Latest blogs for Specialisms

With the rising costs of energy affecting both homeowners and businesses, many are looking to renewable forms of energy to reduce their costs. Harvesting solar power with solar panels is one alternative. Sites can range from the roof of your house to hundreds of acres of rural land.   Grants are available for homeowners to…

When dealing with agricultural tenancies SDLT – Stamp Duty Land Tax can be a complex issue. On completion in England of a farm business tenancy – FBT – it’s important to establish whether an SDLT return needs to be submitted, whether it is payable and if so, how much.   For a fixed term FBT,…

The Food & Drinks Sector Council’s latest report on increased productivity and sustainability in the agricultural sector calls on farmers to challenge their status quo against what they want to do and what they want to achieve.   Highlighting the numerous challenges faced on an almost daily basis, it focuses on maintaining farming profitability to…

Applications for the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) opened in June and will remain open year-round so that farmers can apply when it suits them. Interestingly, this will mean that individual farmers and landowners all have differing agreement start dates, unlike the old BPS scheme.   Based on DEFRA’s guidance, once an application has been submitted…

Google ‘planting woodland and trees’ and you will find dozens of pages of advice but let’s focus on the farmer’s needs and the wide range of benefits to our readers where farmland grazing is poor or your land requires more fertilisers.   Large scale planting can: • Attract wildlife • Provide shelter for livestock •…

As we continually move from the analogue to the digital age, approving business documents by e-signature is becoming evermore common place. In response to this, The Law Society have just issued an updated practice note. This practice note sets the scene by recognising that e-signatures can be in various forms: name typed on a document…

I can remember thinking that accountancy would be a boring career. Over 40-years later I found myself writing the introduction to our newsletter after a budget – aka ‘fiscal statement’ – which incensed the environmental lobby, attracted criticism on the world stage and plunged the pound to record lows against the dollar.   Now, it’s…

As VAT repayment traders, farmers have long enjoyed the privilege of being able to submit their VAT returns late with impunity. Beware. For VAT Returns for periods beginning after 1 January 2023 late submission will have consequences, even for those due a refund. Each late return will attract a point and, for traders submitting quarterly…

What is ATED? Annual tax on enveloped dwellings (ATED) is an annual tax charge payable by companies, partnerships (with at least one corporate partner) and certain collective investment schemes that own UK residential properties exceeding £500,000 in value.   When do I need to value the property? The property needs to be valued on specific…

Many businesses invest in science and technology research and development to improve their competitiveness. The UK Government encourages companies to develop new processes, products and services, as well as improvements to existing solutions by giving tax relief as a proportion of qualifying R&D expenditure. From April 2023 there are a few changes to the rules:…