Every year around this time we get a wave of negative news in the media with large corporations issuing retail sales warnings, making excuses publicly about Brexit, the weather, online sales, anything really to distract from their own incompetence) in the run up to Christmas and New Year 2018. Always ignore the 'nay sayers' and pro-actively look at what positive steps can be taken to ensure your business sales and profits rise or at the very least stay level with previous years.

To help with this we've compiled a short list based on our extensive experience and industry wide knowledge.

1. Go where the money is - be fluid and adaptable and look to see what is selling and sell more of that and stock less of what is in less demand. If its a different product or service that you don't offer consider adding this.
2. Give the customer what they want not what you want - listen to them and understand them properly and give them what they are looking for. Your customer will tell you how to keep things going in your business. Don't be shy to ask them, actively ask for feedback.
3. Make an offer they cant refuse - when things are difficult for a client make sure you have offers and special deals like supermarkets do. This may mean you have to offer something at a lower price with the plan to sell another product/service that compliments that item which will make more profit.
4. Keep an eye on competition - make sure your business is not lagging behind on the four P's of the marketing mix - Product, Price, Promotion, Place. All four need to be excellent to ensure growth in a slowing economy.
5. Give away stuff to entice people to keep visiting - This doesn't mean give everything away at a knock down price, but more specifically could mean a good chance to clear out old stock items and have more space by getting rid of it at cost price. The customers get a good deal and you keep the cash-flow coming in.
6. Don't use bad economic conditions as an excuse - stay focused and think positive, don't listen to negative sources of information, look at the positive sources as well. Many large retailers have a positive outlook, its just  that media outlets like to dwell on negativity as bad news sells better than good. Compare your business to the bigger companies and see what they are doing and what you can do as well. The Director /  CEO that thinks and plans positively is the one that drives their business forward.

By Anni Khan at Tax Affinity Accountants

Tax Affinity Accountants are experts in Tax and Accountancy. Based in Worcester Park and Kingston upon Thames they are considered in the Industry to be expert accountants and tax advisors for small businesses. Helping and supporting contractors and self employed people throughout the UK, they regularly help clients grow their business providing tailored advice.

For more information visit www.taxaffinity.com. To read more interesting articles like this visit www.taxaffinity.com/blog. Please feel free to comment and share this with your friends.

As the dust settles after Chancellors October Budget 2018. We felt nearly all of the news coverage by journalists had presented little or no perspective specifically for the self employed and small and medium sized businesses. So to help below is another one of our famous main points lists, because lifes to short to waffle :

