Accountants Archives - Page 12 of 13

News,May 2018

The Benefits Of Hiring An Accountant When You’re Self-Employed

George26/01/2021Accountants , Accounting Issues , self-employed accountant

Considering that you are self-employed, there are many reasons as to why you would be questioning the need for an accountant for self-employed. You might believe that having an accountant would only mean that you are only increasing your annual costs; however, the benefits could only speak for themselves! Having an accountant would mean that all of your financial, legal, and governmental requirements and paperwork would be dealt with promptly and in accordance with regulations. Now imagine avoiding all of those responsibilities—wouldn’t that be a dream come true? To cement that point even further, here are a few more reasons why you should hire tax consultants in London. They Are Experts At What They Do Just like any occupation, accountants have all the necessary experience and skills to thoroughly deal with whatever paperwork that you throw at them. Self-employed accountants also aid you in making decisions that would greatly affect your business—and there should be no doubt in believing in what they say since they are sure to have more business experience than you do! Having someone to deal with and organize your requirements will also help you with preventing loss of revenue, making your work an all-around better experience to deal with. Their Services Will Save You Time Aside from letting them do all the hard work that comes with various documents, the primary reason for hiring tax accountants in Croydon would be to assist you in managing your time. Having someone reliable handling your invoices and other processes will be a great way for you to focus more on working on your operations and garnering revenue. There are a lot of accountants that you can find and hire for your business; however, you must find one that offers a wide variety of services—services that are imperative for any successful business. They Can Provide Accurate Planning Working with an accountant would mean that you will be able to monitor an accurate view of your earnings and your tax obligations. You must be able to plan out your tax strategy since you are self-employed, and having an accountant would mean that you have someone to confide in when it comes to long-term plans. As the client, you even have the authority to ask your accountant to create a financial plan for your endgame—including your retirement and various financial optimization methods. They Help Small Businesses Flourish Taking care of the paperwork isn’t the only responsibility that your accountant has. They also help you in avoiding making decisions that could lead to financial complications, giving you an outsider’s perspective of your business to help you improve on what needs improving. Conclusion There truly aren’t a lot of reasons that should make you shy away from hiring an accountant other than having an extra cost to pay; however, you should mind that having an accountant for self-employed would only mean that your business is sure to be successful! The benefits that come from an accountant’s expertise is exactly why it is so worth spending that initial cost since you are then able to make so much more money in the long run. Before you hire an accountant, make sure that they specialize in the type of business you have. Cruse Burke has tax consultants and accountants for SMEs, the self-employed, limited companies, and contractors. We are fully equipped to deal with the particular needs of small business accounting. Schedule a consultation with us today!

How to build a startup without any external finance

Here’s How you Build a Startup Without External Finance

George25/01/2021Accountants , Business Growth Ideas , Startup accountants

It’s never easy when you’re starting off with something new. Especially when you’ve got no backup. You always need help from successful entrepreneurs and experts to get the answer around ‘how to build a startup without external finance’. Make sure you’re extra careful with your decisions. Some expert advice goes a long way. One of the most important aspects of any startup is funding, definitely. Most people would go on for venture funding or external funding options most of the time. But do you want to find out who started off without any funding and are known as the conglomerates as of now? Microsoft, Dell, and Virgin are some of the leading examples that started off without any external funding. So how does an investor-free startup roll, you ask, and how exactly does it benefit you? You Get to Lead Like a Boss Here’s how some amazing startups came into being. Someone with a brilliant mind was already working for some big company. Until they realized they’ve got an amazing idea that needed serious work. They wanted to make independent decisions about things they were really passionate about. Then came the next question ‘ how to build a startup without external finance’. What About the Budget? The startup/business owners need to be extra careful of the decisions they would be taking. All the ideas may be creative and innovative but need some precautions especially when it comes to money matters. Imperfections in any business model eat up a lot of money, so you’ve got to make sure that your business model is sound and take as many expert hands as you may like. Make your Customers Feel Happy Nothing sells out more than customer satisfaction. You’ve got to make sure that you’ve got a sales team that makes the customer believe in whatever they want to believe. Trust us when we say this, there’s not one customer who dislikes the idea of high-quality services. Make sure you’re impressing them with high-quality products/services. There’s a long list of people that are amused by the idea of new and unorthodox ideas. You just need to make the idea more familiar to that bunch of people. Having a great idea is great, but you need a great team to make it even more successful. That not only includes a great marketing team, but also a great accounting team. They’ll help you discover all your answers to ‘ how to build a startup without any external finance’.Now how is an accountant relevant to this situation, you ask? An accountant for startups takes a brief look at your accounts. He communicates with you in numbers by understanding your goals in the language you love talking about. That’s how they align your goals with an effective business strategy that works out in the long run. Looking for a qualified accountant in Croydon? Get on a call with accountants in Croydon.

