HINTS AND TIPS
The latest hints and tips from our blogPlease note: The information contained in this site is provided for information purposes only and is of a general nature. It is not a substitute for specific professional advice related to your own circumstances. You are recommended to obtain specific professional advice before you take any action.
Finance cost relief for residential lets
Life after mortgage interest relief for landlords. Historically, landlords have enjoyed generous income and capital gains tax reliefs which helped make residential property an attractive investment for those looking to add to their monthly incomes or provide for...
Taxes to consider when moving home
A property tax shake-up fuels a house buying surge. If you are considering moving home in the second half of 2020/21, you are by no means alone. In the month leading up to 8 August 2020, 149,000 properties were put on the market – the highest number since before the...
Caseron Insider – October 2020
Each month we bring you the latest tax and business updates with our Insider Newsletter. Take a look at this month's insights below, or download our Newsletter and read it at your leisure. Highlights Commission set to recommend national living wage freeze Chancellor...
Chancellor throws new jobs lifeline to save the UK economy
Emergency jobs package to replace furlough scheme. With the furlough scheme winding down and local lockdowns on the increase to try and curb the rising tide of coronavirus, it was almost inevitable the Chancellor would have to step in again. On 24 September 2020,...
Valuing a Business? How much could yours be worth?
Four main methods for valuing a business. Whether you’re making exit plans or you want to give confidence to investors, knowing the value of your business is a vital step. From the inside, it might be hard to say what that value is. You’ve put long hours of hard work...
Getting on top of your self-assessment tax return
Why 2019/20 is the year to get your self-assessment tax return done early With everything that’s happened so far this year, it might be easy to forget your obligations to file a tax return for 2019/20 by midnight on 31 January 2021. The coronavirus pandemic and...
7 Tips for keeping great VAT records
Our top tips for keeping good VAT records Good housekeeping in the 'financial' sense is essential for keeping on top of your bookkeeping and VAT records. 1. Keeping trading records in good order Not only must you keep the records HMRC wants, but they must be ordered...
Caseron Insider – September 2020
Each month we bring you the latest tax and business updates with our Insider Newsletter. Take a look at this month's insights below, or download our Newsletter and read it at your leisure. Highlights Video-witnessed wills become legal in England and Wales Businesses...
Business tax planning in 2020/21
Managing and planning business tax during COVID-19. Even among those who follow good tax-planning practice and maintain forecasts running several years forward, it is unlikely that many foresaw the dramatic end to the 2019/20 tax year. With the arrival of COVID-19 and...
Post-COVID-19 support for businesses
New measures announced in economic update. Since the Budget in March, businesses have seen a stream of different support schemes and policies announced to help them manage the financial impacts of the coronavirus lockdown. When Chancellor Rishi Sunak stood in the...
Turn Profit Into A Habit Not An Annual Event
You should not have to wait for your annual accounts to be prepared before you know whether or not you have made a profit. What you need to do is implement the three Pillars of Profit to embed profit into your daily activities. We’ll show you how!
Caseron Insider – August 2020
Each month we bring you the latest tax and business updates with our Insider Newsletter. Take a look at this month's insights below, or download our Newsletter and read it at your leisure. Highlights Capital gains tax under review as Treasury considers overhaul...
Caseron Insider – July 2020
Each month we bring you the latest tax and business updates with our Insider Newsletter. Take a look at this month's insights below, or download our Newsletter and read it at your leisure. Highlights UK economy slumps into recession after record contraction in April...
HMRC resumes investigations after COVID-19
What to expect from tax probes in 2020/21. After temporarily pausing tax investigations as COVID-19 business support measures rolled out earlier this year, HMRC has restarted probes into businesses and individuals’ tax affairs. The Revenue has also started to direct...
Passing on wealth to the next generation
How to pass on wealth to the next generation. There are many ways to reduce or eliminate the inheritance tax payable on your estate without using trusts. But for some, especially if you are very wealthy, they may not be enough. For others, the control that trusts...
Caseron Insider – June 2020
Each month we bring you the latest tax and business updates with our Insider Newsletter. Take a look at this month's insights below, or download our Newsletter and read it at your leisure. Highlights Relief as Sunak extends furlough scheme until the end of October...
