A recent article in the Telegraph indicated that the Government is considering reducing the age for auto-enrolling employees into their pension scheme to 16 from the current age 22.  The DWP are currently reviewing this and will release the details towards the end of this year. Do you think it is a good thing? The […]

If you are just starting out in business you will probably have lots of questions especially when it comes to managing your finances.  Many banks will want you to prepare a forecast of your income and expenditure before they will consider you for a loan or an overdraft and many need this even to open […]

There are lots of things to remember about VAT when you are VAT registered.  Here are ten things about VAT which you may not know.  1. VAT records must be kept for 6 years but if you submit returns under VAT MOSS they must be kept for 10 years. 2. You must keep copies of […]

You may think that you have done all your need to once you have reached your Staging Date for Auto Enrolment. You have set up your pension scheme and sent out communications to your employees.  You have auto enrolled your workers and deducted contributions from their pay.  You have even remembered to do your Declaration […]

Making Tax Digital (MTD) is HMRC’s term for submission of tax information online.  The revised implementation date was announced in July 2017 and now we have a little more information about what will be expected. From April 2019 VAT registered businesses over the VAT registration threshold (£85,000 for 2017-18) will have to submit their monthly […]

Businesses should have a separate bank account for their business transactions as it will make preparing their accounts so much easier.  Trying to extract business income and costs from a personal account takes a lot more time and if you needed to prove any business transactions when applying for a loan, for example, they would […]

Being a business owner comes with a variety of challenges.  The list of jobs to do is never ending even if you do outsource some of them.  There are still many things which you just know you have to do yourself. Sometimes being a business owner can feel like being on a treadmill endlessly moving […]

Are you aware of the implications of providing a mobile phone to your employee or reimbursing them for their mobile phone costs?  It could cost you, and them, more than you think. For instance: If your employee arranges the phone and you pay the supplier the cost must be put through the payroll and Class […]

Bookkeeping is defined as “the recording of all financial transactions”.  Sounds simple but if that was the case why is bookkeeping a career with qualifications ranging from Level 2 to Level 4?   The financial transactions of a sole trader’s business to those of a huge organisation vary enormously but whatever level of transactions there […]

As a sole trader or self-employed person you won’t have to pay tax on your earnings until 31 January the year after your first accounting period ends.  Finding out how much tax you will have to pay when you first tax return is submitted can come as a bit of a shock especially if you […]