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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.

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

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.

Are changes to VAT imminent?

The Office for Tax Simplification (‘OTS’) released their report Value added tax: routes to simplification on the 7^th November 2017.

After taking some time to read through this report, I am pleased to report that there are many positive ideas coming out of this, along with one not so positive recommendation, which may have a significant impact on small businesses.

The portrait tour continues in Northallerton

Our 150th anniversary celebrations continued in Northallerton, with the clients' portraits being shown at Romanby Golf Club at the beginning of November.

Attending the event, alongside 80 guests, and featured as part of the project was Thirsk’s Judy Bell, founder of 30 year old award-winning artisan cheese producer, Shepherd’s Purse.

Also captured in oils was Beryl Gatenby, director of fit-out and construction specialists Simpson (York) Ltd who expressed her delight at being part of the portrait collection,

Is the VAT registration threshold set to be reduced?

Currently only businesses with taxable turnover above £85,000 per annum are required to be VAT registered in the UK.

As part of their review into the UK’s VAT system, the findings of which are due to be released this week, the Office for Tax Simplification (‘OTS’) has been reviewing whether this current threshold should be retained.

The UK currently has one of the highest registration thresholds in the world, with only Singapore having a significantly higher level.