Transfer of Personal Allowance

Remember, 2015/16 sees the introduction of a transferable personal allowance for married couples and civil partners.  As the amount that may be transferred is 10% of the basic personal allowance, that will now be £1,060.

The recipient must not be liable to tax above the basic rate and is eligible to a tax reduction of 20% of the transferred amount, in other words £212.

Hopefully we will pick this up where we can,  but we don’t always act for both husband and wife so if you think this applies to you remember to let LIRIC know.

tax return

Tax Returns

LIRIC successfully filed 340 tax returns on behalf of our clients.  Some were very last minute – you know who you are! We thought you might be interested in some of the previous years unsuccessful excuses used in failed appeals against HMRC penalties for late filing and payment:

  • My pet dog ate my tax return…and all the reminders.
  • I was up a mountain in Wales, and couldn’t find a post box or get an Internet signal.
  • I fell in with the wrong crowd.
  • I’ve been travelling the world, trying to escape from a foreign intelligence agency.
  • I’ve been busy looking after a flock of escaped parrots and some fox cubs.
  • A work colleague borrowed my tax return, to photocopy it, and didn’t give it back.
  • I live in a camper van in a supermarket car park.
  • My girlfriend’s pregnant.
  • I was in Australia.

On 6 April those HMRC “Notices to file a tax return for 5/4/15” will be coming through your post box – so get organised – let LIRIC have everything in good time and not only does your tax return get filed but we can advise you of your tax liability – preventing any unexpected payments.  LIRIC will be writing to you soon.

Xero Certified Advisor

XERO Bookkeeping News

Our recent launch of Xero to some of our clients has proved a great success.  LIRIC are putting together some case studies and will shares these with you in future editions.
Cloud technology gives a whole new platform to work from and there are a variety of add-on apps to help you manage to work ‘on the move’.
A new poll by UK mobile provider EE sampling 1,000 small businesses shows more than two thirds (69%) believe they’ll enjoy double-digit growth next year, with an average projection of 26%. The top business apps from Xeros add-on marketplace are ideally suited to small Companies with big ambitions they are:-

1 – Receipt Bank helpfully converts receipts, invoices and other piles of paper into Xero data, making expenses and outstanding bills easier to manage and account for.

2 – Harvest: For a year-round bumper financial crop, download this user-friendly tracking and reporting tool. Used to create invoices based on tracked hours and capture profitability.

3 – GoCardless: An ideal entry-level solution, GoCardless is a cheap and simple app for small Companies that want to take direct debit payments online. – You will see this link on our new online invoices – its proving a real hit.

4 – Float: This online cash management, budgeting and forecasting tool helps you keep on top of cash flow. Use it to understand financial trends and patterns, factor seasonality and identify potential issues in time to act.

5 – Xero Touch mobile accounting app: Latest OnePoll findings show more than half (54%) of UK small to medium businesses (SMBs) are concerned about their cash flow. Keep yours moving and manage your business ‘on the move’ with Xero Touch. From back office to building sites, use it to reconcile, send invoices and create expense claims. – This is fab – you can see what’s going on in your business from your phone – reconcile bank, issue invoice…

Tax Investigation Update

HMRC has never been more focused or organised in its pursuit of additional income from tax investigations than at present. During 2013/14, £9.2bn was collected in extra tax from compliance work, including £8bn from big business and £268m from the UK’s wealthiest individuals.

In total, the taxman delivered £23.9bn last year from cash it collected – and loopholes it closed –  to prevent tax evasion and tax avoidance. The figures highlight that individuals and businesses of all shapes, sizes and wealth are in the line of fire as HMRC looks to achieve a record £24.5bn this year. – read more here.

If you are not currently insured with us against this and now think you should be then do let us know.

PS- LIRIC’S routine renewals will be in April.

Diary for Tax Return Dates

DATE WHAT’S DUE
19 December  PAYE & NIC deductions, and CIS   return and tax, for month to 5/12/2014.
(22 December if you pay electronically)
1 January Corporation tax for year to 31/3/14
19 January  PAYE & NIC deductions, and CIS return and tax, for month to 05/01/2015
(due 22 January if you pay electronically)
31 January Deadline to file 2014 Self Assessment (SA) tax return online
31 January Income tax balancing payment for 2013/14, plus CGT for 2013/14
31 January Income tax 1st payment on account for 2014/15
VAT

VAT ‘mini one stop shop’ (MOSS)

Are you one of the 60% of SME’s (Small Medium Enterprises) unaware of VAT changes coming from the start of next year? For businesses that provide ‘digital services’ to consumers that include downloaded apps, music, games and e-books, VAT will no longer be charged based on where the company is located, but the EU country where the customer is based.
Digital services include telecoms, satellite TV, the downloading of computer software, music, books and manuals. From 01 January 2015, the UK trader will need to identify where in the EU their non-business customer is located and apply the VAT rate for that country, instead of UK VAT. The customer’s location will be where the consumer is established, has their permanent address or usually resides.

