The Shrewsbury Accountants Blog – Taxassist Accountants in Sundorne

March 21, 2013

The Shrewsbury Accountant, TaxAssist in Sundorne, has summarised the Budget for local business owners

Filed under: accounting, Budget 2013, owner-managed businesses — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — taxassistshrewsbury @ 1:11 pm

Please find below a link to our Budget Summary covering the key points of George Osborne’s fourth Budget that affect small business owners and taxpayers.

TaxAssist Accountants budget_summary_2013_21 March 2013

Some of the changes were mentioned in last December’s Autumn Statement and earlier Budgets, but there were also many new announcements. The main highlights of the Chancellor’s speech were:

  • From April 2014, all businesses and charities will be entitled to an Employment Allowance of £2,000 per year towards their employer National Insurance contributions (NICs) bill. This will particularly help small businesses who want to hire their first employee or expand their workforce
  • An increase in fuel duty of 1.89 pence per litre, originally planned for 1st September 2013, will be cancelled. This is great news for trades people and service providers who make home visits and are dependent on their vehicles
  • The Government had already pledged to increase the personal allowance to £10,000 by 2015/16, but today announced that this would be brought-forward a year and will now increase to £10,000 in 2014/15

We hope that this summary is easy to digest and proves useful.

A further article with reaction from Jo Nockells of our technical team is on our web-site here

If any of the areas discussed seem likely to have an impact on your personal or commercial plans, please do not hesitate to contact us.

April 17, 2012

The Shrewsbury Accountant, Nigel from TaxAssist has some free tax and business guides

Filed under: owner-managed businesses, Shrewsbury, shropshire, small business, tax savings, Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , — taxassistshrewsbury @ 12:05 pm

We have developed a number of useful guides on various practical and theoretical issues which may affect your business.

A full list can be accessed by clicking on the link below. You can then select and request the guides you are interested in.

Index to our tax and business helpsheets

We hope you find this useful.

March 22, 2012

The Shrewsbury Accountant, Nigel from TaxAssist Accountants, gives his summary of the Budget

Filed under: Budget 2012, owner-managed businesses, Shrewsbury, shropshire, small business, tax — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , — taxassistshrewsbury @ 11:23 am

Please click on the link below to access our really comprehensive review of the Chancellor’s announcements yesterday.

There is lots of detail to follow and we will, of course research it all and identify any potential effects. Aside from the headline grabbers, it is disappointing to note the continued aggressive taxation of motor vehicles. If you have company vehicles, you need to consider some further tax planning.

The Shrewsbury Accountant’s review of March, 2012 budget

As always, if you need further advice, please do not hesitate to contact us.

March 10, 2012

The Shrewsbury Accountant, Nigel from TaxAssist, has some advice for employers and people looking to save tax for 2011/12

Filed under: employers, Shrewsbury, shropshire, small business — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , — taxassistshrewsbury @ 10:00 am

 

As you are aware, the 5th April fiscal year end is approaching. This is a key deadline if you employ people or want to optimise your personal finances. We are pleased to give you some tax saving ideas.

Payroll matters

  1. Is your payroll system in order and able to meet the HMRC online filing requirements?
  2. Are you ready for reporting benefits in kind on the P11D forms? There are significant fines. Would a dispensation be helpful?
  3. Have you correctly distinguished between employees and self-employed contractors?
  4. Suggestion schemes, long-service awards, removal expenses, medical expenses, mobile phones and bicycles are some of a number of tax-free benefits you can provide to employees.

 

Personal finance matters

  1. Have you maximised your pension contribution?
  2. Have you used up your ISA allowance?
  3. If you run a limited company, have you taken the “right” amount of salary and dividends?
  4. Have you used up your Capital Gains tax free allowance?
  5. Have you made tax exempt gifts for Inheritance Tax purposes? Are you following a plan to minimise Inheritance Tax?
  6. Is your will up to date?
  7. Would a low-emission company car be tax-efficient for you?
  8. Is your business structured correctly – could you save tax by becoming a limited company?
  9. Have you got protection against accidents and illness?
  10. Have you made a claim for tax credits?
  11. Have you considered the benefits of tax-efficient investments including Venture Capital Trusts and Enterprise Investment Schemes.

If you need further advice, please do not hesitate to contact us.

March 9, 2012

The Shrewsbury Accountant, Nigel of TaxAssist, has a useful checklist for you when assembling your financial records

Filed under: accounting, limited company, owner-managed businesses, Shrewsbury, shropshire, small business — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , — taxassistshrewsbury @ 10:00 am

Many clients have found our business records checklist useful when assembling their paperwork. There is a link to the file below (pdf)

documents checklist

When you combine this with our purpose design record keeping wallets, you are really helping yourself save money by saving us time.

