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Blaming The Agent — Penalties For Errors That Are The Fault Of Your Accountant

Submitting your tax return is a confusing and daunting task that many of us seek assistance with but what happens when mistakes are made by the professionals hired to help? Out tax system is based on “Self Assessment”. In other words, it is the responsibility of the taxpayer to make a correct return of his income and gains, and to pay the tax on them. read more

 

'Sleeping Partners' - Claiming Back Your Class For Nic!

If you are a partner in a business, you will be charged to income tax on your share of the profits, and you will also have to pay Class 2 and Class 4 National Insurance Contributions. But what if you have a “sleeping partner”? James Bailey highlights a tax case which could enable you to make a claim. read more

 

Pitch Perfect - Finding The Right Funding

Positioning yourself with your prospective funders has always been important but never more so than now. Banks are, by and large, looking for reasons not to lend rather than in the good old days (possibly never to return) when you knew who to approach and you could line up several options. Only a select number of banks are actually looking for new business and, where others are lending it, it’s tending only to be to their existing customer base. read more

 

Government Could Use More Small To Medium Sized Enterprises To Help Reduce Budget Deficit

In the move to make savings of £6bn over the next year, the new coalition government should consider using more Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) for key IT contracts instead of the larger service providers they so frequently use. That’s according to David Macken, Managing Director of System Associates, who provide internet technologies to the public sector. read more

 

Companies See Big Benefits In Collaborating With Their Critics, Says New Research From The Economist Intelligence Unit

Companies are embracing a new breed of stakeholders and are gaining significant commercial benefits as a result, according to a new report released today, Dangerous liaisons: How businesses are learning to work with their new stakeholders, published by the Economist Intelligence Unit and sponsored by Verizon. In a global survey of senior executives, almost four-fifths (78%) of respondents say that interaction with special interest groups, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) or citizen groups is considered important to their business. read more

 

Taxation Top Tips

Whatever the Chancellor’s red box reveals on 22 June, Chas Roy-Chowdhury, head of taxation from ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) has ten non-taxing tax tips to legitimately lighten the load. Find out what they are in this article. read more

 

Get Prepared For The HMRC Clampdown

HMRC has announced plans to seize an additional £4bn in revenue in 2010/11 through a more aggressive strategy that could leave blameless businesses facing unnecessary probes into their dealings, according to Quentin Pain, founder of accountancy software company, Accountz. The total figure to be clawed back in tax under the new strategy is £16.1bn – a 33 per cent increase on the previous year. read more

 

Economic Salvation?

Amidst increasing speculation that the rate of VAT may be about to rise to 20 per cent, Roger Isaacs of Milsted. Langdon LLP, considers the implications. It is normally the case that if you ask three economists the same question you will get at least four different answers, but one thing about which they would all agree is that something needs to be done about the unprecedented level of government debt which has resulted from the banking crisis. read more

 

Companies Increasing Investment In People To Get More From Web Analytics Technology – New Report

Companies are finally investing in analysts and developing better strategies to get the most from their business performance and analytics tools, according to research published by Econsultancy and Lynchpin today. Spending on internal staff now commands more than half (53%) of web analytics budget, up from 42% last year. Technology spending now accounts for less than a third (30%) of companies’ web analytics budgets, down from 38% last year and 45% in 2008. Spending on consulting and services makes up approximately 17% of budget. read more

 

How Will The Government’s Proposed Spending Cuts Impact Sterling?

David Cameron paves the way for ‘painful cuts ahead that will be unavoidably tough’, with details in the emergency Budget on June 22nd. The impact of any proposed measures has raised concerns about the prospects for the UK economy, particularly considering the fragile nature of the recovery. This could have a distinct effect on sterling as investors show caution against buying into the currency. read more