APPRENTICE ACCOUNTANT VACANCY

We have a brilliant opportunity to join our team.

JOB DESCRIPTION

• Attendance at college, completion of all college work and exams
• Undertaking client bookkeeping, using spreadsheets and various accounting software
• Bank reconciliations
• Assisting with the preparation of accounts and tax returns
• Client administration
• Liaising with clients to ensure ‘books’ are received in a timely manner
• Payroll assistance
• VAT assistance
• Potential client administration
• Company secretarial work for Limited Company clients
• Answering the telephone and handling queries
• Monitoring the generic email inbox and respond to queries
• Maintaining spreadsheets to update budgets
• Advising project managers on invoicing, expenses and financial aspects of proposal-writing
• Attendance of events, sometimes outside of office hours
• General office duties to include, but not limited to, ordering stationery, making refreshments

PERSON SPECIFICATION

• A desire to pursue a career in accounting
• Strong oral and written communication skills
• Very good organisational and time management skills
• Good IT skills
• Very good analytical thinking and problem solver
• Acute attention to detail
• Friendly and personable
• English and Maths GCSE grade C or above

To apply please email CV and covering letter to helen.cooper@businessworksuk.co.uk

The Low Pay Commission has advised that from the 1^st of October 2015 the National Minimum Wage is set to increase. The rate per hour depends on your age and whether you’re an apprentice, you must be at least school leaving age to receive national minimum wage.

Please note that the rate for apprentices applies to those aged 16 to 18 and those aged 19 or over who are in their first year. All other apprentices are entitled to the National Minimum wage for their age.

From April 2016 the national living wage will be in place for £7.20 per hour. This will apply to those aged 25 and over. The minimum wage will still apply for workers aged 24 and under.

It is illegal to pay any less than minimum wage. Those who employers who fail to pay this rate will face tough action from the government including steep financial penalties and publicly naming flouters. If you are concerned that minimum wages are not being met you can call the free and confidential pay and work rights helpline on 0800 9172368.

Here’s some sound advice from HMRC.

“By sending your tax return early you get peace of mind knowing it’s done.

Everyone has the same first payment date, 31 January. By sending your tax return well before the deadline, you will find out earlier what to pay, helping you budget.

Importantly, if you are due a refund you can receive it sooner.”

If you need some help, or would like us to complete your Self Assessment please call us on 0113 2864486.

Last week, the chancellor announced his latest budget with cuts to welfare spending, tax credits and the abolishment of student maintenance grants. But what does it all mean for businesses and the tax payer?

The Economy grew by 3% in 2014 and the Chancellor, George Osbourne expects growth of 2.4%, 2.3%, 2.4% and 2.4% over the next four years respectively. Employment levels are expected to rise with one million extra jobs predicted to be created by 2020.

Wages & Employment

• The new national living wage will replace the minimum wage in April 2016 at £7.20 per hour and is set to rise to £9 by 2020.
• National Insurance employment allowance for small firms will be increased by 50% to £3,000 from 2016.
• Public sector pay will rise by 1% per year for the next four years. This will ensure affordable public services and job security.
• The conservative government have introduced an apprenticeship levy for large employers so that those who offer apprenticeships can earn more from what they put in. This incentive is predicted to produce a more skilled workforce for the next generation and an estimated 3 million more apprenticeships.

Tax

• Tax credits and universal credit will be restricted to two children, coming into effect for those born after April 2017. The income threshold for tax credits will also be reduced from £6,420 to £3,850.
• The chancellor also announced that the taxation of dividends will be simplified. The dividend tax credit will be replaced with a new tax free allowance of £5,000 of dividends income for all taxpayers. Dividends paid within pensions and ISA’s will be unaffected by these changes remaining tax free. 85% of those who receive dividends will not see any changes or be better off. Those who either pay themselves in dividends or have large shareholdings worth over £140,000 will see an increase in the tax they pay.
• The UK already has the lowest corporation tax percentage in the G20, however the chancellor has planned further reductions, in order to increase confidence for businesses to grow, invest and employ. The rate will gradually decrease to 19% in 2017 and a further reduction to 18% in 2020.
• Large limited companies will have to pay their corporation tax payments earlier than the current deadline, causing the tax to be paid close to the point at which profits are earned. This will affect those who generate profits of £20 million and above per year.

Annual Investment Allowance

• George Osbourne stated that ‘if Britain wants to produce more it needs to invest more’. Many small and medium sized businesses have benefited from annual investment allowance and with that in mind, the conservative government has increased annual investment allowance to £200,000 for this year and every year.

The three services currently offered by Companies House (WebFiling, Web Check and Companies House Direct) are to be combined into one ‘The Companies House Service’.  They will be removing the subscription based service to a free of charge service. The annual return will be replaced with a click and confirm return. The grant of access to all documents including mortgage charges will become free of charge. They will update their website to a more user friendly interface to enable searching for information much quicker and easier.

The Annual Return

The annual return which is required to be submitted on an annual basis by limited companies is set to change.

