Back to Blog

Spring Budget 2020

“Getting it done” was the constant refrain of Chancellor Rishi Sunak during his first Budget, delivered on 11 March 2020. An ironic phrase given this budget was originally scheduled for November 2019. The original Budget being delayed by the election. Of course, that original Budget was due to have been delivered by Sajid Javid who resigned from Government just four weeks ago. It has been a very long time since the last Budget announcement on 29 October 2018 and so much has happened politica...

Company cars - Electric vehicle opportunity

Our general advice on company cars has been to avoid them. When you are the owner/manager of a business the personal tax and National Insurance costs far outweigh any benefit and it made no financial sense to have a company car. Well that advice is changing, but only if you are happy to have a fully electric vehicle or a hybrid car then there may be an opportunity here. If you are wedded to a vehicle that emits lots of Co2 then this is not for you but if you are happy to drive a lower emiss...

Training video - Receipt Bank and Xero

For a number of months our clients have been asking us to produce a training video on how to use Xero and Receipt Bank.Both of these pieces of software have fabulous training videos of their own. Indeed you can find the links to Xero training here on our website and Receipt Bank training here.However, there is a problem with those because they do not link both pieces of software together and also fail to deal with niche areas.Given our significant section of clients who are proper...

Autumn Budget 2018

Philip Hammond delivered his 3rd Budget as Chancellor on 29 October 2018. The Government have clearly decided to loosen the purse strings a little and the commitment to bring the Government finances back in to surplus has been delayed until at least 2025. Growth forecasts of 1.4 – 1.6% for each of the next 5 years are very low by historical standards and paint a very gloomy picture of the British economy. As the Chancellor pointed out this Budget is predicated on the UK getting an average Trad...

The Autumn Budget 2017

Philip Hammond gave his 2nd Budget as Chancellor on 22 November 2017. The Government’s original targets have been shredded and it is expected that the books will now not come in to Annual Balance until the mid 2020’s. The Chancellor did announce some big spending plans setting up various agencies to support new businesses and also considering ways to force the big house builders to start building on their land banks. There are also moves to force owners of empty properties to get them occupi...

VAT flat rate scheme – a gravy train that has hit the buffers

A lot of clients and small businesses have taken advantage of the VAT Flat Rate Scheme....

Stamp duty alert

Since April 2016, purchasers of a second residential property (or any company residential property) will be aware that there is a premium of 3% on the stamp duty payable over the usual rates. One thing to be aware of here, is that the legislation says that you pay this if you own another residential property. What has not be widely publicised, is the fact that if you are married, you are treated as one person for the purpose of these rules. Even if you don't own a residential property and your...

Changes to mortgage interest relief

Well the day is soon dawning for the changes to the deductibility of interest for landlords. There have been a lot of scare stories in the press so I thought it prudent to set the record straight about what is happening and who is impacted....

The Autumn statement 2016

Phillip Hammond gave his first announcement since being appointed Chancellor on 23 November 2016. It was heavy on reduced growth figures and deficits further in to the future blamed, in the main, on the vote to leave the European Union. Here are some of the key points from our detailed newsletter:...