Month: December 2017

  • Limited companies – what you need to know

    Audits may be a thing of the past, but certain annual reports still apply. If you’re a business owner, you may be familiar with the process of submitting your accounts for official inspection by an independent body. This is known as an audit. You may also breathe a sigh of relief as most small businesses…

  • Autumn Budget mentions

    A range of measures designed to boost business and productivity were announced in Autumn Budget 2017. Amid a background of discontent surrounding business rates, chancellor Philip Hammond revealed future increases will be determined by the Consumer Prices Index measure of inflation from April 2018. The measure comes into effect two years earlier than originally planned…

  • R&D Tax credit claims hits new high

    Research and development (R&D) tax credit claims by small businesses climbed to £1.345 billion in 2015/16, according to HMRC. The revenue recently released R&D data for the previous financial year that shows claims increased from £1 billion in 2014/15 to hit another record high last year. The total number of claims for R&D credits in…

  • Class 2 NI – update

    Chancellor Philip Hammond has delayed the decision to abolish class 2 national insurance contributions (NICs) by 12 months. The policy, which was first announced by Hammond’s predecessor George Osborne in 2016, would have seen class 2 NICs incorporated in reformed class 4 NICs from April 2018. Self-employed workers earning less than £6,025 in 2017/18 can…

  • VAT threshhold frozen to 2020

    Small businesses breathed a collective sigh of relief when chancellor Philip Hammond resisted calls to lower the VAT registration threshold in Autumn Budget 2017. The Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) made eight core recommendations for the government to clarify the VAT system ahead of the chancellor’s speech on 22 November 2017. It called the current…