Portadown Archives - JSR Chartered Accountants

December 6, 2012February 2, 2019

2012 Autumn Statement

George Osborne delivered his 2012 Autumn Statement yesterday and we have summarised the key points below:

INDIVIDUALS

The Personal Allowance is to increase from £8,105 to £9,440 from April 2013 for those aged under 65. This is part of a plan to ultimately increase the Personal Allowance to £10,000.
The band of income tax rate at 20% is being reduced from £34,370 to £32,010 from April 2013
The threshold for 40% income tax is to decrease from £42,475 to £41,450 in 2013/14 but will increase by 1% in 2014/15 and 2015/16 to £41,865 and £42,285
The 50% band currently applies where taxable income exceeds £150,000 but the rate will fall to 45% next year.
New universal credit for Income Tax is coming into effect next year as previously announces
The Capital Gains Tax annual exemption is to increase by 1% to £11,100
The Inheritance Tax exemption is to increase in 2015/16 from £325K to £329K
No new tax was implemented on property
From 2014/15, pensions lifetime allowance is to reduce from £1.5m to £1.25m and annual allowance from £50K to £40K. This restriction of pensions tax relief is a £1bn tax rise for high earners
The ISA limit extended from April 2013 to £11,520
The Basic State pension is to increase by 2.5% next year which is a rise to £110.15 per week
Tougher measures on welfare fraud are announced. Changes to welfare benefits will save £3.7bn in 2015/16
Child benefit is to increase by 1% for 2 years with effect from April 2014

BUSINESSES

Main rate of Corporation Tax cut by 1% to 21% in April 2014 (was set to be 22%), currently set at 23% for April 2013
Increase in Annual Investment Allowance for capital allowances from £25K to £250K from 1 January 2013 for 2 years. This is a huge boost for expanding businesses
A number of tax avoidance loopholes are to be closed immediately, and anti avoidance will be further tackled by an increase of 2,500 in the number of tax inspectors
New general Anti Avoidance Rule still be introduced in April 2013
£5bn to be received over 6 years from undisclosed Swiss bank accounts of UK residents
Temporary doubling of small business rate relief was to end 2011 – already extended to April 2013; now extended further to April 2014
Tax relief for employee shareholder scheme to be introduced
Consultation on new tax incentives for shale gas

OTHER ISSUES

The planned 3p rise in fuel duty from January 2013 is now cancelled.
Extra £5bn capital investment to be made in infrastructure – Northern Ireland will get its share
Broad band investment in various areas across UK
Extra £600m for scientific restructure in UK
£270m to be made available for improvements in further education in UK
£1bm to be made available to expand schools and build 100 new free schools and academies in UK

August 29, 2012April 25, 2014

Possibly a little more “something for nothing” -Enhanced Capital Allowances on Energy Saving Equipment

Previously I pointed out the potential savings that can be made and the finance available from The Carbon Trust for replacing current lighting, heating, cooling equipment etc with an energy efficient equivalent. In that article I mentioned that the cash flow savings delivered through reduced payments to your utility supplier can finance the loan repayments. This is not the whole picture. There is still a little more meat to add to the bones on this topic.

HRMC have in recent years attempted to encourage business to invest in green technology/ equipment. This has primarily been delivered through the Capital Allowance scheme.

The ‘incentive’ as provided by HMRC is the availability of Enhanced Capital Allowances to achieve tax relief on the acquisition and installation of certain certified energy saving equipment.

Check the following link to confirm that any potential equipment acquisition qualifies for Enhanced Capital Allowances before you buy http://etl.decc.gov.uk/etl/find/

The application of these Enhanced Capital Allowances effectively allow the business to claim tax relief on the full cost of acquisition and installation of this equipment in year one.

Example – assume the business spends £10,000 on energy efficient equipment and its subsequent installation. The business can then claim a reduction in its taxable profits to the extent of £10,000. This is applicable to either limited company, sole trader, or partnership businesses.

There is a further aspect to the Enhanced Capital Allowances for limited companies that we will look at next time.

June 11, 2012April 25, 2014

Something for nothing? …

Fossil fuels, energy efficient equipment and The Carbon Trust

Having recently been involved in a review of utility expenses with some of our SME clients I came to challenge the notion that “you can’t get something for nothing in this life”. Well, on the basis of some number crunching, a lot of meetings and discussions and the like with various others, it would appear that it is in fact possible to get something for nothing.

