Month: September 2011

Group Corporation Tax – why not have a simplied arrangement?

Its often worth having a Tax Group even if you don’t have Group Accounts ie you have multiple businesses under common control but that are not directly owned subsidiaries. The reason for this is to offset profits and losses to reduce the total tax payment.

Generally this means completing a special extra return, the CT600C, unfortunately, this form is not available from HMRC to file on line.

There is a solution regulation 6 SI199/2975 (CTM97690) allows you to write to HMRC and explain which companies make up the group and ask for a simplified arrangement – meaning HMRC will automatically net off the returns with out the need for CT600C returns.

By doing this you can file the CT600’s on line for free with HMRC.

steve@bicknells.net

 

Free Web Based CRM and Business Applications

Rosie Barfoot sent me a comment yesterday about Workbooks, they offer a totally free 2 user version of their software http://www.workbooks.com

I have signed up and downloaded a copy today, looks pretty good, CRM, Quotation Management, Products, Contracts, Invoicing, I need to get my head round how to use it but it seems pretty comprehensive. Its 100% web based, it can link to Sage and Outlook (not sure if thats in the free version), you can customise it and create templates, sounds ideal for a start up business.

steve@bicknells.net

Free Fundraising, Anti Virus, Office Suite, E Mail and Calendar

I asked some of my Linked In buddies what they recommend for Free, here is what they said:

Tony Croft (4 Networking) said:

Can I recommend ‘Free Fundraising’ with Simply Fundraising.
Let somebody else make donations to your cause/s when you shop, put petrol in the car, eat out, etc and get free flights as a reward for doing it.
Can you beat that? http://www.simplefundraising.co.uk/

Marco Tomat (4Networking) said:

I would like to recommend Microsoft’s free anti-virus software called Security Essentials, you must have a licenced copy of windows of course, it’s much faster and less bloated than the new free AVG 2011 which is causing older or low spec. machine to slow down. If you are a teenager who likes downloading stuff then you need to buy one of the mainstream products!
http://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/security_essentials/default.aspx

Paul Driscoll (CIMA) said:

Fed up with the increasing cost of Microsoft licences some years ago, we implemented Open Office ( http://www.openoffice.org ) to replace Word, Excel etc.. All working well and would not now go back to MS.

We are also in the process of moving all machines to Mozilla Thunderbird for e-mail and Lightening for calendar ( http://www.mozilla.org/projects/calendar/sunbird ) which is part of the same suite as the popular Firefox internet browser.

Free Payroll! with free updates!

If you have a business, the chances are you will need to operate a payroll.

When you set up in business the easiest and quickest way to register a payroll is on line

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/paye/intro/register-email.htm

Once your payroll is registered its worth obtaining dispensations to hopefully avoid or at least reduce the need for P11D’s

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/paye/exb/schemes/dispensation.htm

Having registered your payoll you will get a pack in the post from HMRC which will include a CD ‘Basic PAYE Tools’ this CD has everything you need to run your own payroll for free, as an alternative you can download ‘Basic PAYE Tools’

http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/detail?itemId=1086949246&r.l1=1073858808&r.l2=1083106843&r.l3=1083106693&r.l4=1086857322&r.s=sc&type=RESOURCES

Its a great bit of software and you can set up multiple business and create employee databases.

The only thing it doesn’t do is produce payslips, but you can do that easily yourself  by creating your own template in Word or Excel.

steve@bicknells.net

 

Consultants beware of IR35 – use the QDOS Model Contract (Free)

IR35 came into existance in 1999,  it was created to prevent workers previously employed from creating a limited company and then benefiting from lower taxes and national insurance through the use of dividends and expenses.

HMRC believed that it would generate £220 million a year in National Insurance Contributions and £80 million in Income Tax, but it has actually only generated around £1.5 million a year and HMRC have brought a number of cases before the courts, the latest being MBF Design Services Ltd v Revenue and Customs (2011) and ECR Conculting Ltd v Revenue and Customs, the taxpayer was successful in both cases.

I was reading an article in Accounting Practice about the MBF Design case and HMRC assisted a Foreign Airbus UK employee to prepare his statement but apparently because the employee struggled to read the statement or be examined on it the tribunal were unconvinced.

I have always found QDOS to be an invaluable source of help in the field of IR35 and you can download free guides and contracts using this link

http://www.qdosconsulting.com/freelancer-contractor/free-guides-templates

steve@bicknells.net

Corporation Tax online – its free, its iXBRL complaint and you can file accounts too

I recently registered to use the HMRC Corporation Tax online services and my activation codes arrived today, so far I am impressed.

Obviously you need to know how to correctly do your Tax Computations first, nothing can remove the complicated tax calculations for Capital Allowances, Loans to Participators, Small Company Relief etc, you need skill for that part. But from reading the manual it seems that you can enter your accounts, computations and complete the CT600 and file it without needing to spend a fortune on specialist software to produce the iXBRL tagging now required.

Let’s see if I am still impressed when I try to enter the information.

steve@bicknells.net

Free Accounting Software – forever

I love free things, don’t you?

I discovered TAS books basics a while ago

http://www.tassoftware.co.uk/site/tas_accounts_software/basics

It is absolutely totally free and for a small business its ideal, its much better than trying to create your own system using spreadsheets. If you are a new business starting out why not give it go.

steve@bicknells.net

Who is next on taxman’s hit list? are you prepared…

It seems the taxman has got bored with chasing the self employed and moved on to the middle classes and white-collar professionals as highlight in this article in the Sunday Express today

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/269055/Taxmen-target-middle-classes-Crackdown-on-tax-cheats

Doctors and Dentists are now top of the hit list.

Chancellor George Osborne has branded tax-evaders “leeches”, convictions for tax evasion have jumped 38% over the past year to 148 for the year to March 2011.

Sometimes tax issues can arise from simple mistakes and misunderstandings, if your accounts and records need to be reviewed now is the perfect time to seek help from your accountant.

steve@bicknells.net