It may seem a little perverse – when some businesses are struggling to access the support announced by Government already – but by now many will have prepared and implemented their survival plan and now just need to sit out the next few months and hope that the cash support is forthcoming in time. This crisis will…
Category: Finance
Coronavirus: plan for how to protect yourself and your family
The coronavirus and measures to slow it down are unprecedented in our lifetime; people are worried and scared, they feel out of control. There are many things that are outside of your control, so concentrate instead of the things you can, and remember: This will be over one day; Help yourself and family first; and…
How to negotiate a time to pay agreement with HMRC
HMRC has published details of the specific helpline to contact to negotiate a time to pay agreement if you are likely to have difficulty paying tax because of Coronavirus, but it’s not known whether HMRC will change its usual approach to time to pay, for taxpayers who are having difficulty. In the meantime businesses may find useful…
Self-employed let down badly by Chancellor
Ignore the newspaper headlines congratulating the Chancellor on a ‘historic rescue package’. I said yesterday – more in hope than expectation – that the government should include measures to help the self-employed, as well as employed workers, in its announcement on Friday. It singularly failed to do so. Anyone who is self-employed hearing the promise of…
Is that you boss?
We’ve all heard about the “fake” email sent to the finance department from the CEO asking for a payment to be made to a fraudsters account but a new – and more sophisticated – version of this type of fraud has begun. The emergence of “deepfake” technology – where genuine recordings of people are processed…
The deficit myth
This week’s Sunday Supplement is a little different from usual. I’d like you to watch a short video of the 2020 Harcourt Lecture by Professor Stephanie Kelton. Her lecture starts after 10 mins (you can skip the introduction) and last for 40 mins. It is worth the investment of your time. Stephanie explains why austerity did more harm…
What’s next for Making Tax Digital?
As you are probably already aware, there will be no further new taxes introduced, or changes to the threshold for VAT in 2020, so the next major change in MTD will not be until 2021 at the earliest. However, there are a couple of points in relation to the VAT process of which businesses should…
Have you received a ‘nudge’ letter?
A number of businesses and individuals have received letters from HMRC requesting detailed information about subjects ranging from rental accommodation and offshore income to the employment status of contractors. What’s going on, and how should you respond? HMRC’s Connect computer system collects data from public and private sources, which HMRC uses as the basis for…
New VAT registrations and Making Tax Digital
The process for registering for VAT is unchanged. A business that needs to (or chooses to) register for VAT for the first time should follow the current process to register for VAT and the VAT registration guidance on gov.uk. If the taxable turnover of the business in the previous 12 months is over the VAT registration…
Accountants take the role of bank managers for small businesses
If you were in business in the 80s or 90s and opened an account at a high street bank it almost certainly came with a couple of add-ons – a relationship manager and an overdraft. Back then there were about 30,000 business bank managers and virtually every business that needed working capital had an overdraft…
