Sole Trader £70,000 Turnover

The Challenges

Our client is a sole trader with gross turnover just over the VAT registration limit. The business owner employs several staff and processes the payroll personally. Both these issues are typical of small businesses and the associated paperwork and management of payments of VAT and PAYE result in less time being able to be spent on focusing on the main activities of the business.

The introduction of RTI (Real Time Information) is also relevant and needs dealt with in the coming months.

What we did

• Reviewed the VAT position and advised that the Flat Rate Scheme would be appropriate given their particular circumstances.
• Advised that VAT should be prepared on an Annual Accounting basis.

The Outcome

These two pieces of advice helped greatly reduce the time spent dealing with VAT returns. This approach also had the added benefit of giving certainty over timing and amount of VAT due for the coming year whilst also reducing the VAT actually payable every year to HM Revenue & Customs by in excess of £1,000.

The saving afforded by the above advice gave the owner the opportunity to reduce their time spent on ‘paperwork’ by:

1. Enabling us to process the payroll and deal with the RTI issues;
2. Paying for the online accounting software Xero which was perfect for their business and gave timely information previously lacking.