Get them while they're hot!

In the Budget of 2012 George Osborne initially proposed imposing VAT on all hot food. This had the effect of uniting the North and South—(Well the South West anyway). Yes 20% vat on pies, steak bakes and the venerable Cornish pasty beloved by the masses and not just in Cornwall!

The media loved this and portrayed it as an attack on the staple diet of the working classes of Great Britain. After a relatively short media campaign, the government relented and brought in some new, more complicated rules on hot food. This was sufficient to appease the bakers, and the consumers.

Staff parties and gifts at Christmas are not always tax free!

With Christmas just around the corner and staff Christmas parties in full swing, businesses need to ensure they keep the taxman happy as well as employees.  

There are Christmas exemptions for trivial gifts, but there are some conditions.

Budget Highlights for UK Manufacturing

Whilst the recent budget didn’t throw up any significant headline announcements for our Manufacturing Sector, there were various items outlined which should have a positive impact on the sector, including:

Research & Development

The rate of the R&D expenditure credit for non SMEs will be increased from 11% to 12% with effect from 1 January 2018.

Enterprise Investment Scheme

Directors and annual payrolls – the first impacts of making tax digital

Over the last couple of months the legal sector team at Armstrong Watson has received a number of queries from Directors with regard to their eligibility for statutory entitlements such as free child care and statutory maternity pay. 

In a limited company structure, Directors will often decide to pay themselves their salary once a year through their annual payroll. This is particularly true in small companies without other non-director employees.

Easy Ecommerce Accounting Integration

After watching a good webinar this morning I thought I’d share a summary.

More and more retailers are moving into the Amazon sales channel.  Whether it be simply selling on Amazon or the full works by using Fulfilled By Amazon (FBA) where Amazon hold the stock, take orders and deal with distribution.

FBA is more expensive but you can take advantage of Amazon’s great shipping rates and you don’t have to pay for someone to do your packaging and getting the items collected.

Performance in the legal sector market 2016/17

Our unique business support for law firms and our endorsement by the Law Society mean that we act for over 100 law firms every year.  As a result, we gather a huge amount of financial and operational information on those firms which we compile in our benchmarking database.  Although each and every one of our law firm clients receive a personalised benchmarking report for discussion as we review their annual accounts, we have also summarised the results of all of the firms in our annual benchmarking report for 2016/17.

Forensic Team Doubles in Size

Armstrong Watson Accountants, Business and Financial Advisers have announced that, just one year on from its establishment, their Forensic Team has doubled in size to meet increasing demand.

Based in the firm’s Leeds office, the Forensic Team’s expansion comes in response to growth in shareholder disputes, business and intellectual property valuation work, and commercial litigation.

The existing team of five, led by Partner and Head of Forensic Accounting, Matthew Geale, assisted by Liesel Annible and Chis Hine, has been joined by Lindsay Tarrant as a Senior Manager. 

Budget Review for Retail Sector

There are number of areas in the Autumn Budget that will impact on the retail sector.

The reduction in the VAT registration threshold which had been suggested prior to the budget was avoided, at least for now, with the threshold frozen at £85,000 for the next two years whilst the government consults on the matter. 

Making Tax Digital is edging closer and from April 2019, businesses trading above the VAT registration threshold will need to report their VAT information through this system.

Impact of the Budget for Family Businesses

It will come with little surprise that the second budget of 2017 failed to offer significant headline announcements, despite the rumour mill going in to overdrive during the past few days.

The Chancellor delivered a budget speech based predominantly on the economic climate, with specific focuses on growth and debt, especially given the backdrop of the impending ‘Brexit’ effect.  Growth and decreasing unemployment bring optimism for a post ‘Brexit’ Britain and offer some reassurance to family business owners - although there will be challenging obstacles ahead.

The Budget Tightrope

Graham poles, Armstrong Watson's Tax Partner gives his views on the upcoming Autumn Budget given by the Chancellor Philip Hammond.