Latest Business News from Chichester Accountants Evans Weir

April 16, 2018

Increased Employer Payments

The start of April marked increases for the compulsory payments applicable to employees with the national minimum wage, the national living wage and the minimum contributions for auto enrolment all changing. But there was a curveball to be aware of... Auto Enrolment Minimum Contributions Increased on 6th April With the final staging date for auto enrolment passing in February and over 1 million companies and more than 9 million employees now opted in, the process of increasing the amounts... read more

VAT Review in Spring Statement – Impact on Small Businesses

In his first Spring Statement, Chancellor Philip Hammond launched a consultation on a proposed review of the UK’s VAT scheme. The Chancellor had been tipped to announce wholesale changes to VAT thresholds last November as part of the budget, but because of representations from business organisations he swapped hard and fast plans for change in favour of a consultation process. The basis of the proposed changes would see the threshold being frozen or dropped to bring more companies into the... read more

Tax Free Allowances 2018/19

Want to know what you can earn and save this year following the recent changes to personal tax free allowances? Here are the key elements: Personal Allowance With a new tax year comes the now usual change to the personal allowance. The Government looks set to continue with creeping increments to the amount that can be earned before tax becomes payable, a process initiated by the coalition government. From 6th April 2018 the personal allowance increases to £11,850 and the basic rate tax band... read more

March 9, 2018

Corporate Challenge returns with a record number of entrants

The streets of Chichester have been alive in the evenings again as the City welcomes back the Corporate Challenge. The series of three races, which take place this year on the 21st February, 7th and 21st March, are organised by the Chichester Runners with runner numbers sponsored by Evans Weir. Recent coverage of the first two races by the Chichester Observer shows the city packed with a record number of entrants and supporters. Each race night is made up of several individual races for... read more

Timely Tax Returns

Despite the Government's long-term ambition to rid the world of tax returns through the introduction of the Making Tax Digital initiative, January 2018 was another record year for the number processed. Like all necessary evils, no one wants to think about tax returns until it is imperative to do so, but the flip side of that equation is the fact that leaving it until the deadline means 8 months have passed since the period in question. That elapsed time typically makes the process of gathering... read more

Paying family members – Is it hard work or just love?

Recent HMRC cases against individuals and businesses have once again shone a light on the use and payment of family members in the business. In one case, a tribunal judged that payments to a son had been made out of parental love and affection and were not wholly for the purposes of the trade. In this instance the person in question had claimed a substantial amount of payments to the son as part of a self-assessment return, thus reducing the overall tax bill. But investigation by HMRC showed... read more

GDPR and Websites

With the introduction of new GDPR legislation just around the corner, now is the time to look at your systems and processes to see where you may need to make changes to ensure you comply. One aspect of data collection and privacy that will impact most companies is their website. So, what do you need to think about on your own website? It is rare to find a website these days without a contact form and GDPR does not need to stop collection of valuable enquiries. However, what information you ask... read more

February 16, 2018

Credit Terms – Getting Paid on Time

Are your credit terms stopping you chasing outstanding sales invoices? It may seem obvious to reiterate the importance of chasing outstanding sales invoices, but how many companies can say, hand on heart, that they do chase them religiously and how many businesses can claim that they get 100% of invoices settled within their normal credit terms? Recent research has suggested that one quarter of invoices are not paid in line with agreed terms and over 15% of invoices were taking more than 60... read more

Flexible Pension withdrawal rate hits £6.5bn in 2017

Since the introduction of flexible pensions in 2015, an increasing number of people are utilising the option to make a lump sum pension withdrawal from their funds. However, pension withdrawal rates are still within government forecasts, allaying concerns of there being a ‘run’ on pension funds leaving some without the means to support them into their old age. 2017 marked the third year of (then Chancellor) George Osborne’s idea to provide more flexible access to lifetime pension... read more

Gig economy workers and low paid set to get extra rights

The Taylor review, set up by the Government to investigate working practices and the 'gig economy', has now reported back to business secretary Greg Clark, with the promise that many of the recommendations will be taken forward and some expanded upon. The review was set up following significant employment cases involving major employers in the gig economy, which suggested their zero hours workers and temporary staff could be considered as employees. Most assume ‘gig workers’ to be in... read more