The technology upon which energy efficient lighting, heating, cooling etc. is based has developed so rapidly over the last, say 10 years that if your equipment was installed around that time, or before, then it just might be the case that you could change your lighting, heating/ cooling equipment “for nothing”.

In one of the cases that we have been looking into, as I referenced above, we have moved beyond the paper review of the costings, and are now looking at the physical equipment that is being proposed.

In that case the lights are ‘burning’ for approximately 50 hours per week. It would appear that new energy efficient LED based lighting can be introduced to provide a ‘similar level of lighting’ but delivering between 65% – 70% efficiency gain on the current lighting.

The Carbon Trust currently provide interest free loans to SME’s based in Northern Ireland and Wales. These loans are typically repaid over the first 3 – 4 years after installation.

The projected cashflow savings (through reduced payments to the electricity supplier) being delivered through the installation of these LED lights, in the case we have looked at, is greater than the monthly repayment of the Carbon Trust loan – albeit only by a small margin during the loan repayment period. However, once the loan is repaid in full the savings all yours!

For more information on Carbon Trust and their interest free loan see their website: http://www.carbontrust.com/client-services/northern-ireland

Our next article will look at the Enhanced Capital Allowances position and their impact on the acquisition of energy efficient equipment.

April 30, 2012April 25, 2014

The Husband & wife business partnership and a healthy work life balance. Can we have both??

When we got married we were both studying our professional exams and training to become accountants. We were attending university together on a Saturday, studying together and living and breathing the same text books for three solid years. It seemed to work OK, however there was one fundamental difference, we were not working in the same firm. Perhaps this is why it seemed to work so well.

Given that we were ‘heading in the same direction’ it seemed inevitable that one day we would go into business together and here we are.

When we first made the decision to work together, I thought this will be great, we had just started our family and it seemed, to me, to be the perfect situation. I could work and still be flexible for my young children and not miss out on them growing up. I was going to be super woman!! However, when I actually started to think about it seriously I thought, what if we ‘kill’ each other, or even worse what if I turn into my husband!! However, we decided to risk it and in January 2010 we decided to just ‘go for it.’ I have to say, if I am honest, there have been arguements, but we have never looked back!!

Husband and wife business partnerships are on the rise, we can see this in our client list, through colleagues and friends, and when it works it seems to be working very well.

When a husband and wife go into business together they have the same end goal and dedication. This type of dedication can help young companies get off the ground. When married couples work together, their business can become like their own baby. Their emotional involvement with each other spills over into an attachment with the company, driving people to be more dedicated than they would other-wise be.

Don’t get me wrong the constant interaction, the strain of juggling work and personal life, and the trials of entrepreneurship—especially in a difficult economy—can take a toll. The key however is getting the work life balance right.

I am not a marriage guidance counsellor but I thought I would share a few of our secrets and experiences that have helped make it work for us:

Figure out how you will physically work together. This will be different for every couple. Some couples can work well in the same office space however others may need to be physically separated if they’re going to work well together. If a separate space is necessary for you to make it work, then I suggest you find a separate space.

Make clear your roles. Going into business with your spouse or partner is exciting because you are building something and you will have the same dream. However, how you visualise you get there will most likely be different. Identify each others responsibilities, you will both have different strengths so use them. That way you’ll avoid stepping on each other’s toes and hopefully minimise any arguments.

Understand your working styles. This is another one that often gets forgotten when a couple works together. When we were both training we worked for different companies and naturally developed very different working styles, you need to understand how the other person likes to work, how you each deal with stress, and go into it with similar, or at least clear, expectations about sharing the work. We clashed at the very start on our very different working styles. I am ‘hyper’ organised, like things in a certain way, and especially like a nice tidy desk. My husband however, does not share my enthusiasm for a clear desk, but we got round it, by simply buying separate trays, and once a week we go through these trays and clear it all away. That way I didn’t have to look at lots of loose paper and my husband didn’t feel he had to file everything every two minutes. It is about finding the compromise and using it.

Communicate. It is so easy to forget that communication in a work environment is different from asking if the dishwasher is emptied or agreeing about who’s going to pick up the kids from school. Make sure you’re communicating about the day-to-day stuff as well as the big picture stuff. And if you have other people working for or with you, communicate with them too. Remember you are running a business together not separately!!