Plan Your Long-Term Financial Security with the Right Financial Advisor

George19/01/2021Accountants , Accounting Issues , Business Growth Ideas

Getting your financial goals with financial advisors may sound strange for some of you. You may consider them a luxury. But in simple terms, these individuals help you achieve your financial goals by telling you where and how to spend your money. Talk about long term financial security. Getting a professional hand involved in your financial affairs is not a bad thing at all. This will give you more confidence with where you are spending your money and give you more options to invest it. Here’s a guide for you to save more money with the right financial advisor by your side with absolute financial security. Determine Why You Need a Financial Advisor Financial advisors may prove to be a big help in case you are trying to devise your future plans. People usually misunderstand the role of financial advisors. You don’t have to necessarily require a financial advisor to achieve your investments and savings goals. You may need help if you are retiring or getting through a phase of divorce or encounter an unexpected death of a spouse. In situations like these, you may need someone to advise you on your financial decisions and work long term on your financial security. Types of Financial Advisors You will not find every other financial advisor specialized in your need. Different individuals offer different services. You can find a specialized advisor according to your need. Some deal with taxes, insurance and some work in estate planning or retirement planning. A lot of people encounter difficulties managing education financials and there are people who are specialists with these kinds of affairs. The thing is that you may want to go with one who knows about your worry and its solution well. Do Your Homework Don’t go in randomly and hire someone. Do your homework and find the right man for the right job. Put together some names. Ask around and make inquiries. You will find people with a good reputation and history. Talk to your family and friends and gather some recommendations. You can use the internet to search the location-based advisors near you. Check their History Make sure that you are going with an individual who has dealt with a similar kind of cases successfully in the past. Reputation plays a vital role in determining your success. You can check their history by going through their cases and consultation with some people who used their services. How to Find a Financial Advisor If you want an advisor on the matter relating to mortgages, protection insurance, investments and general financial planning, Personal Finance Society may prove to be a good platform. You can also explore the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investments (CISI) platform which is really good to find location-based advisors. To deal with your financial affairs and accounts you can explore our location-based search engine which will find you an expert under 30 seconds. Specialized advisors You will find plenty of specialists termed as ‘financial advisor’, ‘mortgage planner’, pension adviser’ or ‘financial planner’. Restricted advisors will focus only on only one area. Some may give advice on many areas. Look in the market to evaluate carefully.