Currently directors or secretaries are required to follow a number of questions on the Companies House website to ensure that the following information is correct:

• Principal business activities
• Type of company, i.e.- Public/ Private
• Registered Office
• SAIL Address ( Single Alternate Inspection Location)- Alternate place where records are held
• Details of Company Secretaries, shareholders and company directors

Under the new changes the process will become much quicker and simpler. The changes which will come into effect in April 2016, will replace the annual return with a ‘check and confirm statement’. Currently companies are required to include the amount of paid up and unpaid shares, this requirement will be removed. Instead they will be required to specify the total amount unpaid on the total number of shares issued.

Tax credits are a way of redistributing income by paying money to those raising children and people on low incomes.

The effect

They have contributed to one of the biggest improvements in child poverty since the war. From 1998/99 to 2012/13 the number of children living below the poverty line fell from 35% of the child population to 19%.

The cost

The taxpayer will spend £30billion on tax credits in the year from April 2015 to April 2016, which is 14% of the welfare budget.

Who can claim?

Around 4.5 million of the population claim tax credits. Those who earn less than £32,969 per year may be eligible to claim, although eligibility for working tax credits depends on the amount of hours a person works.  Those with an income below this level who also have children will be eligible for child tax credits.

The average amount gained for tax credits was £6,340 per year. People claim child tax credits can receive £545 per year as a flat payment, in addition to £2,780 per child. Claimants of working tax credit must work at least 16 hours if they are single, 24 hours a week if they are a couple with children and 30 hours with no children. They will receive a basic amount of £2,010 plus extras and can also receive £210 per week to cover childcare costs.

• If you are wishing to renew your tax credits before the deadline of 31^st July 2015, you can follow this link https://www.gov.uk/renewtaxcredits
• If you would like to apply for tax credits or find out if you are eligible, you can follow this link https://www.gov.uk/qualify-tax-credits

If you are a business owner claiming tax credits you will require a self-assessment submitting, are urged to send in their books as soon as possible because the deadline for self assessments for tax credit claimants is 31^st July 2015.

From the 1^st of July Ofcom are changing the price of calls to non-geographic numbers. At Business Works we focus on helping our clients keep more of the money they earn so here are some tips to save you receiving unexpectedly expensive phone bills.

Calls to numbers beginning 080 will soon be free for mobile as well as landline callers. If you operate a 0800 number you will know that charges are levied to receive calls, however there will be no changes to your current forwarding costs as these are factored into your existing call forwarding plans.

To ensure clarity to consumers, Ofcom have split the cost into two parts; a service charge and an access charge, this also impacts other ranges such as 09 and 118 numbers. This change is being made to help clarify call charges and promotion of numbers must include both the service charge and access charge.

The Access Charge is the part of the charge that goes to your phone company, in example calls charges as price per minute. Your contract provider will inform you of how much the access charge will be on bills and contracts.

The service charge is the rest of the call charge which is decided by the organisation who will tell you how much this will be.

For instance if an organisation stated that ‘calls cost 15p per minute plus your phone company’s access charge’ and your access charge was 10p per minute, the service charge would be the 15p per minute and the total cost of the call would be 25p per minute.

The new rules will apply to all consumer calls to 084, 087, 09 and 118 numbers across the UK ensuring clearer call rates for everyone.

The advisory fuel rates should only be used in the following circumstances:

• reimburse employees for business travel in their company cars
• require employees to repay the cost of fuel for private travel

Advisory fuel rates from the 1 June 2015 are (per business mile):

Hybrid cars are treated as either petrol or diesel cars for this purpose.

These are not to be confused with the mileage payments for business travel.

The current rate per business mile for a car is as follows:

• For Tax purposes-45pence for the first 10,000 business miles in a tax year, then 25 pence for each subsequent mile.
• For National Insurance Contribution (NIC’s) purposes- 45 pence for all business miles.
• The current rate per business mile for a motorcycle is 24 pence for both tax and NIC’s purposes and for all business miles.

If you travel ?as a result of running your business (other than home to work) and:

• Are unsure on what you can claim
• Are considering your options regarding the company purchasing a vehicle
• Want to understand the rules around company car benefits in kind
• Are unsure whether to lease or buy a vehicle

Or anything else associated with business travel. Please contact business works so that we can ensure the advice you are given is specific to your circumstances.

We have received notification from North Yorkshire police about a scam doing the rounds.  Please be careful.

“Trading Standards have been made aware of a letter being sent to local businesses entitled “Publication of Companies and Vat Registration Numbers in the UK Corporate Portal 2015” which gives a return address in Germany. The letter invites recipients to update their VAT registration details as required by changes to the EU Economic Package. The small print of this letter states by filling in their details they are agreeing to a three year advertising contract for £797 per year. There is no such requirement and this is a scam to get companies to sign up to advertising they do not want or need. This is a scam which has been reported throughout the country and small businesses are asked to be vigilant and report any occurrences to Trading Standards on 03454 04 05 06.”