As we roll into 2025, I get the sense that business confidence is evaporating like a puddle on a hot day. Before the Labour Party was elected, there were green shoots in the economy; the Bank of England was lowering interest rates, and generally, things felt like we might just avoid [...]
It’s been a couple of weeks since the Budget and we have taken the time to let the full impact of the minimum wage increases sink in. The National Living Wage (for those aged 21 & over) will increase to £12.21 per hour from £11.44, an increase of 77p, and the [...]
I read recently that there is now more invested in Cryptocurrencies (or Crypto Assets), such as Bitcoin, Doge Coin etc, than in traditional stocks and shares. Seemingly then, this is the new gold rush and people are speculatively investing to see if the value of their investment can skyrocket and make [...]
After listening carefully to the Budget today, we can report on the headline announcements and how they affect you as a business owner. As usual, the detailed nuances will become apparent over the coming days, but this newsletter contains the highlights. This was always going to be a balancing act for Rishi, as [...]
Salary sacrifice is an agreement to reduce an employee’s entitlement to cash pay, usually in return for a non-cash benefit, such as providing the employee with an asset or healthcare. As an employer, you can set up a salary sacrifice arrangement by changing the terms of your employee’s employment contract. Your [...]
For many years, the standard advice from accountants has been for Directors to pay themselves a salary and for shareholders to take dividends. Often in small companies, the Directors and Shareholders are the same people. This approach minimises the tax liability because dividends are taxed, or have been in the past, [...]
Information has been published by HMRC concerning the process for repaying VAT deferred by businesses during the first lockdown. To defer your payments, you will have to opt into the VAT Payment Deferral Scheme when it opens on 23rd February. We, as your agent, cannot opt into the scheme for you. [...]
VAT, or Value Added Tax, is known as a sales tax because it’s added to the sales your business makes. Most businesses can reclaim the VAT they suffer, so VAT is a tax on the consumer or the end user of a product or service. As a business who makes taxable [...]
HMRC collected £1.4 billion in fines and penalties in the year to 31st March 2020. These are entirely avoidable penalties for late tax returns, unpaid tax etc. Companies House also collected millions in late filing penalties. To be forewarned is forearmed, so it is good to know the range and scope [...]
Company cars are an easy target for HMRC – people need a car, and they often desire an expensive one! So maybe it’s time to ditch the petrol and diesel and think about going electric…here we help you consider whether an electric car would be more beneficial for you. Traditionally, the [...]
