Business news and opinion from Evans Weir

Since the pension triple lock was first introduced in 2010, the economic circumstances have always meant that it’s a manifesto commitment that any party is willing to stand behind, after all, who wants to be the political party that alienates the ‘grey pound’?

But in 2023, off the back of double-digit price inflation and significant pay increases, the triple lock is looking like an expensive policy for the government to apply.

As if to prove that nobody is immune to internal fraud, BrewDog CEO, James Watt, has gone public with information of a rogue employee at his firm in a bid to show it can happen to anyone and to remind companies to check their internal fraud systems.

It’s an interesting question isn’t it. In the UK we’re used to things being relatively cut and dried when it comes to VAT. There is the prevailing rate (currently 20%), zero rated VAT, (0%), VAT exempt (equally 0% but needs to be identified differently to Zero rated) and then the odd few idiosyncrasies such as energy at 5%. But by and large, the overwhelming majority of transactions will be either standard rate, 20%, or zero rated, 0%. That is unless you deal with someone like Amazon, who, it would appear, have been able to agree some of their own rates with HMRC.

Our latest Autumn Tax briefing is now available to download here.

Next in our series looking at how functionality in accounting software can be put to good use in SMEs, we consider the use of Cost Centres and Departments and how these can help you further analyse your accounts and support budgeting.

The Treasury and HMRC are reportedly looking at the removal of a ‘double tax break’ which currently enables families to inherit pension savings and not pay income tax or Inheritance Tax (IHT) on the proceeds. At present, families inheriting pension savings from somebody who dies before the age of 75 can withdraw funds and not pay any tax on the proceeds.

At the same time as a poll for the Sunday Telegraph suggested voters believe Inheritance Tax (IHT) to be the most unfair tax levied on UK residents, revised HMRC forecasts were suggesting that up to 50,000 more families would be faced with an IHT tax bill by 2028.

Today, the context of this question is far removed from introspection and now refers more to the way the business conducts itself, its impact on the environment and how it supports its wider community of neighbours, staff, customers, and suppliers.

If you run a business providing a service on a project-by-project basis, you may find that it is far from straight forward to work out the individual profit on each job or project because those costs may be distributed across a range of ledger codes. This is where project costing can help.

From an accounting perspective, you need to account for the initial purchase of an asset but then add in a transaction for each year you hold the assets, to reduce the value to the business. There are no hard and fast rules on when or by how much you depreciate the value of assets but this explains some of the key facts and aspects to be aware of.

Whilst the overwhelming majority of companies comply and pay the National Minimum/Living Wage rates, it has been identified that certain working practices or employers strict requirements can mean that the actual rate of pay falls below the legal minimums.