Latest blogs for Services

The Insolvency Service has urged individuals saving for retirement to protect their pension pots from criminals and ‘negligent trustees’.   Research carried out by the Service found that criminals use a range of tactics to convince savers to part with their funds, including persuading individuals to access their pension and invest in unregulated schemes.  …

  HMRC has extended its Making Tax Digital for VAT (MTDfV) pilot scheme to all eligible businesses. For most businesses, compliance with the regulations is mandated for VAT return periods beginning on or after 1 April 2019. However, MTDfV for some ‘more complex’ businesses has been deferred until 1 October 2019. This deferral applies to:…

As we approach the 1 April 2019 deadline for the introduction of MTD compliant VAT submissions, many businesses will at last be focusing on what solution they should adopt.   If their current bookkeeping system does not already have an upgrade that automatically provides this new functionality, they will be considering adopting ‘bridging software’.   Looking through…

HMRC are not known for being ahead of the curve, so trying to find official guidance on how exchange gains from selling bitcoin, and other crypto currencies, is expected to be self-assessed and taxed, was always going to be ‘problematic’. At the time of first researching this, the latest HMRC guidance was published in 3…

  Making Tax Digital (MTD) is the hot topic this year. It’s one of the most fundamental changes to the UK tax system since the introduction of self-assessment. From April 2019, VAT registered businesses with a turnover of over £85,000 will be required to keep records using software approved by HMRC.  We have condensed the…

  Borrowing to build Self-builders require more money up front than conventional homebuyers. This is because they have to buy their building plots and fund their planning applications before they can apply for any loans. Self-build mortgages tend to be interest-only as fixed-rate loans have substantial exit fees for those who change loans when the…

  If you are looking to start up a business, it is likely to be home based, at least in the early days.  Figures suggest that over 60% of businesses start in this way and that there are 2.9m businesses in the UK operating from home. This blog looks at some of the common questions…

Business owners, like the rest of us, will be all too aware that Christmas is a ‘challenging’ time. A short working month usually means less production, less sales and less payments from customers. Add to this cost of staff Christmas bonuses, various festive jollies and large tax bills just around the corner in January, and…

We are pleased to announce that our wealth management department are looking to introduce a Financial Services Apprenticeship scheme.   The aim of this scheme is to identify local talented individuals and help them to develop into the next generation of financial advisers/ planners and be part of our successful wealth management team.   Once…

In common with many people, our client was notified in January 2018 that he no longer needed to file a tax return.  As he receives income from multiple sources, i.e. a salary, various pensions and savings income, he wasn’t convinced that he had paid the right amount of tax for the year ended 5 April…