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A Stockingful of Tenuous Christmas Tax Facts

Santa Claus nearly bankrupted by a Finnish tax bill - the company that owned Finland's Santa Claus Office declared itself bankrupt in August this year when faced with an unpaid €200,000 (£143,000) tax bill. Revenue had dropped following a fall in Russian visitors. The office is a major visitor attraction in Lapland but was saved a few days later by Lapland Safaris Group which bought the struggling company and paid off the tax bill.

Are you a business owner with an unprotected shareholding?

Recent research by Legal and General reveals that many business owners don’t fully appreciate the consequences of the death of a shareholder or a partner and the potential impacts this could have on their business.

The case study below hopefully helps to illustrate the problems that a lack of protection can create. This isn’t a real company, but most business owners should be able to identify with the circumstances which are relatively common amongst enterprises of all sizes.

Small Business Saturday - 5th December 2015

Are you going to support your local Small Business Saturday?

Saturday the 5^th December is Small Business Saturday; a specific day to celebrate our local independent retailers.  Small Business Saturday is a grass roots, non-commercial campaign to help support local independent retailers.

Science & Technology – Autumn Statement Update

The Government announced a firm commitment to ensuring that the UK remains at the forefront of world science.

Don’t forget about VAT this Christmas

Although I do not want to be portrayed as Scrooge this Christmas time, I thought it would be beneficial to remind everyone of how VAT should be accounted for on Christmas gifts and parties.

Christmas Gifts

As we approach the festive season, many businesses choose to give gifts to their staff, suppliers or customers. These will be seen as for the purpose of the business, as they could be used to help motivate staff or to build stronger relationships with customers and suppliers. Therefore input VAT can be recovered on the purchase of the gifts.

The Government Timesheet – the essential paperwork for the non-resident

Your residency has a big impact on your UK tax position. Generally residents are taxable on worldwide income and non-residents only on UK income sources. One of the most common situations we come across are people working abroad - perhaps for a secondment, perhaps for many years - who retain a home or family in the UK but are non-resident for tax purposes. This usually means their overseas employment is not subject to UK tax but instead subject to local taxes where they carry out their work. 

Gift Aid changes on giving to charities and community amateur sports clubs (CASCs)

HMRC have updated their guidance concerning a charity's obligation to make donors aware of their liability for any shortfall should they have paid insufficient tax to cover Gift Aid claims.

Donors must be charged an amount of Income Tax and/or Capital Gains Tax for the tax year in which Gift Aid donations are made at least equal to the Income Tax treated as deducted from the total of all their Gift Aid donations made in that tax year. Donors who haven’t been charged sufficient tax to cover the Income Tax deducted from their Gift Aid donations will owe the amount of the shortfall in Income Tax to HMRC.

Get ready for the latest changes to the SRA Accounts Rules

After initially saying it was thinking of removing the requirement for law firms to submit an accountant’s report, the SRA has issued its new requirements, which make a number of changes for firms with periods ending on or after 1 November 2015.

Armstrong Watson win Best use of Digital and Social Media award at the CN Group Business Awards

Armstrong Watson were privileged to attend the CN Group Business Awards Ceremony at Carlisle Racecourse last Wednesday where they won the award for ‘Best use of Digital and Social Media’.

Farmers able to get specialist grant advice at Borderway Agri-Expo

Armstrong Watson are offering local farmers a unique opportunity to talk to a specialist at the Borderway Agri-Expo about the grants that they might be eligible for. The event takes place on Friday 30 October at Borderway Mart, Rosehill, Carlisle.