Business Blog

When cash is scarce, which services do you buy in and which do you go DIY?

Its tempting to try and be all things to all men – but how much time does this leave you to grow and develop your business? and are you playing to your strengths?

Before you discount the requirement to employ an Accountant, ask yourself a few simple questions:

- Do you know what you don’t know?

An Accountant will ensure you are well informed of all deadlines ensuring you do not incur any costly fines or penalties

An Accountant will ensure you have claimed all the expenses which are valid (including enhanced claims for the likes of Research and Development credits where applicable)

An Accountant will ensure you have used all your allowances to their full potential

An Accountant will ensure you have followed all the complicated tax rules to avoid the risk of error

An Accountant will provide your accounts in the formats required to meet your legal and regulatory requirements

- Is your Company structured correctly?

Having the correct company structure can have a huge impact on your tax exposure

- Are you on the correct VAT scheme for your Business?

The options for VAT schemes are wide and varied and can make a big difference to both the complexity of your filing and the cost of your VAT bill

- What is the value you put on your own time?

Whilst you are doing the work yourself rather than buying in the services of an Accountant, you are not focusing on the development of your business.

For a no obligation informal discussion about how an Accountant in Leeds can add value to your Business just call 0845 680 2502

A works christmas party is traditional at this time of year – but is it allowable as a business expense, or not?

The rule is: if the party is available to all employees, as long as the cost is modest, then the cost of the party is allowable. In this respect, less than £150 per head is deemed as modest.

The £75 per head is not an allowance, and is the maximum allowable for the full cost of the event(including VAT). If the party comes in at more than £150 per head, then the whole cost of the party expenses are chargeable to the Directors and employees that attended.

It is possible to have more than one allowable event in a tax year as long as the total amount spent on events in the tax year is below £150 per employee.

For more details contact Business Works UK Ltd www.businessworksuk.co.uk

Business Works UK ltd is presenting a workshop covering:

Tax deductable expenditure,

Available allowances,

Choices,

Structure,

Deadlines,

Penalties,

and much much more.

The workshop is on Monday 23rd November at Carrwood Park.

For more detail see www.businessworksuk.co.uk

There are two important HMRC things you must be sure to do before the 31st October.

1)  If you started a business in the last tax year (before 5th April 2009), you must have informed HMRC to avoid a penalty. 

2) If you are wanting to file your 08/09 self assessment tax return using a paper copy, it must be received on or before the 31st October to avoid a late filing penalty of £100

Of course you can still file online up until the 31st January.

Speak to an Accountant if you are not sure how to do this or you don’t have access to a PC.

If you have changed your accounting period end date, or during the first years of trading, you could have incurred and been taxed on overlap profits.  This is profit which is taxed twice.

The general rule is that relief on this overlap profit is given when the business comes to an end.

However, you can get overlap relief if you change your accounting period end and have a tax year which is greater than 12 months.

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p class=”MsoNormal” style=”margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;”>Overlap relief is given as a deduction in calculating the profits of the trade for the tax year in which there is a change of accounting date.

The amount of overlap relief given for the tax year in which such a change of accounting date occurs is restricted by reference to:

• the number of days in the overlap period(s) to which the overlap profits relate; and
• the number of days by which the basis period for the relevant tax year (in which the change of accounting date occurs) exceeds 12 months.

If you have incurred overlap profit on which you have paid tax and you want to look into claiming the overlap relief to reclaim this tax, please contact your Accountant.