The VAT Mini One Stop Shop (MOSS) has been introduced to save these businesses from having to register for VAT in every EU Member State in which they supply their services.

 Businesses can now register for the online service from 20 October 2014. Registration for the service has to be carried out by the business itself. Once registered, you can authorise us as your agent to act on your behalf for VAT MOSS. Please contact us if you think you may be affected by these new rules.

As 2015 approaches planning ahead is vital

Two-thirds of business leaders say they simply don’t have enough time to step back from day-to-day tasks to focus on a long-term strategy, according to a new report from GrowthAccelerator.  And yet those who have taken the time to plan say it has put them, on average, ten months ahead of where they would have otherwise been.  Other findings include:
  • The survey also finds that half of business leaders are unable to describe their business objectives for the next 12 months “off the top of their head”.
  • only 16% of business leaders spend the majority of their time planning for growth;
  • nearly half (47%) of business leaders are not working regularly, or at all, on their business strategy;
  • 36% only revisit their business plans occasionally;
  • 3% don’t even have a business plan.

Business owners are unsure how to grow their business according to the report, with 44% saying that a key challenge is knowing how to grow and with 30% saying that defining a clear strategy for growth is an obstacle.

The ‘Working On Not In’ report from GrowthAccelerator shows that this is made more difficult for the business leaders who do not have enough time to step back from the day-to-day to focus on a long-term strategy.

Simon Littlewood, director at GrowthAccelerator, said: “For business leaders, knowing the best way to achieve growth is a sizeable challenge and an added pressure in changeable economic times. This, combined with the time-consuming demands of ensuring a business is running smoothly on a day-to-day basis, means looking forward with longer term planning can slip down the to-do list, but it is essential for success.”

Meanwhile, new research by digital marketing agency, Engineered Marketing, finds that the majority (64%) of UK small businesses do not have a documented marketing plan. And women in business are more likely to ‘wing it’ than their male counterparts, with 70% of women saying they did not have a marketing plan compared to just 62.2% of men.

 

LIRIC can work with you to help you identify your goals, document them and achieve them. Contact LIRIC  to see how our business growth programme can work for your business.
Hour Glass

Auto Enrolment

The Pensions Regulator has started to send out letters for businesses with staging dates in May 2017!! That seems a long way off but you need to start taking action now – have you received this letter? – see here – please make sure you keep it and let LIRIC have a copy if you wish us to register on your behalf.  DO NOT delay in registering.

 

Santa

Santa’s Sizeable Sleigh

When Santa Claus does his Christmas Night travels, folklore suggests that he stops the world clock for 2 minutes while he delivers all the parcels and presents to children around the world.  This cannot be true.  It is reported that there are  2.3 billion children around the globe.

Science tells us that the volume of presents to a child is on average at Christmas is 2.3 cubic foot.  Given that volume and the number of children it makes Santa’s sleigh 245m long, 167m wide and 40m deep.  Allowing a reindeer of some stature can pull a load of 1/3 of a ton that would mean that not 8 reindeer pull the sleigh, but 1,260.  –  This actually means that the world is stopped not for 20 secs but 364 years!  I really should get out more!

Managing Difficult Employees

Effectively managing difficult employees can be a challenging prospect. Whether it is the employee who is consistently late, who complains incessantly or who seems to constantly upset their co-workers, every company must deal with difficult employees.These situations drain management’s time and energy, impact on the morale of co-workers and interfere with overall workplace productivity. The key to effectively addressing such situations begins with an understanding of the issues and a clear identification of the actual source of the problem.

Even the best employee can have an off-day (or week, or month). Before deciding if an employee is difficult, managers must first step back and neutrally assess the situation. The first question to ask is whether the behavior is critical enough to implement a formal HR process. Another important concept to consider is that ‘different’ does not equal ‘difficult’. There will always be employees that a manager does not gel with, understand or even like. However, this is not enough to deem an employee difficult. To constitute a “difficult employee”, behavior must exceed acceptable standards, policies and procedures or interfere with productivity.

Define the Problem

When addressing the problems created by difficult employees, the focus should always be on job performance. It is management’s duty to clearly explain why the issue is a problem, and how the problem is adversely impacting the company. At this stage it may be useful to refer to the employee’s job description and the company handbook.Clarify Roles
It is important that both the manager and employee are absolutely clear on individual roles. The manager’s role is to ensure business success by leading, coaching and supporting employees. The employee’s role is to meet predefined performance and behavior standards, and function as a cooperative team member. A key concept that employees must grasp is that it is not only the level of their performance that is important, but also how their performance affects the functioning of their team, department and the company overall.

Identify Expectations
This is where the manager should clarify four things – the employee’s performance, responsibilities, impact of their behavior and the consequences if it dozen’t change. A follow up and ongoing review should be scheduled and regular updates between the manager and the employee will help to move things forward and get the employee