During the last Budget, the Government announced new conditions to entrepreneurs’ relief that would take immediate effect to change the definition of a “personal company” for shareholders who claim entrepreneurs’ relief. By introducing these changes, they hope to restrict shareholders relief to those with a genuine material stake of at least five per cent in… Read more…

A new study into preparations for Making Tax Digital amongst businesses has found that only 57 per cent of firms are ready to comply with the new regime by 1 April 2019. Despite the various delays and changes to the Government’s new digital tax system, businesses have had several years to prepare themselves for this… Read more…

The Small Business Commissioner, Paul Uppal, has recommended a new “traffic light” system that will warn smaller firms which businesses have a consistent record of late payment and those most likely to request longer payment terms. It is thought that around £2.5 billion is lost annually within the economy due to late payments and they… Read more…

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has dropped its insistence that all company directors must submit tax returns following a series of tribunal rulings. For several years, HMRC has advised in its guidance on the gov.uk website that company directors should register for Self-Assessment and this has also been part of online tools designed to help… Read more…

The next increase in Automatic Enrolment (AE) pension contributions for both employees and employers will take place from 6 April 2019. The minimum employer contribution will increase from two per cent to three per cent, while the employee contribution will rise from three per cent to five per cent – taking the total minimum contribution… Read more…

The cash flow difficulties that late payments cause small businesses are well known. However, the cost of recovering late payments is less well publicised, despite being a major and growing expense – coming in at around £9,000 last year for an average business. Research by Bacs Payment Schemes found that the cost of recovering late… Read more…

Confidence amongst small businesses has tumbled to a seven-year low – in part due to the uncertainty of Brexit. A survey carried out by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has found that nearly one in three small exporters think that sales to overseas customers will fall during the early part of this year. Meanwhile,… Read more…

As a business takes off, the level of investment it needs in order to expand can significantly outpace growth in revenues and profits. One of the options open to entrepreneurs at this stage in the development of a business is to issue new shares that secure new investment, without the financial pressures that come with… Read more…

According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), UK tax revenue as a percentage of GDP rose to 33.3 per cent in 2017. This was up from 32.7 per cent in the previous year and was more than double the average rate of increase for nations covered by the OECD’s research. Of the… Read more…

It should seem obvious whether an individual must submit a self-assessment tax return annually. Yet, each year, thousands of people find themselves brought into the regime unwittingly. To help taxpayers prepare their affairs accordingly, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is offering a free online tool to help people find out whether they need to submit… Read more…