Monthly Archives: January 2020

There are certain assets that may be carried on your balance sheet at values higher than their market value or past their sell by date. If so, and if these amounts are written-off against your profits, you will pay less tax. Three possibilities are sketched out below: Stock Businesses that accumulate stocks of goods do […]

At the end of this week, 31 January, the UK is leaving the EU. In actuality, we are entering the “transition” period during which we will need to negotiate our ongoing terms of trade with the EU. This transition period is due to end 31 December 2020. In the meantime, back at the coal-face, what […]

Paying VAT should never reduce your business profits as you are acting as an unpaid tax collector for HMRC: the VAT added to your sales (less any VAT paid on your purchases) is simply collected from your customers (less amounts paid to suppliers) and the difference paid to HMRC. But if my customers are registered […]

In most cases, if you have lived in your home during the entire period of your ownership of a property, then when you sell that property you should pay no capital gains tax (CGT) on any profit you make on the sale. You can claim the Private Residence Relief (PRR) to exempt any profits made. […]

The VAT Flat Rate Scheme (FRS) does simplify the calculation of VAT returns, but there are certain circumstances when you may no longer use the FRS. You will need to leave if your turnover on the anniversary of joining was more than £230,000 including VAT in the last twelve months or if you expect your […]

The treasury has announced that the next budget will be presented by the Chancellor, Sajid Javid, on Wednesday 11th March 2020. In recent years, the Budget has been held in the Autumn. The Autumn Budget 2019 was postponed due to the pre-election uncertainties last year. Now that our government has a significant working majority those […]

Even though many of the uncertainties that have plagued UK politics during 2019 are still to be decided, at least the hiatus in parliament has been resolved; the Conservatives now have a working majority and we can expect action on a number of fronts. Brexit Business readers with any sort of trading platform with the […]

The end of the calendar year is a popular accounting date for many businesses, but for those of us with a year-end accounting date of 31 March 2020, reviewing your management accounts for the nine months to the end of December 2019 is a must-do. Please use the following notes as a check list when […]

It is fairly common knowledge that the UK tax system is biased in favour of married couples or those partners who have entered into a formal civil partnership. Note that from 2 December 2019, the Civil Partnership (Opposite Sex Couples) Regulations 2019 came into effect in England and Wales allowing opposite sex couples to enter […]

Now that we are approaching the end of the 2019-20 tax year it’s worth noting that you are required to keep your self-employed business records – that underpin your self-assessment tax return for 2019-20 – for 5 years after the 31 January 2021 submission deadline. This means that you will need to retain your 2019-20 […]