March 8, 2012

The Shrewsbury Accountant, Nigel from TaxAssist, gives some last minute tax planning advice

Filed under: accounting, owner-managed businesses, Shrewsbury, shropshire, tax savings — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , — taxassistshrewsbury @ 4:22 pm

For most businesses,  March is a vital time for business tax-planning to get things in place before the financial year end. Here is a list of our top tips:

  1. If you intend to purchase assets for use in your business (excluding motor cars but including vans), you should consider buying (not leasing), these assets before your year-end to reduce this years taxable profit. But be careful not to let the “tax tail” wag the dog.
  2. Similarly, for normal ongoing expenditure (e.g. repairs, professional fees and advertising), costs incurred before the end of the year will reduce the current years tax liability. However, this does not apply to stock items.
  3. Any staff bonuses that you pay prior to the end of your year will reduce your tax for the year. We can advise on minimising the national insurance cost of these bonuses.
  4. We can also reserve for a bonus in your accounts to qualify for tax relief this year, provided the bonus is actually paid within 9 months of the end of the year. We can also reduce your taxable profit by including staff holiday pay earned but not yet paid.
  5. If your spouse/civil partner/children over 13 work for the business, it is tax-efficient to pay a salary of £590 per month (£624 per month after 5th April, 2012) or maybe more, if they do not have other income (sole traders and partnerships not limited companies).
  6. Is there scope for salary sacrifice schemes benefitting you and your employees?
  7. If your sales in the year included unpaid sales that you consider will not be paid, we can make a provision to reduce your taxable profit by this figure. Don’t forget that you can recover the VAT on bad debts from HMR&C.
  8. If you have stock that you are unlikely to sell, we can write down the value to the likely selling price, instead of continuing to value at cost. This will reduce your taxable profits.
  9. Can any borrowings be restructured to maximise tax-relief.
  10. Have you considered changing to a limited company, we can give you a free-estimate of the likely tax-savings. (sole traders and partnerships only).
  11. Have you considered making a payment into a personal pension scheme?
  12. Do you need to start planning for the sale of your business?

For limited companies only

  1. If your spouse/civil partner/children over 13 work for the business, it is tax-efficient to pay a salary equal to their unused personal tax allowance.
  2. Has the company considered making a payment into a personal pension scheme.
  3. Have you taken the tax-efficient salary and dividend package? Are dividends properly documented?
  4. Will the year-end snapshot show the best possible picture of the company’s finances? This can improve the company’s credit-rating.

Please take advantage of our business health check which is available here. 2MinuteHealthcheck

If you need any further help. Please contact us.

November 25, 2011

Nigel from TaxAssist in Shrewsbury offers timely advice to businesses considering buying new equipment

Filed under: accounting, corporation tax, owner-managed businesses, shropshire, small business, tax savings — Tags: , , , , , , , , — taxassistshrewsbury @ 10:53 am

The Chancellor, George Osborne, announced in his emergency budget on 22 June 2010 the reduction of the Annual Investment Allowance (AIA) from £100,000 per annum to only £25,000 per annum from 6 April 2012 for unincorporated businesses, and from 1 April 2012 for companies.  Planning is required now to take advantage of the current level of allowance whilst it remains.

The AIA is a 100% deduction from taxable profits for qualifying expenditure on plant and machinery.  It can be claimed by an individual, partnership or company carrying on a trade, profession or vocation, a UK non residential property business or a furnished holiday let.

In the current fiscal year, qualifying capital expenditure of up to £100,000 by a business could qualify for 100% deduction in calculating taxable profits.  This is reducing to £25,000 per annum from April 2012.

As with many tax matters, timing is everything and there are some hidden dangers in the legislation. This is best explained by a number of examples, based on a limited company spending £50,000 on a new piece of equipment (examples 1 to 3).

1). If the company has a year-end of 31st March, 2012 and the obligation to pay for the equipment becomes unconditional before 31st March, 2012 then it’s all straight-forward. The company claims the £50,000 AIA against trading profits.

2) If the company has a year-end of 30th September, 2012 and the obligation to pay for the equipment becomes unconditional before 31st March, 2012 then it’s all still fine. The company is entitled to a time-apportioned AIA of £62,500 and claims the £50,000 AIA against trading profits.

3) However, If the company has a year-end of 30th September, 2012 and the obligation to pay for the equipment becomes unconditional AFTER 31st March, 2012 then THERE IS A PROBLEM. The company is still entitled to a time-apportioned AIA of £62,500 BUT the legislation (Finance Act, 2011 s11(7) limits the AIA in the period after 31st March, 2012 to the amount calculated for the accounting period. In this case, the AIA would be limited to half of £25,000 = £12,500. In terms of the tax bill, this delay in making the investment would increase the 2011/12 tax liability by £6,075.

