Insights

VAT is a complex area for charities and one which is easy to get wrong. Get it wrong and it could result in project underfunding or missed opportunities to claim reliefs.

As charities grow and develop, activities and income streams change. It’s always important to consider the VAT implications of actual and proposed changes.

The main topic of discussion following publication of the Office of Tax Simplification’s (OTS) report regarding the future of VAT has been the level of the registration threshold. At present a business must register for VAT when its taxable turnover exceeds £85,000 – the highest in the EU.

One of the most common mistakes a business owner makes when selling their business is announcing it to the staff prematurely. I’m often asked, “When is the right time to tell the staff?"

When VAT has been overpaid or under-claimed by a taxpayer and the blame lies with HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), section 78 of the VAT Act 1994 allows for the payment of interest in order to compensate.

Did you know that a staggering 74% of small and medium businesses have suffered cyber theft or fraud? How well protected are you and your practices?

The stubborn insistence by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) that all company directors must file a Self Assessment tax return has been a point of discussion in practices for many years. 

Simple Assessment is HMRC’s latest brainchild intended to remove the burden of completing a Self-Assessment tax return.

From September 2017 HMRC will remove the need for some customers to complete a tax return. To find out more about these changes and how this may affect you read our full blog. 

MHA Larking Gowen is delighted to announce that it has appointed Anders Rasmussen as a new Partner joining their corporate team on Monday 6 November.

There’s no doubt that cyber security is a significant threat to all charities. Despite this, a typical charity only spends a quarter of what a similar size business would spend on cyber security. A successful cyber-attack can leave a charity open to blackmail and ransom demands and can result in financial losses and reputational damage. 

Calculating holiday pay used to be a fairly simple calculation, based on the hours and rates as set out in the employment contract. However, a recent employment tribunal decision in Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council v Willetts held that voluntary overtime can amount to ‘normal remuneration’ for the purposes of calculating holiday pay.

We are very pleased to be sponsoring the Entrepreneur Award at the Norfolk Youth Awards, which will be held in February by Open Youth Trust. These awards are designed to highlight young people’s astonishing achievements and to give them the recognition and encouragement they deserve.

Running a shoot can be very enjoyable, although it does come with a number of pressures. Making sure that there is enough healthy game and praying for the right weather conditions are just a couple of worries faced, and then there are the financial commitments…

Solicitors often incur costs on behalf of a client and charge these on in the form of disbursements. Disbursements arise when goods or services are supplied by a third party directly to the client. 

Summer seems to go by quicker every year, and it’s hard to believe that the children have already been back at school for a couple of weeks. Now they’re rested they can continue their journey to fulfilling their potential, and it could be the same for your business.

The Charity Commission has highlighted concerns over the level of fraud and mismanagement in the charity sector. Trustees have overall responsibility for governance and for safeguarding the charity’s assets.

73% of businesses in East Anglia experienced growth in 2016, up from 66% of sampled businesses seeing growth in 2015. The outlook for 2017/18 remains optimistic, with 84% of respondents in the region predicting growth of some kind for their business and 22% expecting this growth to be in excess of 10%. 

The landscape for Independent Financial Advisors (IFAs) has changed in recent years and this has set the tone for an expected flurry of corporate transactions in the market

Trustees have a duty to safeguard charity assets and to make sure resources are used wisely. A good system of internal controls is key to this. Sound internal controls can reduce the risk of loss through theft, fraud, bad decisions or error.

At MHA Larking Gowen we have over 300 employees across nine locations and ensuring their mental wellbeing is a very important part of our core values. We are training managers to support staff and identify any issues that may arise in their day- to-day lives that affect their wellbeing.

Land, of any sort, is difficult to value. As accountants we are often required to value assets of one sort or another, and various tools have been developed to do so. However, none of these tools is particularly helpful when we look at agricultural land. Rental yield, when you take out some management costs, is miniscule, and there are many uncertainties, of which Brexit is only one.

We have seen some unusual political times over the last few years and these have produced uncertainties for the many small businesses that are the lifeblood of the UK economy. I have written recently about Making Tax Digital (MTD) and how this would have a significant impact for these small businesses, including those with rented properties.

The Criminal Finances Act has introduced a new corporate criminal offence of ‘failure to prevent the facilitation of tax evasion’. The offence is expected to be enforceable from September 2017.

Following the end of election purdah restrictions, the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) has issued its annual revision to the Academies Accounts Direction (AAD) 2016 to 2017, which will determine the format of accounts prepared by Academy Trusts for the year to 31 August 2017.

Communication with the outside world has never been more important. Making sure you successfully communicate what you are doing and the difference you make to your beneficiaries can mean the difference between future funding being awarded or not. 

You may have heard that the Government recently announced a new timetable for Making Tax Digital (MTD). Originally, the start date for many businesses was April 2018, however, they will now not be asked to keep digital records, or update HMRC quarterly, until at least 2020. This applies to all taxes except VAT.

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 annual government report on agriculture has recently been issued. At 110 pages it is not easy reading, but it certainly sheds light on an industry which we, as accountants, normally only observe on a piecemeal basis.

Overall the Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) market is still very active within the SME space, and this trend looks set to continue even with Brexit progressing in the background. Deal activity in some sectors has seen a slight slowdown in volume compared to previous years, but those deals taking place are of a higher quality.

Recently the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) released a consultation on the new rule book and code of conduct, which currently sit at over 430 pages combined. The consultation closed on 30 September 2016. In June 2017, the SRA released the outcome of the consultation together with their take on the comments received. 

Independent schools face many challenges, not least the pressure on fees, rising parents’ expectations and the need to deliver public benefit. We have decades of experience working with independent schools in East Anglia and can help you with a full range of services.