Accounting Roundup : Business news, updates and advice – January 2018

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09 January 2018

Welcome to January’s Accounting Roundup where we explore latest real world and local news, tax updates, financial and business advice and accounting matters.

General

This year Haines Watts organised a different kind of Christmas campaign. Offices around the country supported local foodbanks, including our Leeds office, collecting both food and non-food items to help local people living in food poverty. The Group also set up a JustGiving page supporting the Trussell Trust, for those people that were unable to drop items into the office - to date over £3,000 has been raised!

Bradford has in the past had a lot of negative coverage, but maybe things are changing with the opening of the Broadway Shopping Centre, and now being named as the best city in the UK to start a business, according to a recent report by Barclays.

The bank's SME Growth Factors Index saw Bradford top the leader board ahead of Leicester, Coventry Edinburgh and Liverpool.

Tax

It's that time again - tax return time! The deadline for you to complete a self assessment tax return for 2016/17, submit online to HMRC and for payment of any tax owed is 31 January 2018.

Find out here if you need to complete a self assessment return.

VAT

HMRC published a collection of documents in December, including draft legislation explaining in more detail what will be required when Making Tax Digital becomes compulsory for VAT in April 2019. This includes an outline of how businesses must use MTD-compatible software to keep digital records and file their VAT returns. The Government is seeking feedback on the draft regulations by 9 February 2018.

Read more : Making Tax Digital for VAT

There is no doubt that MTD will bring many challenges, but there are also positives which should be borne in mind!

Cash flow

Mike Cherry, Chairman, Federation of Small Business (FSB) has published his New Year message. Cherry picked on several themes that cause problems for small businesses- the most persistent of these being late payment.

We can help with cash flow issues - regularly reviewing cashflow forecasts makes it easier for business owners to plot business growth. Contact us here.

Pensions

Pensions auto-enrolment currently only starts at the age of 22. However, the Government announced plans in December to lower this age to 18 by the “mid-2020s” - to help more people to save while they are working and ultimately enjoy greater financial security when they retire.

We recommend our clients to Tilney, one of the UK’s leading private client investment and wealth management company who provide top quality, solid and practical pensions advice You can sign up to their newsletter and financial planning magazine Here are more recent blogs.

We also support a wide range of businesses with online Payroll outsourcing. Our managed payroll services make all necessary submissions to the tax authorities on your behalf.

If you feel you have comments, questions or thoughts on our Accounting Roundup please let us know – honest feedback is always welcome!