1. Corporation tax will fall to 17% in 2020.
   
2. Personal tax free allowance will be £12,500 and the Higher rate tax band will rise to £50,000 from April 2019, one year earlier than planned. The threshold will remain at the same level in 2020-21 and then increase by CPI
3. New structures and buildings allowance and a temporary increase in the Annual Investment Allowance now up to £1 million.
4. New tax on plastic packaging which does not contain enough recycled content.
5. Introduced over 100 measures to crack down further on avoidance, evasion, aggressive tax planning and unfair outcomes
6. Off-payroll working in the private sector IR35 to be extended this change will not be introduced until April 2020. Small organisations will be exempt, minimising administrative burdens.
7. The government will not abolish Class 2 NICs as previous said.
8. Trusts consultation, the government will publish a consultation on taxation of trusts, to make the taxation of trusts simpler and more transparent.
9. Charity taxes - increasing upper limit for trading that charities can carry out without incurring a tax liability from £5,000 to £8,000 where turnover is under £20,000, and from £50,000 to £80,000 where turnover exceeds £200,000
10. Lifetime allowance for pensions – increase for 2019-20, rising to £1,055,000.
11. Adult ISA annual subscription limit for 2019-20 will remain unchanged at £20,000. The annual subscription limit for Junior ISAs for 2019-20 will be uprated in line with CPI to £4,368.
12. The annual subscription limit for Child Trust Funds for 2019-20 will be £4,368.
13. Structures and buildings allowance (SBA) – New non-residential structures and buildings will be eligible for a 2% capital allowance where all the contracts for the physical construction works are entered into on or after 29 October 2018.
14. The capital allowances special rate for qualifying plant and machinery assets will be reduced from 8% to 6%.
15. Entrepreneurs’ Relief: minimum qualifying period from 6 April 2019 the minimum period throughout which the qualifying conditions for relief must be met extended from 12 months to 24 months.
16. Directly taxing offshore entities that realise intangible property income in low-tax jurisdictions, rather than through applying a withholding tax
17. Royalties and income from the indirect exploitation of intangible property in the UK market through unrelated parties to be a target for investigation
18. Cutting bills for retail properties with a rateable value below £51,000
19. Business rates public lavatories 100% business rates relief for all public lavatories to help keep these important local amenities open
20. Business rates local newspaper discount – £1,500 business rates discount for office space occupied by local newspapers in 2019-20.
21. Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) and first-time buyers relief – The government will extend first-time buyers relief in England and Northern Ireland so that all qualifying shared ownership property purchasers can benefit, whether or not the purchaser elects to pay SDLT on the market value of the property. This change will apply to relevant transactions with an effective date on or after 29 October 2018, and will also be backdated to 22 November 2017 so that those eligible who have not previously claimed first-time buyers relief will be able to amend their return to claim a refund.
22. Consultation on SDLT charge for non-residents - government will publish a consultation in January 2019 on a SDLT surcharge of 1% for non-residents buying residential property in England and Northern Ireland.
23. Capital gains tax - from April 2020 lettings relief only applies in circumstances where the owner of the property is in shared occupancy with the tenant. The final period exemption will also be reduced from 18 months to 9 months. The government will consult on these changes. There will be no changes to the 36 months final period exemption available to disabled people or those in a care home.
24. Vehicle Excise Duty (VED): Uprating – From 1 April 2019 VED rates for cars, vans and motorcycles will increase in line with RPI.
25. Company vehicles – From 6 April 2019 fuel benefit charges will increase in line with RPI and the van benefit charge will increase in line with CPI.
26. Air Passenger Duty (APD) – Short-haul APD rates for 2020-21 will not rise, Long-haul rates will increase in line with RPI. The rates for long-haul economy will increase by £2, and the rates for those travelling in premium economy, business and first class will increase by £4. Those travelling long-haul by private jets will see the rate increase by £13.
27. Tax on the production and import of plastic packaging from April 2022 and is subject to consultation.
28. Alcohol duty rates and bands – Duty rates on beer, most cider and spirits will be frozen. Duty on most wine and higher strength sparkling cider will rise by RPI inflation from 1 February 2019. The government will review the current Small Brewers Relief to ensure it is supporting growth in the sector. (12)
29. Vaping ie Tobacco for heating - government will legislate in Finance Bill 2018-19 for a new duty rate for tobacco for heating. In these products processed tobacco is heated (but not burned like conventional tobacco) to produce, or flavour, vapour. This will be set at the same level as hand rolling tobacco and take effect on 1 July 2019.
30. VAT threshold will be maintained at the current level of £85,000 for a further 2 years until April 2022. The government will look again at the possibility of introducing a smoothing mechanism once the terms of EU exit are clear.
31. VAT fraud in labour provision in the construction sector – government will introduce a VAT domestic reverse charge to prevent VAT losses through so-called ‘Missing Trader’ fraud. This occurs when traders collect VAT on their sales but go missing before passing that VAT on to HMRC. The new rules will have effect on and after 1 October 2019 and the government is publishing secondary legislation alongside the Budget to implement this change.
32. Alternative method of VAT collection: ‘split payment’ – To reduce online VAT fraud by third country sellers and improve how VAT is collected on cross-border e-commerce, the government is looking at a split payment model.
33. EU exit - Consequential minor amendments to tax legislation to reflect EU exit – The government is responsible for preparing for all possible outcomes to EU negotiations. This power will allow the government to make small, essential changes to UK tax law to maintain the effect of tax legislation if the UK leaves the EU without a deal. Changes made under this power will maintain current operation of the tax law in essential areas, including changes in line with no deal legislation in other parts of the law.
34. Tax avoidance and evasion, aggressive tax planning and non-compliance to continue.
35. Capital gains tax: tackling misuse of Entrepreneurs’ Relief – In addition to the current requirements on share capital and voting rights, from 29 October 2018 shareholders must also be entitled to at least 5% of the distributable profits and net assets of a company to claim the relief. This is to address an identified abuse of the current rules.
36. Profit fragmentation – As announced at Autumn Budget 2017, the government will legislate in Finance Bill 2018-19 to introduce targeted legislation that aims to prevent UK businesses from avoiding UK tax by arranging for their UK-taxable business profits to accrue to entities resident in territories where significantly lower tax is paid than in the UK. The taxable UK profits will be increased to the actual, commercial level.
37. Reforming Stamp taxes on shares consideration rules – From 29 October 2018, a targeted market value rule will be introduced for listed shares transferred to connected companies to prevent forestalling.
38. Preventing abuse of R&D tax relief for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) – From 1 April 2020, the amount of payable R&D tax credit that a qualifying loss-making company can receive in any tax year will be restricted to three times the company’s total PAYE and NICs liability for that year. This will ensure the relief is robust against identified abuse, including fraud, following the prevention by HMRC of fraudulent claims worth £300 million.
39. Protecting your taxes in insolvency – From 6 April 2020, when a business enters insolvency, more of the taxes paid in good faith by its employees and customers, and temporarily held in trust by the business, will go to fund public services rather than being distributed to other creditors. This reform will only apply to taxes collected and held by businesses on behalf of other taxpayers (VAT, PAYE Income Tax, employee NICs, and Construction Industry Scheme deductions). The rules will remain unchanged for taxes owed by businesses themselves, such as Corporation Tax and employer NICs.
    