Planning for redundancies in 2020
With redundancies on the rise due to the coronavirus, is it time you understood how termination payments work in 2020? Beyond the human tragedy of COVID-19 is an economic one. Swathes of the UK economy have been flatlining and a rising redundancies rate is inevitable...
Capital goods scheme for VAT
How it works and interacts with capital allowances. The VAT capital goods scheme affects input VAT recovery relating to high-value capital assets. Input VAT is a tax incurred on most purchases made by VAT-registered firms, and they can usually reclaim it from HMRC in...
Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme
As part of changes to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), HMRC have outlined some important dates that may impact you in the coming weeks if you have furloughed or plan to furlough staff.
The scheme will close to anyone who hasn’t been furloughed for 3 weeks by 30 June, so you will only be able to claim for employees after that if they have been furloughed for a full three-week period at any time before the end of June.
Discretionary Grant Fund
The national Discretionary Grant Fund, which is being administered by local authorities, is now open for local applications from businesses and charities who meet the Government’s criteria. The fund has been set up by the Government to accommodate certain small...
Is your business built for profit?
Is your business built for profit? Does it generate repeatable, sustainable and generous profit? Profits that you are happy with and allow you to take home the level of pay that you want? Or is it more of a profit dribble? Take the Profit Hacker Quiz: How many of...
Inheritance tax planning in 2020/21
What to consider during the COVID-19 lockdown. Coronavirus has many people reflecting on their own mortality. So if you have more time on your hands during the lockdown, planning your estate may be a wise way to spend it. Benjamin Franklin observed there are only two...
Building a business that can afford to pay you
One of the most stressful and overwhelming challenges of running and building a business - is making sure YOU get paid. When you are working flat out and there is not enough money in your business to pay you - it's enormously stressful, frustrating and demotivating....
Working from home during COVID19
Can employees reclaim any expenses whilst working from home? On Monday 16 March 2020, Prime Minister Boris Johnson told the public to work from home where possible in an attempt to contain the ongoing coronavirus outbreak in the UK. For more than 1.7 million people it...
Caseron Insider – May 2020
Each month we bring you the latest tax and business updates with our Insider Newsletter. Take a look at this month's insights below, or download our Newsletter and read it at your leisure. Highlights Tax group demands VAT simplification of food and drink rules...
Coronavirus support for businesses
Options to limit the financial damage of Coronavirus It’s hard to believe that Rishi Sunak has only been the Chancellor since Valentine’s Day, given what he’s had to deal within a matter of weeks since. On the back of delivering a Spring Budget, Sunak has revealed an...
Personal tax changes for 2020/2021
What you need to know for the tax year. The Government left it to the very last minute to announce its tax plans for 2020/21. Fortunately, Chancellor Rishi Sunak had few surprises up his sleeve in last month’s Spring Budget. Three of the main taxes in the UK – income...
Caseron Insider – April 2020
Each month we bring you the latest tax and business updates with our Insider Newsletter. Take a look at this month's insights below, or download our Newsletter and read it at your leisure. Highlights COVID-19 postpones off-payroll extension to the private sector...
COVID-19 – 15 things we are doing to help our clients
COVID-19 15 things we are doing to help our clients get through these turbulent times.
HMRC’s approach to taxing cryptocurrencies
HMRC updates tax guidance for Cryptocurrencies. Since the launch of Bitcoin in 2009, cryptocurrencies have grown steadily into the public consciousness, and the taxman’s too. Once the realm of geeks and hackers, cryptocurrencies are becoming more mainstream. In late...
Claiming 14 Day SSP back from HMRC
What is the government guidance on recovering the 14 day SSP from HMRC? What do we need to think about? How do we go about reclaiming it?
The Spring Budget 2020
Biggest spending spree in 28 years “Getting it done” is the soundbite Chancellor Rishi Sunak clearly wanted us to take away from his debut Budget speech, but “giving it away” might be more accurate. The Government's substantial majority gave Sunak carte blanche to...
Employer issues with automatic enrolment
Automatic Enrolment - Policy success, but a headache for employers? Back in 2012, less than half of private-sector employees in the UK had a pension scheme. Today, however, that figure is 85% and this huge increase is due to the successful rollout of automatic...