5 Things you Must Look for in an Ideal Bookkeeping Software

George18/01/2021Accountants , Accounting Issues

The number of software offering accounting services has increased over the years. The wide variety of software has somewhat increased the demand for accounting software over the years. You’re on a mission to find a bookkeeper when you’re stuck with all the transactions at your end. Of course, some of the features are relatively different from others, but it totally depends on what you’re choosing for your business. Let us find a bookkeeper, accounts reporter, tax calculator and submitter for you. Then there are softwares that offers different scalability too. Let’s dig into more details of why do you need accounting software. Talk to our best accountants and bookkeepers in the UK at CruseBurke. You will get instant help about who owns a private limited company. What’s the Value of Accounting Software? So what is the importance of accounting software, you ask? Talk about getting help with payroll and other solutions, cutting operational costs, getting more productive and minimizing your expenses. Not only will you get help with calculating yearly transactions, but you’ll also get help with getting your taxes submitted on time. You won’t have to worry about getting other accountants on board to get the job done. The software is accessible to everyone and your team can always count on one to get the job done. Having accounting software also guarantees you transparency and accuracy, because if a human works on similar tasks there is always a chance of human error. You’ll eventually end up getting everything delivered on time and with complete accuracy. In the long run, you’ll come across strategies that are completely relevant and specific to your needs. So what are the other things an accounting software can take care of? These include financial data collection, software that helps you organize and analyse data, compliance software that helps you out with payroll management too, and get all your taxes registered on time. One of the most important bonuses you can always count on is customer satisfaction. Of course, when you’re more productive, your customers are ten times more satisfied with your service. They’ll definitely appreciate the fact that your company is sending out all their invoices, billing reports, and other finance-related requirements on time. Once you’re doing everything, this also helps you build credibility in the market. So what’s the list of features you must look out for in your accounting software: User-friendliness: As a business owner or even an accountant (although accountants are good at digesting heavy information) you’ll definitely need your accounting software to have all the right feature which makes your job ten times easier. You don’t want to end up buying accounting software that has all the right features, but it’s not very easy to comprehend. We’ll make sure you’ve got multi-dimensional reporting features, this means that your team can enjoy the ease of reporting anytime, any day. Count on these reports to be highly customized as per your needs and targets. Integrate Billing and Invoicing Features: Among all the basic features offered by accounting software, are billing, invoicing and inventory management. However, there are times when you don’t have everything integrated into one system. Make sure you’ve got inventory management embedded in your app too. Make Sure You Identify and Prevent Errors The right accounting software can help you prevent errors and bring more authenticity to the services you’re offering. Your software should be smart enough to identify errors at your end, before you submit your records to the higher authorities. We’re sure we pretty much summarized all the right features that your accounting software must have. If you’re looking for an answer to the query of how to find a bookkeeper, how to find a payroll manager, and how to do your taxes right, we’re sure we’ve come up with answers to all of your questions. One good accounting software with all the right features is good enough for you. Disclaimer: The information about the tax on how to improve tax compliance burden provided in this blog includes text and graphics of a general nature. It does not intend to disregard any of the professional advice.

VAT Accounting Schemes: Determine the Best Scheme for Your Business

George13/01/2021Accountants , Accounting Issues , Making Tax Digital , VAT

If you are running a business, then you have to keep track of the taxes that you pay to HMRC. VAT is an indirect tax that is collected by HMRC because it is charged by the businesses for the HMRC. There are different VAT schemes to report VAT with HMRC. In the UK, VAT is the third-largest source of income for the government after Income tax and National Insurance. The Value Added Tax VAT is the most widely paid tax to HMRC on the selling of goods and services. Businesses collect this tax on the items they sell and it applies to every sale. Do I have to Register for VAT? Yes, you have to register for VAT. But your earnings have to pass a certain threshold. The threshold does not remain the same; the rate may change every year. If you are passing the threshold, you have to register in 30 days. You can do it online. Can I Reclaim VAT? If you are a business owner and selling goods or services to other customers or businesses, you can reclaim VAT. You can also reclaim the VAT that you pay on your business-related expenses. But you have to register for VAT first. Is there any Benefit for VAT Registration? You must be thinking about what you get in return for paying VAT. You can simply claim it back. Utility businesses have to pay VAT on the goods they purchase but they can claim them back at the time of filing their returns. If your business is VAT registered, it improves its credibility. It kind of makes you look more authentic. Your business will look more professional, even if your turnover is lower. What is the VAT Scheme? A vat scheme is a system to tell HMRC about VAT. Once you register for VAT, it doesn’t end there. Charging VAT from customers bounds you to tell HMRC about it. You need a proper mechanism for this. It also includes how much VAT you are charging. HMRC is providing this mechanism in the form of a VAT scheme. How Many VAT Schemes are there? HMRC is providing three different VAT accounting methods which are called VAT accounting schemes. The days of manual methods are over and people now prefer to use automatic accounting software. The software can acquire data automatically which then you can use to complete a quarterly VAT return. HMRC is pretty flexible in providing different methods. Depending on your business nature and turnover you can choose the right accounting method. To tell the HMRC about VAT you have to know: How much VAT you have deducted or charged How much VAT you have paid Annual Accounting VAT Scheme This is the same as the standard VAT accounting method. You don’t have to file a quarterly return if you are going with this scheme. You have to keep up with an annual deadline for payment and reporting. Most people keep it the same with their tax filing date. It is much simpler. If your business has a turnover of more than £1.35 million, you cannot go with this scheme. Flat Rate Scheme A flat rate scheme is a VAT accounting scheme for small businesses. if you own an SME. You must know your total turnover. You have to pay VAT on the percentage of your turnover. Flat VAT accounting rates depend on what kind of business you do. You have to look for flat rates for different industries. Some key features of this scheme are: If you own a small business You have to charge VAT on your invoices. But this saves you from the trouble of accounting for VAT on every sale and purchase Business with a turnover of up to £150,000 can avail of this scheme Cash accounting scheme You account for VAT on the same day you receive your payment with this scheme. You don’t have to account for it when you send the invoice. This scheme is beneficial for you if you face delays in receiving payments from your vendors. In this scheme, you don’t have to pay VAT until you receive your due payments. Is the cash accounting scheme well suited for you? You don’t have to go with this scheme if you buy a lot of things on credit. Because you cannot reclaim VAT until you receive your payments. If your business’s annual turnover is above £1.35 million, you cannot go with this scheme.