40. Tax abuse and insolvency – Following Royal Assent of Finance Bill 2019-20, directors and other persons involved in tax avoidance, evasion or phoenixism will be jointly and severally liable for company tax liabilities, where there is a risk that the company may deliberately enter insolvency.
41. National insurance threshold will rise - not mentioned in the Chancellor's speech but in the budget papers - where we got our info from. This rises from £8160 in 17/18 to £8424 in 18/19 and £8632 in 19/20.
42. Premuim bond minimum savings amount will drop - from £100 to £25.
43. National living wage rise from April 19 - for over-25s will rise to £8.21 per hour from £7.83 per hour.
44. Annual ISA allowance will remain at £20,000 in 2019/20 for adults – the annual allowance for Junior ISAs will rise in 2019/20 to £4,368
    

By Anni Khan at Tax Affinity Accountants

Tax Affinity Accountants are experts in Tax and Accountancy. With branches in Surbiton , Worcester Park , Kingston upon Thames , Cheam and Epsom they are considered in the Industry to be expert accountants and tax advisors for small businesses. Helping and supporting business throughout the UK, they regularly help clients grow their business providing tailored advice and support.

For more information visit www.taxaffinity.com. To read more interesting articles like this visit www.taxaffinity.com/blog. Please feel free to comment and share this with your friends.

As of today there are only 16 working days till the 31st January 2018, which is HMRC's online self assessment deadline. Our team of experienced tax accountants, some who have worked in the top 5 accounting firms in the UK, advise everyone to make haste and ensure their tax return is done early to both minimise tax and the chance of late filing penalty.

The submission of the personal income tax return and the payment of any tax and NI due for the period 6/4/16 to 5/4/17 is midnight 31/1/18. And anyone who has not yet had their tax return done should start to worry about the 'up to £1300 fine plus interest on late paid tax' imposed by HMRC for missing the deadline. To put it further in to perspective there is an immediate penalty of £100 if the return even one day late.

The self assessment / personal tax return is required from the following types of people:

1. Self Employed (even partially) during the tax year 16/17 ie 6/4/16 to 5/4/17
2. Employed and earning over 100k for the year ended 5/4/17
3. Director or shareholder of a Company and taking dividends in the period as above
4. If you have received rental income in the period 6/4/16 to 5/4/17
5. You received savings and investments income in the period 6/4/16 to 5/4/17
6. You sold something and made a profit on the item, so are required to pay the Capital Gains Tax (CGT) eg selling shares, a property, an antique, Plant and Machinery etc
7. You have received income over £50,000 and you claimed Child Benefit
8. If you have not notified HMRC that you have left self employment and they have not confirmed that you do not need to do a 16/17 return
9. A letter / email / text from HMRC has been received by the tax payer advising them that they need to submit a tax return for the 16/17 year (note: only new registrants may get a reminder as HMRC expects old registrants to already know the deadlines and protocols required).
10. You received income from overseas including off shore companies (the law has changed)
11. You lived abroad and had income from the UK
12. You are retired and receive more than one type of pension and annual income payment pushing you over the personal income allowance
13. You have had a P800 from HMRC saying you have not paid enough tax in the year
14. You are  minister of religion or and Underwriter
15 Even if a person has died they may still need to submit a tax return to make sure they have paid the correct tax and those that receive an inheritance may need to pay for Inheritance Tax (HMRC will advise further).
16. If you have received a P11d and not paid the correct tax for the benefit in kind eg company car, private medical, gym, travel etc

So if you haven't already had your tax return done and still need to send / drop in your income and expenses information, please take heed of this reminder.

For those that have handed in their information, we will make sure it is done before the deadline and if there is any tax due we will advise you of this well before the deadline. We can even have your deadline extended in some cases as we are a registered authorised agent for HMRC.

And if your thinking of using an accountant - then make sure to note, not all accountants are the same. We recommend you use an expert in tax so he/she saves you far more in tax than you ever have to pay them for their service. A lot of accountants are using out of date knowledge they learned along time ago and never bother to keep up to date with the ever changing landscape of HMRC tax rules and regulations.

With fines up to £1300 plus interest on the amount of tax due. This means for some, the penalties can be much greater than the actual tax that would have been due. So don't delay, as you have little time left. And in the unfortunate even that you do miss the deadline  - most excuses and appeals are rejected by HMRC.

If you would like to contact us about having your tax return done by an experienced tax accountant then go to our contact us page and tell us your requirements today.

By Anni Khan at Tax Affinity Accountants

Tax Affinity Accountants are experts in Tax and Accountancy. With branches in Surbiton , Worcester Park , Kingston upon Thames , Cheam and Epsom they are considered in the Industry to be expert accountants and tax advisors for small businesses. Helping and supporting business throughout the UK, they regularly help clients grow their business providing tailored advice and support.

For more information visit www.taxaffinity.com. To read more interesting articles like this visit www.taxaffinity.com/blog. Please feel free to comment and share this with your friends.