Please note that the office will be closed on 6 May due to the Bank Holiday.

Due to the Easter Bank Holidays the office will be closed on Friday 29 March and Monday 1 April.  If we normally run your payroll on a Friday or Monday then please get in contact to make arrangements for this week’s payroll run.

May I take this opportunity to wish all our clients a very happy easter.

Here is a quick summary of the main highlights from the budget that may affect small businesses.  Our full budget summary will be available on our website tomorrow morning.

Corporation Tax

As widely predicted the main rate of Corporation Tax will be further reduced by 1% to 20% from 1 April 2015.   This will bring with it some simplification regarding associated company rules and remove the need for marginal rate relief.  The main rate has reduced significantly in recent years from 30% in 2007.

Fuel Duty

The fuel duty increase that was due to take place on 1 September 2013 has been cancelled, the rates have currently been frozen.

Beer Duty

The duty on beer has been reduced.  This effectively reduces the price of an average strength pint of beer by 1p.  An unusual move since the government were recently talking about setting minimum prices for alcohol.

Personal Allowance

Again as widely predicted the personal allowance for income tax purposes will be £10,000 for 2014/15.

Employment Allowance

As an incentive to cut the cost of employing people, the Chancellor announced an employment allowance of £2,000 to be offset against Employers NIC.  This may have some interesting tax planning opportunities.  Expect more to follow on this in the next few days.

Benefits in Kind for loans to participators

The threshold for the tax charge for beneficial loans will increase to £10,000 from £5,000.

Self employed NIC

The government will consult on how self employed people pay their Class 2 NIC, usually paid monthly by Direct Debit.  They will be consulting on bringing this into the self assessment system.

VAT Threshold

The VAT threshold will be increased to £79,000 from £77,000

Help to Buy

The Chancellor announced a number of measures aimed at helping people move up the housing ladder.  In the past such schemes were only available to first time buyers.  This has now been extended to existing homeowners.  This includes a shared equity scheme where the government will lend you 20% of the value and a mortgage guarantee scheme where the government will encourage the lender by offering a guarantee.

More details to Come

After we have had chance to read through all the details we will offer more detail on some of the above anything we may have missed.  Our full budget summary will be available tomorrow.

 

 

 

HMRC have announced they are to close all its 281 enquiry centres which give face to face advice to 2.5 million taxpayers per year according to their statistics.  Those taxpayers will be encouraged instead to use HMRC telephone services.

Now I may be talking myself out of paid work but I have always believed that if the state requires you to pay your fair share towards society then the process of doing so should be simple enough for the layperson to do without the need to hire a professional advisor.  HMRC have for some time used the term “tax doesn’t have to be taxing”, but we all know it is and thats why having that face to face opportunity to get some assistance with your tax affairs is a must.  There is a limit to how much can be done over the phone, you can’t show the advisor the relevant paperwork this way.  If any of you have had to use HMRC’s telephone service in the past, well we all know how good that is.

I know with technology we are moving more and more to doing everything online and I am a big supporter of this.  HMRC online system is for the most part very good, but there will always be some members of society that will struggle with the technology and will struggle with the paperwork.  It is the governments responsibility to ensure that they help those members of society meet their obligations.

Please note that the office will be closed for the Christmas break from Friday 21 December and will re open on Wednesday 2 January.

If you need your payroll processing during this period please arrange with Mike to have this done early.

If you have any urgent matters that cannot wait until after the holiday season then please feel free to contact us as usual, by email or telephone, and someone will deal with your request at the earliest convenience.

We would like take this opportunity to wish all of our clients a very happy Christmas and a prosperous new year.

 

We are now able to take payments via direct debit.  We use a company called GoCardless.

A Direct Debit mandate can be set up to cover all payments made to us or alternatively you can click the Pay Online button on our invoices.  You will be requested to enter a few details including your bank account number.  This will create an ad hoc one time only authorisation for that particular invoice.

If anyone would like to start paying via this method please get in touch.

The ability to take Direct Debits is actually really simple and cheap using cloud based book keeping software Kashflow and GoCardless together.  If you would like to know more and help setting it up get in touch.

May I take this opportunity to wish all our clients a happy Easter and a well deserved break.  Please note that the office will be closed from 5pm on Thursday 5 April and will reopen at 9am on Tuesday 10 April.  If any urgent matters crop up that cant wait until Tuesday then you can contact Peter on 07912 556 554.

A pdf summary of this year’s Budget is now available on our website. Budget summary 2012

We have prepared this summary to outline the issues that are most likely to be of interest to you. We have included informative comments to help you assess the likely effect that the proposed changes may have on you personally and their significance.  We have also added possible action points to help you focus on specific areas.

If you have a question concerning any of the issues covered in this summary, or would like advice on the best possible course of action in a particular area, please contact us info@taylorroberts.biz

Taylor Roberts are proud to bring you Office Drinks, a new style business networking event.

Office Drinks is a series of friendly, dynamic, professional business networking events designed to promote your business.  Each event is structured to maximise the number of business contacts you meet within a fun social environment. The format is welcoming and non-intimidating yet with a specific goal of gaining contacts and business leads.

No boring speeches, no membership fees, no being “stuck” with one small group of people, just a chance to have meaningful chats with plenty of like minded people and decision makers.  With open networking, structured networking and a short Pub Quiz then socialising afterwards (for those who wish to stick around) it’s just like the Office Drinks the employees of larger companies have after work but with an emphasis on business.  The events are held in Private Rooms with own bar staff and delegates are provided with a name badge and full delegate list on arrival.

The first event will be held on 29 March 2012, starting at 6.30pm at Old Hall Farm near Cheshire Oaks.  Tickets are £10 and can be purchased online at http://officedrinks.co.uk/?host=mike-roberts.  Book early to avoid dissapointment.

For an idea of what office drinks is all about watch this short videa filmed at Office Drinks London.

 

I was already impressed with online bookkeeping software Kashflow, for its simplicity, ease of use and the fact its online, constantly updated and has plenty of add ons. However I believe 2 recent updates now make this software stand miles apart from its competitors. They have a lot of catching up to do. Both of these updates put some powerful tools in the hands of small businesses.

On 23rd January they announced the release of a new feature that automates the whole process of credit control. You can now automatically email a customer to remind them an invoice is about to become due. The whole process is completely customisable. There is no limit to the amount of emails and you can set the frequency of the reminders. Add to that the ability to add a link in the email directing customers to where they can make card payments which will then automatically mark the invoice as paid, makes a simple and easy way to manage credit control. I fail to see how this can’t help improve cashflow for small businesses.

Now today they have announced a simple and affordable way to make online payments. They have teamed up with GoCardless which now gives small businesses the ability to take money directly from your customers bank account using Direct Debit.  Now this is something that is normally prohibitively expense for the small businesses to do. The process is simple too. Your customer can authorise a direct debit mandate via email. Then when viewing an unpaid invoice you can simply click the relevant button to take payment.

If you bill your customer the same each month you can completely automate the whole process. Set up a repeat invoice and select the option to collect the full amount via direct debit. The software then automatically create the invoice for you, collect payment and then mark the invoice as paid.

This is an incredibly powerful tool for small businesses and will improve cashflow and allow them to spend more time on the work that earns them the money and less time on the admin side of things. This software can be accessed anywhere with an internet connection and there is even an iphone app.

For a free 60 day trial (no credit card details needed) sign up on our website now. http://www.taylorrobertsaccountants.com/online-accounting