Happy Accountant: Accounting Blog & Online Accountant

* I’ve blogged previously about why you should have an accountant.  However, when trying to cut costs (and who isn’t, these days?), often business owners look to cutting accountant fees.  They either fnd a cheaper accountant, or they do without one altogether. Unless you require an audit, there is absolutely no obligation for a business to appoint [read more]

*HMRC have recently issued many employers with £400 penalties for not filing their P35 return for 2010-11.  You only have 30 days to appeal the penalty, if you disagree with the penalty. Some of the penalty notices have gone, in error, to employers who have already filed a P35.  If you have already filed a return for [read more]

*HMRC has had a VAT amnesty over the summer.  This is the chance for those people who should have registered for VAT but haven’t to come forward and bring their affairs up to date with potentially reduced penalties as a result. For those already registered, you can also use the amnesty period to notify HMRC of previous errors [read more]

*Some things to think about when choosing an Umbrella company: The speed with which they will process your PAYE and expenses and their timescales/deadlines. How fast will you be paid once the Umbrella company receives payment from the recuitment agency.  This will also depend on how fast they send an invoice to the agency. How easy [read more]

*Advantages for the Contractor There are tax advantages to trading through a limited company, rather than being PAYE employees (mainly in the area of the tax-deductible expenses that can be claimed by the contractor). However, running a limited company is onerous in terms of additional regulation, responsibility and statutory accounts, returns and corporation tax. Using an Umbrella [read more]

*Umbrella Companies vary in the services they offer, so it’s important to check the specific umbrella company being used and what their exact offering/services are.  However, broadly speaking, this is what they do: They operate PAYE for the individual contractor concerned. (The individual would be a PAYE employee of the Umbrella Company) They process “expense claims” [read more]

*Umbrella Companies have been around since about 2000, when the IR35 legislation came into effect. An Umbrella company is an intermediary company designed to save contractors  the expense and hassle of forming and running their own limited company.  They are used by contractors who cannot or  do not wish to become PAYE employees of their clients. In [read more]