Ian Piper (Ely)

It is fairly well publicised now that as part of the Government’s financial support package for businesses during this Coronavirus outbreak, these businesses can, if they wish, defer their next VAT payment(s) (those due between 20 March and 30 June 2020). Interest and penalties will not be charged on such a deferral. What was not…

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As Chancellor Rishi Sunak sits down after presenting his first Budget to the Commons, the headlines will all relate to tackling Coronavirus and increased spending on our public services. Reading the small print, however, which is released by HMRC straight after the Budget, announcements that will be of interest to clients running technology companies include:…

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(Data Source) As another year draws to a close, local SME businesses will be forgiven for looking forward to drawing a line under it. With 2019 sales growth barely nudging 1%, it has been a year of focusing on not slipping backwards, rather than the usual mantra of continually signing up new accounts.  When commentators…

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Readers, particularly knowledge based contractors working through their own personal service companies, will hopefully now be familiar with the new ‘off-payroll working’ tax rules being introduced in the private sector on 1 April 2020. These are being introduced as part of the Government’s general strategy over recent years to eliminate tax avoidance, tax evasion, and…

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As we edge ever closer to what looks more and more likely to be a ‘no-deal’ Brexit, SME business owners should now be readying their businesses.   There is clearly no certainty over quite how affected we shall all be by Brexit. However, there are sensible risk management mitigation steps that business owners may wish…

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It will probably be apparent to the casual observer, let alone the business owner or high net worth individual, that the tax climate has changed markedly over the last 10 years. As part of the raft of measures to tackle austerity within western developed nations, with the aim of collecting higher tax revenues, governments have…

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  Many companies, not just those in the tech industry, will have benefitted from the generosity of R&D tax relief. Eligible R&D expenditure can be inflated by a notional 230% uplift, and a refund of tax claimed on tax that was never paid in the first place. Perhaps not unsurprisingly, HMRC have identified abuses of…

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HMRC are not known for being ahead of the curve, so trying to find official guidance on how exchange gains from selling bitcoin, and other crypto currencies, is expected to be self-assessed and taxed, was always going to be ‘problematic’. At the time of first researching this, the latest HMRC guidance was published in 3…

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Business owners, like the rest of us, will be all too aware that Christmas is a ‘challenging’ time. A short working month usually means less production, less sales and less payments from customers. Add to this cost of staff Christmas bonuses, various festive jollies and large tax bills just around the corner in January, and…

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So now that we can finally see what Brexit might mean in reality, with the publication of the Draft Brexit Agreement, everyone is still unhappy. After much talk about what we wanted, which was leaving the EU club, whilst cherry-picking retention of access to the Single Market and a borderless border in Ireland, it has…

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