What’s the Difference Between Factoring and Invoice Discounting?

George12/01/2021Accountants , Accounting Issues

Invoice discounting and factoring are very similar concepts. Both are helpful in releasing cash which is tied in invoices. Anyone can be helpful in funding, including banks, financiers, or invoice factoring companies. These lend against an outstanding debtor balance or accounts receivable. The end goals are the same. Having extra cash for your business never hurts. You’re in a tight spot multiple times each year. These situations can occur due to the fact that you’re supposed to pay your employers and the client has not paid you yet. A similar situation can occur for a construction company that’s supposed to invest in another project, but the money from the previous project is still awaited. The main difference between the sales ledger or other financier companies occurs if the other sources are completely inclined towards paying the employers. So here’s the important question: What’s the Difference Between Factoring and Invoice Discounting? Factoring occurs mainly when a business hands out the invoicing task to a third party. It’s the responsibility of that third party to manage the sales ledger and collect debts accordingly. Invoice discounting is an alternative way of working on your discounts against that money. Bill discounting gives you immediate capital by borrowing against that money. Both provide you with short term capital to make sure your business operations keep on running. What is the Key Difference? Invoice FactoringWith factoring, your business sells its invoices to a third party (called a factor). The factor takes over credit control and collects payment directly from your customers. This is ideal if you want to outsource debt collection and free up your admin time. Invoice DiscountingWith discounting, your invoices are used as collateral for a short-term loan, but you stay in charge of collecting payments. This is more discreet, so your customers usually don’t know that a lender is involved. Both methods give you a cash advance — typically up to 90-100% of your invoice value — within 24 to 48 hours. Benefits of Invoice Factoring and Invoice Discounting Now that we’ve discussed all the differences, it’s important to look into the benefits of factoring and invoice discounting too. The benefits are quite similar. With each one of these, you get to: You get to release around 100 percent across the value of your outstanding invoices within 24 hours. You don’t need other assets for funding. Free up cash to work on your cash flow problems. Get done with supplier invoices in no time and negotiate discounts on a frequent basis. Count on better funding opportunities along with the overall turnover. What Industries Use Invoice Discounting? A lot of industries use invoice discounting for different areas of businesses. These industries include: Construction Recruitment Manufacturing Wholesale Printing and Publishing Even couriers and logistics (how cool is that) Factoring and discounting have proven out to be a problem-solvers, especially for businesses that deal with goods ad services on regular basis. There are many businesses facing problems of slow payments, factoring and invoice discounting really helps out all these businesses. Final Thoughts Invoice factoring and discounting are still highly relevant in 2025 — especially as many businesses face delayed payments and uncertain cash flow. Whether you’re in construction, manufacturing, or services, these tools can give you the financial breathing room to operate smoothly. Need help choosing the right option? Speak to a financial advisor or accountant who understands your business.

