Latest News

Payroll Team Shortlisted for 3 National Awards

We're proud to announce that our payroll team have been shortlisted in 3 different categories at the Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals (CIPP) Annual Excellence Awards.

The CIPP awards recognise the best in their field and Armstrong Watson’s nominations - and nominees - were shortlisted in the following categories:

A day in the life of...Alex Baugh

Having been with Armstrong Watson for a few months as a Payroll Operations Administrator, my days are still filled with learning new things. This could be anything from understanding a client's payroll and it’s quirks to a new element of payroll such as setting up court orders. I do have my own schedule but this is reduced to allow time for my own CPD and learning.

A day in the life of...Georgie Davidson

As a Payroll Operations Administrator, I am responsible for processing the payrolls for my clients accurately and on time. I currently have around 70 clients which pay at a variety of frequencies from weekly, fortnightly and monthly as well as annually and quarterly. My role is to ensure that not only are they paid on time, but they have a brilliant relationship with me, and therefore Armstrong Watson.

A day in the life of....Lisa Carruthers

A day in the life of....Sophie Johnson

What’s it worth?

I’m often instructed to value legal practices, whether that is part of advising on a merger/acquisition, restructuring, partnership dispute or retirement. Valuations have become increasingly important during the past couple of years, particularly as we have seen major changes within the ownership and trading structure of law firms. As we move forward into the post Legal Services Act era, and as external ownership of/investment in law firms is permitted, the valuation issues will become ever more important.

Compulsory purchase of land and Capital Gains Tax

There are Capital Gains Tax (CGT) consequences to consider when land is sold under a Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO). A sale like this may be involuntary and this is recognised by the tax system. This is by way of a form of rollover relief, which is similar but crucially different to that available to all trading businesses.

Dreaming of escaping a working life for retirement

Getting your date right will help your plans stay on target

Some people will have set their retirement date when they were in their 20s or 30s, and a great deal will have changed since then, including their State Pension age and perhaps their career plans.

It may seem like a finger-in-the-air guess when you’re younger, but the date that you set for retirement on a pension plan does matter. It will often dictate how your money is being invested and the communications you receive as you get nearer to that date.

Matching hopes for the future

Changes to the IR35 process or “off payroll workers” in the pipeline

The consultation on “off payrolling in the private sector” or IR35 is changing in 2020.

Pension lifetime allowance breach may impact more than a million workers

An estimated 1.25 million people are set to breach the current lifetime allowance (LTA) limit of £1.055 million for pension tax relief over the course of their working life, according to new research published