Choosing the Right Business Structure

Choosing the appropriate structure for your business is one of the first and most important decisions you will make. It affects everything from your tax obligations to the level of personal liability you will face, and even how you can raise funds. If you are thinking of starting a business, or restructuring an existing business, it is worth taking a closer look at the options available to ensure you make the best choice for your business.
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Business valuation: Knowing your company’s worth

Understanding your business’s value is more than a number on a balance sheet – it’s a crucial indicator of your company’s health and future potential. Whether considering a sale, seeking investment or planning strategic moves, a precise valuation provides robust information.

With this spotlight, we aim to guide you through the essentials of business valuation, helping you realise your company’s worth in clear terms.
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Mastering Business Expenses

In today’s economic landscape, where financial acumen plays a pivotal role in the sustainability and growth of any business, the importance of effectively managing business expenses cannot be overstated.
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HOW TO BUILD AN EFFECTIVE BUSINESS PLAN

Businesses at any stage in their life cycle can benefit heavily from creating and implementing a business plan.

Not only is a business plan there to map out your goals and aspirations, but also to identify any financial risks and operational challenges you may encounter.

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CORPORATION TAX IN 2023

After multiple policy U-turns and much uncertainty, the main rate of corporation tax will rise from 19% to 25% from 1 April 2023, affecting companies with profits of £250,000 and over.
The legislation provides that small companies with profits up to £50,000 will continue to pay corporation tax at 19%, with profits between the two limits being subject to a tapered rate.

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CAPITAL ALLOWANCES AND THE SUPER DEDUCTION

When a business incurs costs, such as salary payments or stationary procurement, it can usually fully deduct them as expenses from its taxable profits, reducing the tax due. However, when it buys assets for operational purposes, things are not quite so straightforward.

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Business Exit Strategies

A business exit strategy is a plan for what will happen when you want to leave your business.
A lot of people think of an exit strategy as a plan to guard against disaster or something that has to be carried out right away after its conception.

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Business Tasks to Outsource

As a business owner, you will find that few things in your line of work are as precious as your time – time that would be better spent doing something other than accounting.

Many people come to us asking for help with tasks that usually result in time slipping through their fingers, because of their often onerous nature to the layman.

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BASIS PERIOD RULES IN LINE FOR REFORM

Unincorporated businesses could be about to see significant changes to the ways in which they are taxed, following the launch of a Government consultation.

The Government plans to reform the basis period rules in a bid to simplify how unincorporated businesses, such as sole traders and business partnerships, allocate trading profits to tax years for inclusion on their self-assessment returns.

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STARTING A NEW BUSINESS AFTER COVID-19

Not much can stop determined entrepreneurs from building a new business from the ground up, even during such challenging times as a COVID-19 or its ensuing fallout.

The pandemic has proven a huge challenge for businesses, with 396,155 UK firms closing in 2020 according to the Office for National Statistics, as business owners struggled to cope with restrictions and lockdowns.

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COSTS YOU CAN RECLAIM ON THE BUSINESS

If you’re self-employed, your business will rack up various running costs throughout 2021/22. Some of those you’re able to deduct as allowable expenses.

By deducting these allowable expenses as part of calculating your business’s taxable profits, it’s possible for us to reduce your income tax bill in the process.

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STRATEGIES FOR EXPORTS AFTER BREXIT

The UK has left the EU, and for British exporters, that presents both opportunity and uncertainty.
While the new trade agreement places no tariffs or quotas on goods traded between the UK and EU from 1 January 2021, it may come with additional costs and bureaucracy as the UK is no longer part of the single market and customs union.

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BUSINESS ASSET DISPOSAL RELIEF

Last March, one of the headline-grabbing measures announced in what will be the only Budget speech of 2020 surrounded what we knew as entrepreneurs’ relief.
The relief was designed to be an incentive for entrepreneurs to start a new business by reducing the amount of capital gains tax payable when the time came to dispose of (or sell) certain business assets, where conditions are met.

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HOW MUCH IS YOUR BUSINESS WORTH?

Whether you’re making exit plans or you want to give confidence to investors, knowing the value of your business is a vital step. From the inside, it might be hard to say what that value is. You’ve put long hours of hard work into building your business from the ground up, but what does that mean to a buyer or investor in monetary terms?

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POST-COVID-19 SUPPORT FOR BUSINESSES

Since the Budget in March, businesses have seen a stream of different support schemes and policies announced to help them manage the financial impacts of the coronavirus lockdown.

When Chancellor Rishi Sunak stood in the House of Commons again on 8 July, it was in the context of the gradual reopening of the economy, with several lockdown restrictions having been lowered on 4 July.

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DIFFERENT TYPES OF BUSINESS STRUCTURES

You’ve got a business idea, you’ve got the skills, the concept,
the motivation and maybe even someone that’s keen to pay for
your services, but where do you start? What will you call your
business? What business structure will suit it best?

It may be that as your business grows you run through several
different structures, but most firms will set up one way and
remain just that, even as their turnover grows or falls.

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LOW-RISK WAYS TO START A BUSINESS

So you’ve got a business idea, and you think it might be a runner.
But then again, just as you’ve geared yourself up to commit, all
sorts of midnight worries start to creep in.

Is now the time? Are people spending money? What about the
sluggish housing market? What about Brexit? And the state of
the local high street – does anyone even go there anymore?

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IDENTIFYING INEFFICIENCIES IN A BUSINESS

Accountants, as a breed, are fans of efficiency. We tend to appreciate optimised systems and abhor waste, whether it’s time, effort or resources being frittered away.
The concept of efficiency as we know it today is a product of the industrial revolution. That’s when engineers and manufacturers became obsessed with squeezing out maximum profit by the smart use of new machinery and the automation of processes.

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RISK ASSESSMENT AND CONTINGENCY PLANNING

It has been a challenging and eventful three years for UK businesses with a series of high-profile incidents highlighting how situations can change suddenly and often without warning.
From the continued pressure of uncertainty relating to Brexit, terrorism, fire, extreme weather and cyber-attacks, how would your business cope if it was affected by something similar?

Read the full article here.

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Capital Allowances for Plant and Machinery

If there’s one thing that keeps us awake at night it’s the thought of how many British businesses are failing to claim capital allowances to which they are entitled – worth billions of pounds across the board, according to some estimates.

Capital allowances provide the mechanism for tax relief on certain types of capital expenditure (the purchase of assets such as office furniture, or equipment) essentially providing a deduction against profits. (more…)

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Company Cars

Despite year-on-year tax rises, company cars remain a popular benefit. While the tax cost of expensive high-emission cars can be eye-watering, by choosing carefully it’s possible to enjoy the convenience that comes with a company car for a relatively low tax cost. So, as the new tax year gathers steam, what’s changed for 2018/19?

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Clipping the wings of phoenix companies

Companies can fail for several reasons and, for the most part, these aren’t the result of wrongdoing by the directors. For this reason, it’s perfectly legal to start a new company after an old one has become insolvent.

However, there are a number of rules that surround carrying on a similar business through a new company after the original company has gone into insolvency. (more…)

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Tax and employee benefits

Most employers choose to recognise the ongoing commitment made by their members of staff by providing various benefits and rewards.

Whether that’s in the form of the Christmas party or it extends to benefits such as a cash bonus or flextime, it all helps to ensure employees feel valued and motivated. (more…)

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