Environmental Taxes, Reliefs and Schemes For Businesses

George11/01/2021Accountants , Tax Issues , Tax Saving Tips

Adapting regulations regarding environmental taxes in the UK makes your business more environmental friendly and protects our environment. There are different taxes and schemes to encourage you to adopt these regulations. If you are running a business then: You may be consuming a lot of energy Small businesses with fewer energy needs You go on to buy energy-efficient solutions Climate Change Levy (CCL) CCL is an environmental tax charged on the energy used by businesses in industrial, commercial, and public service sectors. There are two CCL rate categories: Main Rates: Apply to gas, electricity, and solid fuels. Carbon Price Support (CPS) Rates: Apply to fossil fuels used for electricity generation. Current (2025) Main Rates: Electricity: 0.775 p/kWh Gas: 0.775 p/kWh LPG: 2.175 p/kg Other Fuels: 6.064 p/kg You do not pay the main rate if your business has low energy needs, is for domestic use, or is involved in charity-related activities. CCL is collected by HMRC and includes VAT on top. Emissions Trading The EU ETS affects businesses from energy-driven sectors and areas. This includes industries related to energy and manufacturers of certain kinds. This scheme allows your business to trade greenhouse allowances. This means you can buy and sell greenhouse gas emission allowances. Allowance trading reduces your business’s environmental impact. Under EU ETS, your business has to meet the target by cutting its emissions and trading emission allowances. Capital Allowances on Energy-Efficient Items You can avail this allowance if you purchase environmentally friendly equipment for your business. You can pay less tax after this. Your business will also be eligible for enhanced capital allowance on equipment that includes: Vehicles with a low carbon footprint Energy-efficient equipment and machinery Gas and biofuel technology Water-saving gadget Zero-emission vehicles As of 2025, a new Climate Change Agreement (CCA) Scheme is opening to support energy-efficient investments. Landfill Taxes Businesses have to pay taxes on dumping their waste through landfill sites. This tax is independent of the landfill fee. Your business will have to register for it in under 30 days. You will have to face fine and penalties if the period expires. There are two rates: Lower rate of £2.65 per tonne for waste that includes rock and soil The standard rate of £84.40 per tonne for active waste Aggregate Levy This levied tax is applicable on rock soil, sand and other earth material dredged from the ground or waters. Your business will have to pay £2 per tonne for it. Environmental taxes in the UK ensure that you reduce your carbon footprint and contribute to the environment. Also, these green taxes will help you bring down your operational costs significantly. Conclusion Environmental taxes in the UK aim to reduce the carbon footprint of businesses while promoting greener practices. By complying with these regulations, your business not only contributes to protecting the environment but may also benefit from tax savings and operational efficiency.

Here’s Our 101 On How to Register an Overseas Company

George07/01/2021Accountants , Business Growth Ideas , Limited Company

If you’re looking forward to registering as an overseas company in the UK, we’ll take you through a step-by-step process to make sure you’re doing it right. You must register for the company of company house if you’re starting out to set up a new business in the UK. What’s the Eligibility Criteria? If you’ve already got a base in the UK, you can register for the business. This means that if you visit UK frequently for business purposes or you’ve already set up space, you can carry out business in the UK. Some firms can still not register as an overseas company. These include partnerships and unincorporated bodies. If you don’t have a base in the UK, you don’t need to register for the company’s house. Let’s say you’ve already invested in a property (we can consider this as setting up a base) make sure you’re filing the corporate taxes. What Forms Do You Need to Fill Out? Make sure you’re filling out form OSIN01. Make sure you send it out to the company’s house within 1 month from the time you started out on that particular business. If you’re worried about what address do you need to send it out to, don’t worry about that. The address is there on the form. You might end up paying 20 Euros as the registration fee with the form. For the ease of the taxpayers, HMRC gives you the option of paying it either through a paycheque or postal order. What if you Need to Change any Details on the Forms for your Company? Make sure you’re telling companies house within 14 days if there are any changes in your company details. These can include: Your decision to change the name of the company. Your decision to change the address of the company. What business your company does? Any changes in the roles of directors, or other authorized personnel. Your decision to work on changes in the company information. For example, you want to expand on the details of the accounting requirements or the powers of the secretaries or directors. Changes in company constitution on the form We hope the following information has helped you set up an overseas company in the UK. This was one popular question asked particularly by the business owners of the US, Africa, and Asia. Therefore, we’ve summarized all the relevant information we’ve received from all the channels.

