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Effective Planning & Budgeting for Businesses

Christmas is nearly upon us and it is predicted that the UK spend on gifting this year will be in the region of £25.6 billion!! If you are a UK business owner then happy days, you will enjoy a slice of the pie.  Whilst the Christmas season will boost your sales, all businesses need to be prepared so that they are not caught out with the January blues when spending declines as consumers close their purses and wallets, to recover from Christmas spending.  For quite a few industries such as hospitality and tourism, this downturn can last a few months with the joys of Spring & Easter kickstarting sales again. So businesses need to plan ahead!  Its really important to create a 12 month plan in readiness of the coming year and this exercise can take some months, to ensure it is a true reflection of i) your goals ii) environmental factors iii) contingency factors This plan will help you to conserve funds when you are able, so that you can cover your overheads during those times when the b
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A Little Inspiration

Running a Business requires sacrifices and a realisation that sometimes things are just bigger than ourselves.  If you are a business owner, you must have a vision for the future you want to create. This future may extend to the future of your children so planning, patience and action are necessary.  Read the article (link at the end) for inspiration -  two individuals came to the UK and had a vision. They succeeded in making changes to positively affect the lives of the future, more than their own. One of the granddaughters is Baroness Verma who has continued the vision to make changes for the greater good. So you never know what the ending will be when you start.  So when you feel stuck or overwhelmed, remember those who have walked before you and the challenges they faced AND overcame.  You can do it!  The Founder of RGS is the third generation in business. Her grandfather started life in the UK the same as the two gentleman in the article. He sought to benefit the lives of the fami

Starting A Holiday Let Business

So today I’m going to tell you about starting a holiday let business so if you have a property and you have been thinking about making an income from it, this blog will tell you all you need to know. In this blog, I will walk you through getting your property set up to be a holiday let, give you my tips on running a holiday let and also tell you what you need to do from an accounting perspective when running a business. By the end of this blog, you will be on course to making money and running a very profitable holiday let business . I am sure you are wondering, why are we talking about holiday lets and why we are experts in this area of business? Well, not only do we have a lot of clients who are start up & established holiday let businesses, we have also helped a lot of clients to make the transition from a residential let to a holiday let. And on a personal note, I have been running a successful holiday let business since 2017. I purchased the holiday let

Overview of Business Tax

This week’s blog is about Business Tax.  This blog will give you an overview on some of the taxes businesses are expected to pay.  The first and main area is Tax on Business Profits As a sole trader or partnership business, business profits are reported via self assessment and the tax calculated is known as Income Tax. If you are interested in knowing more about income tax, check out last week’s blog !  If you are running an incorporated business such as a limited company then the tax on profits is known as Corporation Tax.  Other taxes on businesses include VAT, CIS tax, PAYE, alcohol duties, off-payroll working, pension scheme administration, stamp duty and importing & exporting taxes. This blog will give you an overview of Corporation Tax, CIS and PAYE. If you would like to know more about any other taxes or if you would like to discuss your business to understand what taxes applies, then just get in touch to book a free consultation.  If you are interested to know more about VA

Income Tax for Individuals - 5 Things You Need to Know

This week’s blog is about income tax for individuals. Now, the realm of income tax is huge so I have picked out the top 5 areas I have been contacted about recently. But if you have an issue in mind that is not covered here, just get in touch and we would be happy to answer your questions.  So what is income tax? Income tax applies to individuals on certain types of income they receive and that could be from a number of sources such as employment, renting a property, selling an assets, income on savings and receiving dividends from companies.  So in the UK we have about 30m employed persons and nearly 6m of SME (small medium enterprises). These small businesses make up 99% of the business population and nearly 17m out of the total 30m employed persons in the UK are employed by those businesses. 1. Employees  Employees care about the tax they pay so they will be concerned about having the right tax codes, so that they are taxed correctly. That they are not overpaying or underpaying tax.

Covid-19: Preparing for Life After Lockdown

Covid-19 has turned our lives upside down. It is fortunate for those people and businesses which have still been able to work but it is very worrying for those that have come to a stand still. We are living in uncertain times and as lockdown is extended, the reality for many businesses not being able to trade or even survive, takes form. It’s time to take back control. We have to change I am sure most of you jumped at doing all those things you have put off such as cleaning out the kitchen cupboards or painting your front room.  We find ourselves with too much time. So let’s use this time to create the future we want.  Ask yourself, “ Am I Working to Live or Living to Work?” Let’s change - do what you want to do and Work to Live! Lockdown Tips  Make a personal list of all the things you want to do aka a bucket list. Remember, be realistic! If you run a business, carry out a mini assessment. How has your business been performing? Is it the way you thought it would

Covid-19: Claiming 80% from the Government

For most of us, we are experiencing the most surreal and financially crippling time of our lives. Businesses are facing extinction; individuals unable to work with their income stopping overnight. We never saw it coming or at least, not like this. It’s truly life changing. There is always a light at the end of the tunnel though. Our light, is the Government creating a huge support package to ease our way out and ensuring that the aftermath is not an economic crash. This support package initially focused on businesses operating as limited companies, but has now been updated to include sole traders or otherwise known as individuals working for themselves, of which there are more than 3m, making up 60% of all businesses in the UK. What’s the package? If you are employed and unable to work, you can receive 80% of your gross pay; if you are self employed, you can receive 80% of your trading profits (over the last three years to 5 April 2019). How can you get it? The systems are cu