Welcome to our latest blog. Summer has been in full swing here and we have now had great weather for several weeks. There are lots of activities that happen during the summer months and its always great to support your local businesses.

This time of year, we are noticing a larger number of people investing towards a property. This may be a change to the current house or a house to rent. Whatever the reason may be, you might need help financing in the way of a mortgage.

So, what is a mortgage? A mortgage is a loan taken out to buy a property. The loan is secured against the property until it is fully paid off. If you can’t keep up with repayments, the mortgage provider can repossess the house so its extremely vital to crunch the numbers and know if a mortgage is right for you.

Many factors are taken in to consideration to approve a mortgage. Proving your income is usually the deciding factor as the lender needs to know you can repay the mortgage. Here at Cross Accounting we provide our clients with their SA302 to prove their earnings. You can obtain the last three years proof of earnings if you file for self-assessment through your HMRC’s online account, with a tax year overview.   Mortgage companies like to see you are on time when paying your taxes.

Many banks have an online calculator to estimate the interest payment you will need to make, it does help you budget for the new property.

We are authorised and can help obtain a mortgage, please do get in touch to discuss your situation and see how we can help you. A house is one of the largest single purchase you’ll likely make so you want to take care and get it right from the beginning.

Summer has arrived! We have had some beautiful weather recently and the sun has been shining. But just like the sun, you need to make sure you are shining as well. You need to give yourself some TLC, if you don’t, then your business can suffer because of this.

During the summer season, the public generally cuts back. People save for holidays, the children have exam season and it is normally quieter. However, this opportunity should be taken to recharge your batteries. Take time off to de-stress and put a plan in action to set your business off for the rest of the calendar year.

As well as building your business, you should build on your staff. This is perfect time to train or retrain your staff. Improving their abilities will only compliment your business.

Give yourself a breather and to come up with some fresh ideas but remember to take some time off and relax, spend time with family and friends.  You’ll be surprised as how much energy and inspiration you achieve when you come back to work.

We’ve had a lovely few days of weather and summer is around the corner. As the weather heats up this time around we talk about the hottest topic at the moment. By now you probably have heard everyone mention about General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR).

The regulation has been passed to protect an individual’s privacy. If you hold a person’s name, email address, address or contact details, you will now need their permission to hold these types of data. If you do not have permission, then you will have to delete the data you hold. This will be law by the end of this week (25^th May 2018) and there are fines that will be imposed for any sort of breach. If you are worried about GDPR you can read up about it here.

Here at Cross Accounting, we are currently password protecting documents containing sensitive information when sending internally and externally. Since the document has an individual’s data on this ensures we are complying with GDPR rules. All our clients will have their own unique password to open their documents. This ensures privacy in case it is sent to an unintended recipient or a breach in security from hackers. Encryption is the key to adhering to the regulations.

25^th May is when all this starts to kick off, there are companies that can help and provide training for GDPR but it is making sure you’re being responsible with the data you hold. People have the right to be forgotten, so any contacts that you do not have their permission, you cannot keep. If you take car in to applying security to your business, then your are ready to tackle GDPR.

The Employment Tax laws are changing again, and they will take place from 6th April 2018. It is important that all employers are aware of these changes and consider how this will impact your company. You should also make any necessary communication with your staff.

Auto Enrolment

All employers will have to provide a workplace pension for all staff members that qualify by the April 2018 deadline and most already do.

Take a look at the table below to see the minimum contributions that must be met by both the employer and employee:
 

For more information on work place pension please visit the gov.uk website or click here

National Minimum Wage and Living Wage

There are different hourly rates of National Minimum Wage and this depends on the age of the members of your team. If staff are 25 years and over, then they will get the National Living Wage. As an employer you are legally obliged to pay the National Minimum and Living Wage.
 

Apprentices are entitled to the apprentice rate if they're either aged under 19, or, aged 19 or over and in first year of apprenticeship. Apprentices are entitled to the minimum wage for their age if they are both aged 19 or over and have completed the first year of their apprenticeship. More information can be found here or if you want to see previous years minimum hourly rates

If you would like to speak about these changes that are to come in to place or what steps you need to take, then please call us on 02920 653995