Many businesses will have seen a reduction in activity as a direct result of the COVID pandemic. Assets and resources previously fully employed now lie idle or are under-utilised. In this post today we have listed a few ideas that may help you create new income streams from these resources. For example: Premises Do…
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New reforms to protect consumers hard-earned cash
The UK Government’s Business Secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, has revealed an arsenal of planned reforms to boost competition and protect the public from rip-offs, fraud and exploitation as the pandemic restrictions lift. Plans set out in a new consultation will deliver on the manifesto commitment to ‘give the Competition and Markets Authority enhanced powers to tackle…
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Tax Diary August/September 2021
1 August 2021 - Due date for Corporation Tax due for the year ended 31 October 2020. 19 August 2021 - PAYE and NIC deductions due for month ended 5 August 2021. (If you pay your tax electronically the due date is 22 August 2021) 19 August 2021 - Filing deadline for the CIS300 monthly…
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Tax-free property and trading income
You can claim up to £1,000 each tax year in tax-free allowances for property or trading income. If you have both types of income, you will qualify for a £1,000 allowance for each. If your annual gross property income is £1,000 or less, from one or more property businesses you will not have to tell…
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Sponsoring a charity
Charity sponsorship payments are different from donations because your company gets something related to your business in return. Typically, your business brand would be promoted by the charity in some way. You can deduct sponsorship payments from your business profits before you pay tax by treating them as business expenses. Payments qualify as business expenses…
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Business entertaining and tax relief
Expenditure on business entertainment is not allowable as a deduction against profits. Nor may a deduction be made for any expenditure which is incidental to business entertainment. The meaning of ‘incidental’ is not defined by HMRC but should be interpreted to mean any expenditure that is incurred directly or indirectly in connection with the provision…
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VAT – Second-hand cars – using the Margin Scheme
If you sell second-hand vehicles and you were not charged VAT when you purchased the vehicle, using the Margin Scheme will save you money. If you did not use the VAT Margin Scheme, you would have to account for VAT on the full selling price of each vehicle. However, if you use the Margin Scheme,…
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The furlough cliff edge
Unless government has a change of heart the present furlough scheme will close 30 September 2021. Businesses that have depended on this grant to hold teams together will – from 1 October – need to decide if business activity has increased sufficiently to maintain their workforces at current levels or consider redundancy options. Planning is…
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Government acknowledges HGV driver shortage
In an open letter to the UK logistics sector, the Government has announced an urgent initiative to resolve the mounting shortage of lorry drivers in the UK. Following Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic, thousands of EU nationals – who make up a significant proportion of workers in the UK logistics industry – are having to…
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Time to check Minimum Wage Rates?
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has issued a statement urging students and other summer workers to check that they are being paid the correct National Minimum Wage (NMW) rates. In the 2020/21 tax year, HMRC helped over 150,000 workers across the UK to recover over £16 million remuneration that was due to them because incorrect…
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