Latest blogs for Services

EMI Share Options: the tax advantages. Enterprise Management Incentives (EMI) are a tax advantaged share option scheme that can be used to provide an incentive to key staff. The key tax advantage of EMI options in most cases is that no income tax or national insurance will be payable on the exercise of the option. The…

VAT Errors: Penalties or independent audit ? In an interesting development we have recently received instructions to undertake an independent audit of the UK VAT records of an overseas trader. The client, who is registered for VAT in this country, had completed VAT returns but made a mistake which resulted in a penalty being levied…

Abbreviated Accounts: keep your business finances confidential. Instead of filing full statutory accounts on the public record and revealing your sales and gross margin to your competitors and suppliers, you may be eligible to choose instead to file abbreviated accounts if certain conditions are met. Abbreviated accounts are shorter accounts and as such do not include…

Plant Hire Business: Sale successfully agreed. This plant hire business owner had unexpectedly taken over as managing director of this long established company five years ago, following her husband’s death. Since then she had reorganised the business and improved profitability, but had decided it was now time to retire. Whitings marketed the company for sale…

Mr & Mrs Foulser v HMRC: interesting test case on valuing shares in unquoted company. Business owners may only have to value shares in their family company on a few occasions during their lifetime (eg for commercial share transfers, gifts or capital taxes calculations), but the numbers involved are likely to be material. So a…

Business Book-keeping: Waiting for a ‘cloudy’ day? No matter what size your business is, it is a legal requirement to keep all records and documents if you need to complete a tax return. Failure to do so could lead to penalties of up to £3,000 if HMRC check your records. In addition to the legal…

Santander: Now offering specialist growth finance for TechCo’s Santander have signalled their appetite to lend to the Technology sector by establishing a dedicated £200m growth capital fund, marketed under their ‘Breakthrough’ banner. This is specifically designated to bridge the funding gap faced by fast growing SME’s. Funds borrowed from this source must be used to finance…

HMRC “Connect” System: Big brother is watching you ! HMRC is gathering an increasing amount of data from a variety of sources about taxpayers using its “Connect” system. Since 2010 HMRC has collected information from organisations such as the banks, the DVLA, local authorities and foreign tax jurisdictions, and uses it to build up a…

EIS Relief: HMRC publish new procedures. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is introducing new processes to help manage applications for advance assurance and EIS compliance statements from companies for investments made on or after 6 April 2015 that fall outside certain limits. With immediate effect, HMRC will not process advance assurance applications in respect of…

Charities: Changes to audit exemption thresholds. Changes to charity audit thresholds came into force on 31 March 2015, aimed at reducing the regulatory burden for charities. They include increasing the basic audit threshold from £500,000 to £1 million, meaning less charities will be required to subject their accounts to a statutory audit. Those charities can instead…