January 20 Newsletter

December 31, 2019

BUSINESS UPDATE

Here are a few of our frequently asked questions...

Can employees who work from home receive some kind of rebate?

The trend of employees working from home for at least part of their working week is definitely increasing. If you are 'forcing' the employee to work from home then they can claim back marginal costs such as; refreshments, central heating that are 'wholly and exclusively used in the performance of their duties'. An easier calculation is a payment of a maximum of £4 per week to an employee as a tax free benefit in kind, employers also benefit by a reduction of Corporation Tax as it is a claimable expense.

I work from home, can I claim travel?

If you are self-employed, work from home but travel for work such as a plasterer or consultant the good news is that all travel and subsistence is allowable. If you own a limited company and you are an employee and you are required to travel to various locations, then all travel from your permanent workspace at home is allowable. But if you're permanent workplace is an office in London then you cannot claim the travel from home to the London office as this would be commuting.

What counts as a commercial vehicle?

This is tricky and is mainly queried in order to claim back vat. Here are a few criteria that could be considered for commerical vehicles; minibuses, camper vans, ambulances, prison vans, vehciles weighing more than 3 tonnes, special purpose vehicles (e.g. ice cream vans) and vehicles with a payload of one tonne more.

What are the advantages of trading as a limited company?

The personal assets of the business owners are protected, in case the company runs into financial difficulties. Many suppliers feel more confident when dealing with limited companies. The ownership can be easily divided by selling shares, this can also be used to raise additional capital in the future.

If you have a question, please get in touch and we'll try our best to answer it for you.

ACCOUNTING UPDATE

Personal Tax Return deadline is looming....

The deadline for filing your personal tax return for year ended 5th April 2019 is 31st January 2020 for an online return. Here is a checklist of information that you will need in order to complete it:

• Employment income (if you’re also employed)

• Dividends

• Partnership income

• Interest

• Rental income

• Foreign income

• Pensions contributions

• Gift Aid

• Pension income

• Payment on account

• Redundancy lump payment or unemployment benefit

• P11D

• Capital gains

• Your unique taxpayer reference number

Remember that you will also need to pay the tax liability by 31st January 2020. If the liability is greater than £1,000 you will also need to pay an extra 50% of the liability as a payment on account for 2020/21 tax year, with the additional 50% due by 31st July 2020.

Don't be late

Otherwise you'll receive a £100 penalty!

APP OF THE MONTH..... SPOTLIGHT

We love using Spotlight Reporting to show our clients their financial and non-financial information in one clear report, using bright colours and a mixture of charts, graphs and numbers.

We include any information that is important to our clients, making each report unique and a one-stop-shop for all management information. A popular plug in is Google Analytics, making it easy to see if marketing spend or your new website is making the impact you hoped for.

Visit the Spotlight website for more details.

Please get in touch to see our demo report, and see if it could give you the insight that you need to help you understand your business and the numbers.

TEAM NEWS

David asked his girlfriend Rachel to marry him... and she said 'Yes'!

We're so pleased for you David, let the wedding plans commence!

Until next month,

David & Katherine