Theres been a lot of news coverage regarding the political parties getting ready and promoting their manifestos for the next election to encourage you to choose our next government.

Whichever party is your preference your destiny and your business success is completely in your own hands.

We have as accountants a short timeframe of seasonality before everything hots up again in April/May. We use this opportunity to look at our systems and see what we can do to improve our service to our clients and make efficiency savings, we have found it highly rewarding to see the changes over these last five years.

We also actively speak to our clients about changing their systems to make themselves more efficient to take their businesses to that next level of growth.

Ways that can be useful.

  • Purchase higher specification software to make the service a lot more standardised.


  • Look at the process itself and find ways of doing the same job for less time.


  • Negotiating with suppliers for a greater discount, certainly if youre spending more on that product.


  • Get to know the customer better so that you can tailor the service better


  • Take out the human element, if a machine can do it cheaper use it, this will save a lot of cost on a volume product, and probably better too as you’ve taken away the potential for human error.


  • Create a little production run, and run through it with your staff, can there be short cuts, or cut out duplication. Review it and make it smarter. Particularly good with the restaurant and pub industries as well as manufacturing.


  • If youre wasting time doing the little things and not getting the bigger picture tasks dealt with, maybe you need a member of staff. Use someone cheaper than yourself so that you can concentrate on the improvement of your income.


  • Outsource, if you either don’t have the time or the expertise, definitely look at this for marketing and finance particularly.

Larger companies have a lot of duplication in them, don’t let that be you, it’s the quickest way of increasing the costs.  If get yourself in this routine whilst your small, youll never suffer from large company syndrome and make more money than your counterparts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This blog is intended for information purposes only and is only advice from past experience, you may have other suggestions of your own. It is not intended to be used to make all of your business decisions but as a guide only.

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Making Tax Digital
MTD Blog

You must have heard about Making Tax Digital (MTD) by now, it is doing its round on every business owner. What is MTD? Do I have to do anything for MTD? These are probably some of the questions on your mind. We talk more in detail of Making Tax Digital which is going live in a weeks time for its launch date of 1st April 2019.

MTD is being introduced to modernise the tax system and to have an open communication and provide information to HM Revenue and Customs. This is a mandatory requirement for businesses with a turnover above the VAT threshold of £85,000.

MTD will be active from April 2019 and businesses will be required to keep digital records for VAT purposes. Digitalising tax accounts will let you check that the information HMRC holds about you, is 100% correct. The usual online government account will no longer be adequate, you must have software for Making Tax Digital. Click here to find a list of software’s compatible with MTD.

So why have HMRC introduced this?

HM Revenue and Customs are trying to reduce the amount of VAT inspections, Making Tax Digital will make things clearer for all. HMRC are expecting that taxpayers will better understand how much VAT is owed or how much is to be reclaimed and expecting to reduce human error. 

There are approximately 1 million plus businesses in the UK with a turnover in excess of £85,000, and the new transformation should make it more effective, efficient and easier for taxpayers to get their tax right.

Software

If you use spreadsheets to keep business records, you’ll need MTD-compatible software so that you can send HMRC your VAT returns and receive information back from HMRC. MTD does not require you to keep additional records for VAT, but to record them digitally.

Your digital records should include, for each supply, the time of supply (tax point), the value of the supply (net excluding VAT) and the rate of VAT charged. They should also include information about your business, including business name and principle business address, as well as your VAT registration number and details of any VAT accounting schemes you use.

If you are not sure of the next steps to take for Making Tax Digital, we can offer you guidance for your mandatory MTD obligations. We are always here to help!
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