Category Archives: Uncategorised

Cornwall, and we expect many holiday locations, are seeing an increase in landlords switching from domestic letting to holiday lets. Aside from the increased rents they can obtain, should they be successful in making this transition, there are tax as well as commercial advantages.   It all comes down to occupancy. What are the tax…

If we lived in a world where the factors that affected trade and other commercial activity were unchanging, then plans drawn up for extended periods, say a year, would be a reliable benchmark to measure actual results against in the same period. Unfortunately, change is a common occurrence these days. Plans drawn up will become…

The new Financial Services and Markets Bill, announced during the recent Queen’s Speech at the state opening of parliament, will support consumers by protecting access to cash. It will ensure the continued availability of withdrawal and deposit facilities across the UK, and that the country’s cash infrastructure is sustainable for the long term. The Bill…

The more draconian government interventions introduced to control the COVID outbreak have challenged all of us, businesses and individuals, to consider the notion that we can no longer rely on our jobs or businesses to effortlessly produce the income we need. Many businesses in the hospitality and entertainment sectors had their ability to trade quashed.…

Would demand for the products or services you sell vary with price increases or decreases? This conundrum is considered by the term elasticity in economic circles – how demand changes when prices change. If demand for your products is elastic, any change in price will have a corresponding impact in demand. For example, if you…

The UK tax code has numerous reliefs and allowances that reduce tax when businesses invest in qualifying assets. Some of the reliefs allow up to 100% of the invested cost to be written off against taxable profits and companies can presently write-off 130% of qualifying expenditure. But aside from these tax incentives to invest, it…

The other side of the recent hikes in consumer energy costs – taking their toll on take-home pay across the UK – are the similar cost increases for industry. Focussing on high-energy users, the government recently announced the following increased support for Energy Intensive Industries (IEE). High energy usage businesses, such as steel and paper…

Dividends are a distribution of company profits to shareholders. Historically, they have been taxed as unearned income – no National Insurance deductions. This is still the case, but the Treasury have decided that the recent increase of 1.25% in National Insurance rates will also apply to dividends. Since April 2016, the rates of Income Tax…

The Employment Allowance has risen from £4,000 to £5,000 – meaning smaller firms will be able to claim up to £5,000 off their employer National Insurance Contributions (NICs) bills. Announced by the Chancellor at last month’s Spring Statement to reduce employment costs, the change takes an extra 50,000 firms out of paying NICs and the…

Employers can pay employees a fixed rate per mile to cover the costs of using their own vehicles on company business. The present agreed rates per mile are: Cars and vans - 45p per mile for the first 10,000 miles and then 25p per mile. Motorcycles – 24p per mile. Bikes – 20p per mile.…