End of 2011/12 Tax Year

The end of the tax year is almost upon us so I thought I would identify a few key points for the new tax year.

Rates

From 6^th April 2012 you are now able to earn £8,105 before paying any tax and then pay 20% tax up to £34,370.

For national insurance it’s slightly different. For self employed you have to pay Class 2 at £2.65 per week and Class 4 at 9% above £7,605.

Regulations

The HMRC has got stricter on what can and can’t be claimed as costs by sole traders. Below is a list of a couple of things that are not allowable:

1. Client/Supplier Entertaining – as more and more trips and sporting events are being offset the HMRC has now disallowed all entertaining

2. Gifts – Gifts to customers are only allowable if they cost less than £50 and are promoting your product or service

3. Work Clothes – disallowed on the basis that they have dual purpose, the need to be warm and decent (!) as well as for business purpose

4. Food or Drink away from home – on the basis that you would pay to feed and water yourself if you were employed any food or drink you buy is not allowable

Tips

1. If you claim child tax credits you will need to complete the required forms by 31 July. By completing your self assessment tax return as soon as possible after 5^th April you can give accurate actual amounts

2. Is your partner employed? Make the most of employer provided benefits, especially childcare vouchers

3. Don’t forget retirement planning, for every £8 you put into a pension HMRC will contribute £2. Consult an IFA for best advice (I can recommend one if you don’t have one)

4. Record keeping – HMRC can investigate your tax return at any time and may request to see up to 6 years worth of information. Make sure you keep all original invoices, receipts, cheque book stubs and paying in book stubs as well as bank statements. If these aren’t available the HMRC may charge a penalty.

If you would like to have these items emailed to you in future drop me a line to be added to the list.

Services

I can provide a variety of services for individuals and small or medium sized enterprises.

These range from:

Bookkeeping - recording the day to day transactions of a business

Payroll - as much or as little as required from producing payslips and paying employees to calculating and sending payments to HMRC and completing year end returns

VAT - quarterly returns and payments

Tax - from self assessment tax returns to corporation tax returns and payments

Companies House returns - compilation and filing

If you are interested in any of these services and would like to discuss requirements and costs please get in contact

What is Bookkeeping?

Bookkeeping is the recording of financial transactions by an individual or organization.

The financial transactions include purchases and sales, receipts and payments.

A bookkeeper is responsible for ensuring the day to day transactions are recorded properly.

A bookkeeper should not be confused with an accountant.

An accountant is a provider of accounting: the measurement, disclosure and provision of financial information that enables decisions to be made about allocation of resources. An accountant can provide advice, a bookkeeper cannot.

By employing a bookkeeper you can save time on doing this task yourself and save money as the information provided to your accountant will already be in order, taking them less time to go through.