Caseron Insider – March 2020
Each month we bring you the latest tax and business updates with our Insider Newsletter. Take a look at this month's insights below, or download our Newsletter and read it at your leisure. Highlights Record numbers sent in 2018/2019 tax returns through self-assessment...
Tracing lost pension plans
Billions of pounds lost in unclaimed funds due to lost Pension plans. Helping you plan for your retirement is one of our core services, ensuring you are prepared when the time comes to call it a day. With medical advances enabling more people to live for longer, the...
Tax implications of providing a company car to employees
Does it pay off to provide a zero-emission company car? Offering a company car as a benefit can be a valuable and attractive perk to any valued employee. Unfortunately, it is not necessarily a tax-free perk and it may be liable for PAYE because HMRC considers the...
Caseron Insider – February 2020
Each month we bring you the latest tax and business updates with our Insider Newsletter. Take a look at this month's insights below, or download our Newsletter and read it at your leisure. Highlights Thousands file tax returns through self-assessment over Christmas...
Different types of business structure
You’ve got a business idea, you’ve got the skills, the concept, the motivation and maybe even someone that’s keen to pay for your services, but where do you start? What will you call your business? What business structure will suit it best? It may be that as your...
R&D tax credits in practice
R&D Tax breaks for innovative business. The UK tax system is complicated but research and development (R&D) tax credits can be especially tricky to understand. That’s partly because what counts as R&D, and what amounts to true innovation, is judged on a...
Caseron Insider – January 2020
Each month we bring you the latest tax and business updates with our Insider Newsletter. Take a look at this month's insights below, or download our Newsletter and read it at your leisure. Highlights Quarter of small businesses in the UK expect to go bust by 2024...
Low-risk ways to start a business in 2020
Methods to overcome uncertainty in 2020. So you’ve got a business idea, and you think it might be a runner. But then again, just as you’ve geared yourself up to commit, all sorts of midnight worries start to creep in. Is now the time? Are people spending money? What...
Caseron Insider – December 2019
Each month we bring you the latest tax and business updates with our Insider Newsletter. Take a look at this month's insights below, or download our Newsletter and read it at your leisure. Highlights Delay to controversial loan charge review leaves thousands in limbo...
Gearing up for self-assessment
Don’t leave it until the last minute, especially in 2020. With only two months left until the 31 January deadline for online returns, self-assessment is very much on our minds. There’s a first flurry of activity around the deadline for paper filing at the end of...
Protecting Your Business From Fraud
Steps to shield your firm from fraud and fraudulent activity. Fraud costs the UK around £190 billion a year, with businesses bearing almost three quarters – £140bn – of those losses. This worrying picture is backed up by the 2019 Fraudscape report compiled by...
The Curious Case of the Missing Budget
Introduction It’s been an eventful few years in British politics, but 2019 has been something else again with one jolt after another. The 29 March deadline for the UK to leave the EU was extended to 31 October and then again until 31 January 2020. Boris Johnson...
Capital Gains Tax Planning for 2020/21
Tax changes to private residences for 2020/21. From 6 April 2020, HMRC is proposing three significant changes which will potentially increase the capital gains tax paid on the disposal of any residential property by an individual. These changes seek to raise extra...
Caseron Insider – November 2019
Each month we bring you the latest tax and business updates with our Insider Newsletter. Take a look at this month's insights below, or download our Newsletter and read it at your leisure. Highlights Messages aim to promote pension saving to the self-employed Stamp...
6 Reasons why you should raise your prices
Yesterday I spoke about the 8 reasons why you MUST raise your prices. These are the reasons why you absolutely positively have to raise your prices. Sometimes, you don't HAVE to raise your prices, but you SHOULD raise them anyway! (1) When your customers are really,...
8 Reasons why you MUST raise your prices
Is it time to raise your prices? Raising prices is one of the 'elephant in the room' discussions we often have with clients. They know they ought to but they don't. They feel it is time, but they won't. It's not the right time of the month, the quarter or the year!...
Property as an investment for landlords
With low-interest rates, property remains attractive. As the global financial crisis began to bite in 2008, central banks in several nations took action, attempting to shock the world economy back to life by slashing base interest rates. The idea behind this kind of...
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