Insights

The theme this year is very apt for the current farming climate: Resilience. Our lead article is about a Norfolk farmer at the forefront of drone technology. In line with this, many agricultural businesses don't realise they could qualify for research and development (R&D) relief. Read our R&D article to see if you could qualify for this lucrative tax relief.

We're pleased to confirm that our popular Business Breakfasts will be continuing throughout 2020. The topics will be announced in the New Year.

For most farms and agriculture businesses, the key announcement of the 2018 Budget wasn’t the change in personal tax rates or allowances (welcome as they were), but the increase in Annual Investment Allowance (AIA) from £200,000 to £1 million for the two years commencing 1 January 2019.

Now that Primary Care Networks (PCN) have been up and running for several months, I’m writing a series of blogs around this topic. Part 1: The Clinical Director.

When writing last month’s blog, the political world was in a state of flux. I was looking forward to Sajid Javid’s Budget, an orderly Brexit and everything being rosy. At the time of writing, the Labour party has just published its manifesto and the Conservative manifesto is due to be published over the weekend.

A new round of Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) grants was announced on 4 November.

Tax considerations can be vital in a business sale. The ability to structure a sale on a tax-efficient basis is central to maximising shareholder value. A review of the position in advance of marketing a business for sale may identify opportunities which can be capitalised on or risks which can be dealt with.

When you make payments on behalf of your customers, for goods or services received and used by them, you might be able to treat these payments as ‘disbursements’ for VAT purposes. 

The Great Yarmouth Community Trust, which runs nurseries and days centres in Norfolk and Suffolk, is to go into liquidation.

As part of our long-term commitment to build bigger and better specialist teams, to help and support our clients, MHA Larking Gowen has taken the decision to combine our Dereham and Fakenham offices.

Falling foul of the National Minimum Wage and Living Wage rules is all too easy, and for most employers, it’s an innocent oversight that will catch them out.

Land, of any sort, is difficult to value. As accountants, we often have to value assets of one sort or another, and there are various tools that we can use to do so. However, none of these tools is particularly helpful when we look at farmland.

Last week, Laurie Hill looked at how New Zealand farmers pushed through a period of harsh economic set-backs in the 1980s to become a world leader in agriculture exports. Now he discusses whether UK farming can learn any lessons from that New Zealand experience.

MHA Larking Gowen is delighted to be named Best Employer in this year's Norfolk Business Awards. The firm was shortlisted for the award last month along with the East Anglian Air Ambulance, Holkham and Liftshare.com.

Welcome to month 11 of our publication, Using Conflict as a Catalyst for Change – A Guide for Embracing, Managing and Mitigating Conflict Within Your Charity. This month we focus on how effective trustees and others within the charity can manage conflict and what to do when conflict arises.

We all know the feeling of being in a business meeting we couldn’t see any benefit in attending. We’re stuck in a loop of people discussing (or arguing) their side of the story. All structure has gone out of the window and the only bright side is the offering of biscuits, presumably to give a sugar boost to get everybody through safely to the end!

This Webinar will be of interest to COFAs, Cashiers and Partners with a specific interest in client money matters. MHA Larking Gowen will provide a brief overview of the changes to the Solicitors Accounts Rules, which come into effect in November 2019, and offer practical advice on using these new rules to your advantage.

Laurie Hill discusses UK farming subsidies, and compares the tough economic pressures facing farmers in the UK to the difficulties faced by New Zealand farmers when they lost their subsidies in the 1980s. 

It was worrying to read recently that Lloyds Bank has discovered thousands of customers’ wills stored in its ‘safe custody’ service, which was closed to new customers in 2011. This situation is a good reminder to anyone making a will or who already has a will.  Read on for advice on avoiding the pitfalls.

Amidst all the furore surrounding Brexit and the consequences for agriculture and owners of farmland, it’s easy to concentrate on the day-to-day news whilst overlooking some of the reports that don’t immediately hit the headlines, such as inheritance tax reliefs.

Sajid Javid had intended to deliver his first Budget on 6 November 2019, but, with a general election now looming, this has been delayed, probably into the new year. If he does get the opportunity to deliver his post-Brexit Budget, he will set out the plan to shape the economy for the future and trigger the start of our infrastructure revolution.

Published recently, the Experian Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) report for Q3 of 2019 ranked MHA Larking Gowen’s Corporate Finance team joint second by deal volume in the region, with the firm advising on 14 deals in the East of England.

Are you thinking about selling your business? Read this great article from James Lay Corporate Finance Partner at MHA Larking Gowen giving you some top tips to plan for the sale

Long-established Clacton-on-Sea builders' merchants, J E Fuller, has been bought by the independent regional firm Huws Gray Ridgeons. The firm was established, on its current site near the town's railway, in 1954 and outgoing director, Peter Fuller, has worked there since 1956.

Partner Andrew Kelsall comments on the latest Insolvency statistics for the quarter July – September 2019 were released by the Insolvency Service.

From April 2020, the holiday pay reference period will increase from 12 to 52 weeks. This is to make sure that the calculation of holiday pay for employees in various roles is equal and fair.

Most landowners know exactly what the family owns, including the finer details of boundaries, tenancies and history. However, they may be less clear about exactly who owns which property and what’s on the business balance sheet. It’s not uncommon for someone to think they own land, when in fact it’s still held in the names of grandparents’ executors, or for them to think it’s owned jointly with a spouse when that’s not the case.

The Autumn edition of the AISMA medical newsline has just been published. This edition talks about retaining your CQC status, an update on the pension tax pill; fraud protection; the challenges with sharing staff across Primary Care Networks and much more. 

Our recent blogs have discussed the new SRA rules, to be implemented from 25 November. As the date is creeping ever closer, let’s consider them once again.

MHA Larking Gowen are proud to announce that we’ve been shortlisted as one of four finalists in the category of “Best Employer” in the Norfolk Business Awards hosted by the Eastern Daily Press.