Get your Way Around Common VAT Problems

George06/01/2021Accountants , Accountants for Contractors , Accounting Issues , Tax Issues , VAT

As an accountant, we have to do a lot of problem-solving each day. Let’s take a look at the top ten VAT problems, and identify solutions for each one of these too. Businesses want to end up paying as little as possible, and getting your VAT right is one way to make sure you’re not overspending. Having the right accountant by your side is all you need to get everything right and avoid VAT payment problems. Know that VAT can go wrong in limitless ways. It’s a self-assessed tax being handled by ten other people. What are the chances that there might be zero chances of a human error? Then the team of accountants ends up saying ‘if only’ multiple times when they get themselves into serious VAT payment problems. If only a business owner would have ended up checking the VAT position before signing a contract or checking up on the VAT position before letting out a property, things would’ve been different. Most business owners even agree on a transaction without working out its VAT. Normally, people don’t consider VAT while carrying out the transactions and it’s troubling for them when they’re issuing their invoices or submitting VAT returns. As tax advisors, the accountants at Cruse and Burke always encourage you to keep all these situations in mind to make sure you don’t end up in a mess. It’s been seen in prior situations too that businesses that have problems with paying VAT in their minds before carrying out transactions see their commercial outputs improve significantly. You’ll not only improve profits but also make sure that you’re avoiding losses to the maximum. So let’s take a look at some of the common issues faced while getting your VAT done and help you overcome major VAT problems down the road: Having a lead in time always helps out in keeping VAT problems at bay. Enough time helps you carefully prepare for regulations, return forms, and systems for registering taxpayers and processing VAT returns and payments. Plus having prior experience is a benefit, and it always helps out. Sometimes small enterprises or companies are responsible for doing new invoices and working on the bookkeeping requirements. The problem arises especially among people going for VAT upon imports. Small enterprises have vigorously opposed the idea since the department in charge of internal taxes has been given the job primarily. Another major problem encountered by people of developing countries is that the staff number is not specified for resolving all the VAT issues. This is one problem of high concern for these countries. As VAT is something completely different from a general sales tax. VAT is considered as a modern tax of nature. So many countries demand that it must be dealt with in separate organizations. According to many developing countries, VAT should be dealt in a completely separate organization apart from general income tax, let’s say. We’ve not only identified potential problems that can get you into serious trouble but also identified solutions for all of them. VAT issues are common and you’ll try your best to avoid them to the maximum keeping in view the solutions above. We wish you good luck in getting everything right and pressing on the long-term measures to sort out everything the perfect way.

The Importance of Webinars for Business Promotion in the COVID Times

George01/01/2021Accountants , Covid -19 , Misc

With corona on the rise going out has decreased and the only thing that has traveled this year seems to be COVID 19. This virus has flipped everyone’s life upside down and would not be wrong to say when once we had a choice to stay at home, we’d run for it but now we just want to run away from our homes because it has just gotten too much. Many see work from home as a blessing in disguise, let’s be honest sitting back on your sofa in your pajamas while you do your work in your own comfort; there definitely is a plus side to this pandemic too. However, there have been many other things that have rose in this pandemic and one of those is; business webinars i.e. web conferencing. The COVID-19 circumstance has made it difficult to lead face to face gatherings, presentations or meetings. Accordingly, the prevalence of webinars expanded impressively. Numerous webinar software previously existed on the lookout. In any case, there is consistently space for a market top choice. However, in the long haul, business owners have various perspectives on supplanting face to face gatherings with webinars. Because of the Corona-virus pandemic, promoting activities of organizations moved to online stages. webinars were at that point being utilized, yet they went to the spotlight during the lock-down. As business activities couldn’t be closed down totally, proprietors and advertising chiefs began leading webinar platforms for their meetings and associating with customers and their audience. Business webinars are the most secure choice for the momentum situation, yet a significant speculation sum goes into facilitating a consistent webinar. The venture is the ideal opportunity for arrangements and the capital for purchasing/leasing the gear. However, in many cases, you really don’t require much just a laptop and good WiFi. In any case, it is likewise important to make sure the webinar locks in. Include surveys, Q&A meetings, and visual guides to make the introduction fascinating. A webinar should be forthright and of a sensible time span with the goal that the participants don’t lose interest.