UK Business

Taxation

We will look after your UK tax affairs with the same professional attitude as we do your accounting needs. The UK has the following business taxes, which we understand well: - 

• Income Tax & NIC
• Corporation Tax
• Value Added Tax
• Investigations and Insurance

Income Tax and National Insurance Contributions (NIC)

Income tax is a personal tax either paid twice a year if you are self-employed or a partner, or deducted through payroll if employed. NIC is an additional personal tax for the self-employed and employee and employer tax through payrolls. Additional employer NIC taxes arise on benefits provided such as health insurance, company cars or share options. Care taken before offering these benefits can mitigate employer's costs or at least allow you to understand the implications.

Corporation Tax

Company profits are assessed for Corporation Tax every 12 months, the tax being paid 9 months after year-end unless you are a large company when stage payment rules may apply. There are specific rules for depreciation, assets, certain expenses, provisions, property and stock. When the accounts are complete we will compute the tax and advise you of the amount and date of payment.

Tax saving strategies may include the timing of asset purchases and disposal and the funding methods of new assets. However this tax is one of the lowest UK taxes and such tax saving decisions need to be considered in the light of this.

Value Added Tax

If you undertake your own accounting it is vital you appreciate what VAT requires you to do, how to keep accurate records and how to account for VAT every 3 months.

We can help take the complexities out of VAT - advise on how to keep records; operating "margin" schemes; ensure you understand the differences between standard, zero-rated and exempt supplies and how to use "cash accounting" to match your VAT payments to actual cash flows.

You can gain from registering for VAT even though you may be below the threshold for compulsory registration. Conversely if your sales fall below set levels it may worth deregistering from VAT to reduce your admin burden.

Trading abroad you need to know the VAT treatment when invoicing EC, other European or International countries and how the equivalent overseas VAT affects you.

Whatever your situation VAT is a tax area you must understand and apply. We can direct you in VAT requirements in a practical way and provide solutions to potentially difficult issues.

Investigations and Insurance

The Inland Revenue is increasingly using value-based decisions to decide when and which companies are investigated. Initial queries may be fairly simple and a quick resolution to the problem can be achieved; however we are finding more in-depth investigations are taking place, targeting selective items. We can undertake the response required to these enquiries and keep you abreast of the ongoing situation as well as offering insurance policies to cover the direct costs of these investigations.