From April 2012 a new emissions scale has been introduced which could mean hefty increases in tax charges for those using company cars.
If you are provided with a company car which you also use for private motoring (including travel to and from your place of work) you are receiving a benefit which is subject to tax.
This also applies owner managed companies where the director has purchased the car in the company. Read the rest of this entry »
If you took out a student loan for a university or college course that began in September 1998 or after you will have an Income Contingent Loan.
What does this mean if you are now self-employed or a director in your own company? Read the rest of this entry »
If you pay tax by filing a self-assessment tax return you may be required to make Payments on account. These are advance payments of tax based on last year’s tax bill. They are payable on 31 July and 31 January each year.
It’s been a tough year and there has been a lot of doom and gloom around but with Christmas around the corner why not treat yourself and your staff to a Christmas party, boost morale and take advantage of the tax exemption available!!
Currently charities have to obtain a signed declaration from donors for every donation they want to make a gift aid claim on. This can mean charities miss out on gift aid if they, for example, make bucket collections – people would not be willing to make donations if they had to fill in a form, never mind the amount of paperwork that would be involved!
I think the Revenue have taken this point on board as from April 2013 charities that receive donations of £10 or less will be able to claim gift aid without having to have a signed declaration from the donor.
With the explosion of the internet I now find that more and more of my clients are making sales outside the UK. This can cause added complications if you are VAT registered as in some cases you don’t have to charge VAT. If you sell goods to a customer outside the UK but in the European Union (EU) you can raise a sales invoice with zero rated VAT (i.e. with no VAT on it) if that customer is registered for VAT in their own country.
I was talking to someone setting up their first business when the subject of Companies House came up. They were confused about why they had to file their accounts with both the Revenue and Companies House. I therefore thought it would be a good idea to write a blog on what the job of Companies House is and how you can use it to help your business.
I have written a previous blog on making a use of home claim if you are self-employed. However, as an employee or director of a company you can also make a claim for working at home. The rules here are a lot stricter which means the claim will be less than if you are self-employed but it is still worth considering making a claim to reduce your tax liability. The use of home costs are an allowable expense for the company but are not taxable income for you.
I was recently asked to give a 10 minute speech at a breakfast. This gave me a bit of a dilemma on what to talk about as I wanted to it to be something helpful but that wouldn’t send everyone to sleep. This is what I came up with and I thought it made quite a nice blog as well!
I’m of the opinion that most businesses don’t use their accountants enough. An accountant when preparing your accounts has a unique insight into your business and you can use this to obtain some really good business advice. However, I realise this isn’t always as simply as it sounds so I’ve put together some ideas on starting points for discussions.
Last week I wrote about the addresses used for your new company and whether you wanted a company secretary. I must admit I did save the more juicy bits for Part 2 – this blog looks at appointing directors, allocating shares and share structures.
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