As you know if you run a small business,  you can deduct expenses that are incurred “wholly and exclusively” for the purposes of that business when when you are working out the profits of the business so that you know how much tax to pay at the end of  the year.

However, what you may not know is that to be deductible as an expense, the item in question must be “revenue expenditure” rather than “capital expenditure”.

Whats’ the difference you may be asking, after all if you spend money on the business surely that is an expense and you should be able to get tax relief on it? Continue reading →

As a small business there are times when I want to update the business accounts but am not sitting in front of the office computer.  It may be that I am on a trip (business of course) and want to enter some receipts into the system while they are fresh in my mind or that I’ve seen some money come into the bank account and I want to mark an invoice as paid.

There are several options that would allow me to do this, including using a remote connection (something like logmein) to connect to the office PC and update the accounts; or using some sort of online accounting.

Recently I’ve been looking into online accounting and it’s amazing the different solutions that are out there.  Most of the packages seem to be ones where you can connect to an accounts package that is online Continue reading →

Struggling with your own business? How an umbrella company could help. 

For anyone who is struggling to cope with the trials and tribulations frequently associated with owning and operating a small business, employing the services of an umbrella company can be a useful solution. The small business/umbrella company relationship is akin that of the employee/employer and such an association can help the owner improve the efficiency of various aspects of their enterprise, not to mention giving them extra time to concentrate on growing the business.

First off, an umbrella company can help immensely with the accounting aspect of the business. The umbrella company receives payment from clients on the business’s behalf and completes all necessary year-end tax returns. The umbrella company also takes care of deducting the taxes from each paycheck going to the business. Where applicable, National Insurance deductions and returns are also made by the umbrella company.

Usually, the only thing that the contractor or small business owner has to do in order to ensure he or she is paid correctly is hand in a timesheet. Continue reading →