Leave work at work. You don’t want to be talking shop over dinner. It’s bound to happen and lets face it, it does, but try and minimise this where possible so as not to have your lives be all work all the time.

Leave home at home. This is the other side of that coin, but it can be less visible on your radar. If you’re working together it will help if you can maintain a professional relationship that’s focused on the business. Making your grocery list while you’re balancing the books can make everything feel smashed together, which is no fun – and not productive – for anyone.

Respect each other. You respect each other in your marriage (hopefully). If your spouse is your business partner you should treat that person the same way you’d treat any other colleague, whether a boss or a peer.

If you can manage all that, you might just be able to live – and work – happily ever after.

April 23, 2012April 25, 2014

The Modern Accountant ????

But Accountants DO NOT blog……

This may well be true, yet here we are, accountants, and we are trying our hand at blogging!!

It has become a general consensus that accountants are not known for trying out new ideas, and as for social media and blogging well, they simply ‘do not have the time’, it is ‘not necessary’, it ‘will not increase our profits’, it ‘will not add to the quality of service for our clients’ and it is ‘not an efficient use of our time.’

While this is all true, and ok, it probably won’t help us understand our clients better, it is most likely not very proactive, and lets be honest, who NEEDS an accountant that blogs?? However, despite all this, and in a bold NEW approach, I have pondered over the last few months that maybe our clients would like to understand US a bit better!!!!

I personally have always felt, even way back in my training years, (which feels like a million years ago now but really is not!!!) that it is important to show our clients that there is an ordinary human being behind all the ‘serious’ chat, tax regulations and number crunching. Maybe even someone that dare I say it has a ‘personality of sorts’!!!

So based on all this and with a gentle push and encouragement from some of our twitter friends Helen Cousins (@xcelbusiness), Sian Phillips (@_sians) and Sage Ireland (@sageireland) we are going to attempt this blogging thing!!!

This is my first ‘introductory’ blog and I hope you will all bear with me as I try to ‘master’ this over the coming weeks.

For now i have listed below some of our earlier posts that we included previously. A couple of them were in response to a few past client queries, which actually did end up being ‘a proactive use of our time!’

In the mean time if you have any interest in a specific topic you would like to see more information on please feel free to get in touch with us!!

and we have social networks too……

Like us on facebook: JSR Chartered Accountants

connect with us on linkedIn: JSR Chartered Accountants

March 21, 2012February 2, 2019

Budget 2012: Key Points

George Osborne says his 2012 Budget will “reward work”, support working families and ‘unashamedly backs business’ but warns of need to continue his austerity drive in face of sluggish growth.

Budget 2012 Key Points:

Automatic review of state pension age to ensure it keeps pace with increasing lifespans. New single-tier state pension for future pensioners to be set at about £140 and based on contributions

Duty on all tobacco products to rise by 5% above inflation from 18:00 today – the equivalent of 37p on a packet of cigarettes. No change to alcohol duty. New duty on gaming machines at a standard rate of 20% and a lower rate for low-prize machines of 5% of net takings. No change to existing plans on fuel duty (however, please note that plans to increase Fuel by 3p from August still stand). Vehicle excise duty to rise by inflation, but frozen for road hauliers

Good news for young entrepreneurs Government considering enterprise loans for young people to start their own business.

Corporation tax cut to 24% from next month. By 2014 it will fall to 22%

From midnight, new stamp duty level of 7% for homes worth more than £2m. Any such homes bought through companies will pay 15%. Extra funding to help construction firms building new homes

CHILD BENEFIT Will be phased out when someone in a houshold has an income of more than £50,000. It will fall by 1% for every £100 earned over £50,000. Only those earning more than £60,000 will lose the entirety of the benefit

From April 2013, the 50p top rate of tax will be cut to 45p. Personal income tax allowance will be raised to £9,205 from April 2013, making people £220 a year better off. However, those aged 65 and over will no longer be entitled to the higher rate of personal allowance leaving these individuals paying around £260 more in tax per year.

It should also be noted that around 300,000 workers woll be pulled into the 40% tax bracket. Currently workers can earn £42.475 before paing tax at 40%, this limit is now to be reduced to £41,450 – This was not announced in Mr Osborne’s speech but was included in the budget document.