SME Pension Obligations: What You Need to Know

Following changes to the Pensions Act in 2008 and 2011 large organisations with 250 or more employees were obliged to automatically enrol all their eligible employees in a workplace pension scheme in the year leading up to October 2013. The changes are being phased in for all employers and are not expected to be complete until 2018, however, small and medium-sized employers with b… Continue Reading

The Risk of Fraud in Small Businesses

Every business would like to think that it’s employees are trustworthy but it would be naive not to recognise that there is always the risk of fraud in a business whatever it’s size. However, the risk of fraud is less likely to become a reality if a business is both aware of the risk and actively manages and monitors it in order to prevent fraud. There are some obvious steps… Continue Reading

Small Business Tax Issues

Setting up on your own could be a long-held dream that you have been working towards for years, it could be an opportunity only made possible by a redundancy payment or may simply be your only option where there are limited permanent employment alternatives. Whatever the reason, you need to be aware that the small business tax rules for the self-employed are significantly more comp… Continue Reading

What Employee Benefits Are Not Taxable?

In a previous post we looked at checking your PAYE system is correctly set up and which expenses are and are not liable to tax, but there is also a wide range of employee benefits that are not liable to tax which we’ve summarised below. But as always, even when a benefit is not taxable, take care to record all amounts paid out on employee benefits and record exactly what the payment… Continue Reading

Are You Operating Your PAYE System Correctly?

One of the aspects of running a business that is likely to come under investigation by the tax authorities is the PAYE system and how it is being operated. HMRC investigators can request access to all of your PAYE and salary records, if necessary,  in order to check that the amount recorded in the accounts as salaries matches the actual amounts paid out as salaries and recorded on pays… Continue Reading

Is DIY Business Accounting Possible?

It can be appealing to think you can prepare your own company accounts and file your own tax returns for a small company. After all, think of the money you would save, especially if you run a small, straightforward business. It is certainly possible to maintain the correct records and complete the relevant tax returns for HMRC. The introduction of online submission processes for bo… Continue Reading

How To Select the Right Accountant

Whether you have an established business, have just started a business or are still at the planning stage, the choice of accountant is an important decision. For a new company, busy with all the excitement of getting up and running, selecting an accountant may not seem to be a top priority but bringing an accountant on board early can help with setting up a Limited Company and structu… Continue Reading

Raising finance for small businesses

You’ve got a brilliant idea, you know the market’s eagerly waiting for your product or service to go live and you’re excited about the prospect of becoming the next Richard Branson. But there’s one thing that could scupper all of those ambitions – money. Late last year, the Federation of Small Businesses carried out a survey that showed around 42% of small businesses were strugglin… Continue Reading

How to get money out of a Limited Company

Since 5 April 2013 the additional rate of income tax payable on income over £150,000 is reduced from 50% to 45%. Many earners in this tax bracket receive their income as dividends.  A 40% tax payer pays an effective rate of tax on the net dividend of 25% Because of the 5% reduction mentioned above a 45% taxpayer (receiving gross income above £150,000) pays a rate of tax reduced from 36.1… Continue Reading

Why Your Company Needs a Good Business Plan

Some recent surveys have indicated that there is a correlation for small businesses between having a business plan and the profits they make. This suggests that any SME without a business plan could be losing out on potential profits. That may seem quite a surprising assessment but significantly more companies with a business plan made a profit than those companies that did not ha… Continue Reading