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The Accountants for Growth

National Minimum Wage 2020

Payroll
National Minimum Wage 2020
The treasury has announced that from 01 April 2020, the National Living Wage will increase by 6.2%. In real terms, this means that any employee over 25 years of age must now be paid at least £8.72 per hour.For those of you who are or employ workers aged under 25, there are also increases to the other minimum wage bands between 4.6% and 6.5%.
 
National Minimum and Living Wage rates are reviewed annually and changes are usually effective from April each year. The current and historic minimum wage bands can be checked at any time at https://www.gov.uk/national-minimum-wage-rates
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Changes to Employment Allowance

Payroll Small Business Tips
Changes to Employment Allowance
Are you an employer? Do you pay Employer National Insurance contributions for your staff? Employer NI contributions are a cost to the business and are currently* calculated at a rate of 13.8% on any wages over £166 per week per employee aged over 21 years.

Did you know that you could get up to £3,000 a year off your National Insurance bill if you’re an employer? This is the benefit of Employment Allowance.
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The Critical Numbers Every Business Owner Should Know

Small Business Tips
The Critical Numbers Every Business Owner Should Know
How the measurement of your business' key numbers will drive your profits. This blog will explain how by understanding and measuring your key numbers, you will be able to drive your business forward.

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Become an entrepreneur not a technician

Business Mentoring Small Business Tips
Become an entrepreneur not a technician

How start up businesses can avoid failure in the early years.

The Small Business Association claim that 50% of small businesses are likely to fail in the first two years after start up. Why? Because they are technicians and not true entrepreneurs who work on their business as opposed to working in it.

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Complexities of main residence v second home for higher rate stamp duty

Tax
Complexities of main residence v second home for higher rate stamp duty
Imagine a married couple own a house in Birmingham and one in Llandudno. They have nominated the Llandudno property as their principal private residence. They both spend three or four nights in Birmingham during the week as it is close to their respective work.

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Cycle to work scheme

Tax
Cycle to work scheme
How can you improve your fitness, help the environment and get a tax break all in one go? By signing up to the Cycle to work scheme which was introduced in 1999.
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Accountants for Growth - How we deliver that promise

Accounts Small Business Tips Latest News
Accountants for Growth - How we deliver that promise
One of the main drivers of the team at James,Stanley & Co is to help our clients grow their businesses. The question you may ask is ’How do you deliver on that promise?’
 
Cloud accounting and supporting apps have allowed us to deliver our growth services; they provide us with real time financial information about your business which in turn allows us the compare results against the growth forecasts which we have prepared and to challenge business owners to get to the next level.

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Latest tactics used by HMRC to seek out tax avoidance

Latest News Tax
Latest tactics used by HMRC to seek out tax avoidance
H.M. Revenue & Customers are increasingly sending out offices into the field to conduct undercover tests on taxpayers who they suspect are not declaring all on their income. They are targeting this approach particularly at cash traders such as public houses, restaurants, street food businesses, hairdressers and market stalls.
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HMRC target tax evasion in the catering sector

Tax Latest News
HMRC target tax evasion in the catering sector
We have it on good authority that HMRC is focusing a campaign on restaurants, takeaways and street food businesses with a number of taskforces concentrating on this sector. HMRC have successfully used taskforces in the past to collect tax from the building sector and public houses.
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Up & Coming Grant Funding

Latest News
Up & Coming Grant Funding
From April 2019 Grant Programmes will be released for certain job creating projects for SME's with less than 250 employees.
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Advantages and Disadvantages of Incorporation

Latest News Tax
Advantages and Disadvantages of Incorporation
An in-depth analysis
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Tax on Tips

Latest News Tax
Tax on Tips
The catering sector can sometimes benefit from tips received from customers and unfortunately there are some tricky tax rules which must be applied to any tips or gratuities received.
 
Tax is payable on income from employment and unfortunately HMRC consider tips to be income from employment.

Tags:
Tax
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VAT and the flat rate scheme

VAT Latest News
VAT and the flat rate scheme
Dan Fox and Andrew James ran a session on tax mitigation and business growth strategies at the inaugural NCASS Congress.

We touched on a number of ideas during the session which we are going to expand on in the coming weeks as they will be relevant to many caterers. One question that a delegate asked was: -

Tags:
VAT
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Auto Enrolment – Increase in Minimum Pension Contributions

Payroll Small Business Tips Latest News
Auto Enrolment – Increase in Minimum Pension Contributions
Under the Pensions Act 2008, every employer in the UK must put certain staff into a workplace pension scheme and contribute towards it. This is called 'automatic enrolment'. If you employ at least one person you are an employer and you have certain legal duties.
 
Tags:
Pensions payroll
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Submit your VAT Returns electronically - MTD

Latest News Small Business Tips Computer & IT Spupport VAT Tax
Submit your VAT Returns electronically - MTD
From April 2019 all businesses with a turnover above the VAT threshold of £85,000 will need to send their VAT returns to HM Revenue & Customs in digital format.
Tags:
software Cloud VAT making tax digital
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Promote Your Business for Free!

Small Business Tips Computer & IT Spupport Digital Marketing Business Mentoring
Promote Your Business for Free!
Gaining regular Google reviews is an easy way to promote your business and it helps to promote your website with search engines. 
 
Prospective customers and clients will want to establish that you are a trustworthy and reliable business. One way in which they can do this is by reading your online reviews. This is fast becoming the way in which potential customers assess your business before they take the decision to buy from or engage with you. 
Tags:
SEO Marketing
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Paying your Staff - 2018/19

Payroll Small Business Tips
Paying your Staff - 2018/19
There is no doubt that the authorities are stepping up their game against businesses who are not paying their staff the National Living Wage. Recently 50 businesses in the hospitality sector, including two fish and chip shops, have been targeted by H.M. Revenue & Customs resulting in the businesses being censored and fined.
Tags:
wages national living wage national minimum wage
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How Benchmarking your business can keep you ahead of the Game

Business Mentoring Small Business Tips
How Benchmarking your business can keep you ahead of the Game
We live in uncertain times and it is critical therefore for business owners to stay ahead of the competition. The phrase “Cash is King” has never been so pertinent. Most business leaders find it informative to compare their business’ performance to others in their sector and to see how they may be able to strengthen their cash flow. 
Tags:
Benchmarking cash cashflow Growth profit
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Getting compliant for Making Tax Digital

Latest News Small Business Tips VAT Tax Accounts
Getting compliant for Making Tax Digital
MTD-flow-chart.pdf
If you need any help with making sense of how Making Tax Digital will affect your business, get in touch with us! 
Tags:
Tax VAT making tax digital Cloud software
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Paying Too Much for your Mobile?

Small Business Tips Latest News
Paying Too Much for your Mobile?
Information has been put out in the public domain by Citizen’s Advice, warning mobile users with a contracted handset that they may be suffering unnecessary charges.
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