4) Now ramming my point home. If your limited company has a 30th April, 2012 year-end (like mine) then the tax cost can be signficant even on small figures. Let’s say you invest £10,000 on 30th April, 2012. The legislation restricts the AIA available on this to 1/12th of £25,000 = £2,083. If you invested on 31st March, 2012, AIA of £10,000 would be available. The delay in the investment results in an increased tax bill of £1,266.

Sorry to bombard you with figures. Really my message is :

1/. Invest before 31st March, 2012 to take advantage of the current £100,000 AIA limit

2/. Be very careful about the tax implications of making investments between 1st April, 2012/6th April, 2012 (companies/sole traders and partnerships) and your year-end date. There are good reasons to bring investment forward before 31st March, 2012 or even delay until after your year-end date (if later than 31st March).

Please talk to your accountant or, preferably us, if you are planning to make a sizeable capital investment and need further advice.

November 2, 2011

Nigel from TaxAssist Accountants in Shrewsbury shares a link about posing a review on Google

Filed under: accounting, owner-managed businesses, small business — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , — taxassistshrewsbury @ 11:08 am

Here is a great tutorial on how to post a review to google

http://www.smallbusinessonlinecoach.com/blog/social/how-to-post-a-review-on-google-maps/

We would really appreciate it if you had a couple of minutes to post a review about us.

October 31, 2011

TaxAssist Accountants in Shrewsbury outline the benefits of on-line accounting

Filed under: accounting, owner-managed businesses — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — taxassistshrewsbury @ 10:17 am

With our online accounting system (powered by Kashflow) , you can save time, be better organised and have a better insight into your financial position.

That’s why our online accounting software gives you everything you need: from Invoicing to cashflow management to VAT reports and everything else you need at your fingertips to keep your business running smoothly and you focused on doing what you do best – running your business.

We offer a 60 day free trial to give you the chance to experience our online accounting service with no obligation, so contact us to get started in a matter of minutes

 

Easy to use:

    • Accessible from anywhere in the world
    • Multiple concurrent users
    • Intuitive interface
    • No accounting jargon
    • Free and fast support

Improves Cash Flow:

    • Totally free for two months – no obligation to buy
    • Low monthly payments
    • No annual contract – cancel at anytime

Saves Time:

  • Reminders by email when an invoice becomes overdue
  • Peace of mind knowing you will never overlook an invoice
  • Save time and never forget to repeat invoice a customer
  • Quickly and easily generate VAT returns
  • Saves you time and money
  • The freedom to respond quickly to queries regardless of if you are at home or in the office
  • Ability to send invoices by email
  • Stay on top of unpaid invoices
  • Easily store and retrieve information on all of your customers and suppliers
  • Record how and when payments have been made and received
  • Accurate record keeping

Increases productivity:

    • Create customised, tailored invoice templates
    • Simplified credit control and chasing payments
    • Greater control of the cash flowing into your business
    • Automatic creation of invoices on a monthly or annual basis
    • Statistics on customer values, average time to pay, etc.
    • Identify good and bad customers
    • Easily deal with any accounting queries
    • Statement of account for customers and suppliers.
    • Insightful graphical reports on all aspects of your business
    • Visually see how your business is growing
    • You and your colleagues can all access information at the same time
    • Get invoices to customers quicker and receive payment quicker

Increase Customer Service Levels:

  • Present a professional and organised image to your customers
  • Track where each of your customers come from
  • See how effective your marketing spend has been
  • Three pre-written reminder letters of increasing severity
  • Maintain a list of your suppliers and customers

Secure:

  • All data stored securely online and backed up every day.
  • No longer spend time backing up your data or fretting because you still haven’t done it.
  • Levels of security comparable with internet banking
  • Peace of mind knowing your financial information is much more secure than it is stored on your own computer

October 24, 2011

Nigel from TaxAssist Accountants in Shrewsbury advises about the latest HMRC initiative

Filed under: accounting, owner-managed businesses, small business, tax, tax administration — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — taxassistshrewsbury @ 8:18 am

Following on from HMRC’s amnesty with regard to undeclared income from the plumbing trade , the next sector to come under review is private tutoring through the Tax Catch-up Plan (TCP).

As with previous schemes, reduced penalties for voluntary admissions will be offered.  The scheme will be aimed at those who profit from tuition and coaching and have not previously advised HMRC of the income.  This will not just be aimed at academic studies, but will also cover all areas of teaching such as fitness, dance and music instruction and life coaches.

Under the TCP, tutors have until 31 March 2012 to come forward and tell HMRC about their outstanding tax for the years up to 5 April 2010 and settle any amounts due.  After this date, HMRC plan to start investigations and those who do not come forward under the voluntary scheme will face much higher penalties.

Please contact us if you need any further advice.

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