With low interest rates, property remains attractive.
As the global financial crisis began to bite in 2008, central banks in several nations took action, attempting to shock the world economy back to life by slashing base interest rates.
The idea behind this kind of stimulus is to make saving less attractive, hopefully prompting people to spend instead – to buy that new car, extend the loft or, indeed, to purchase a completely new home.
Key considerations for contractors before April 2020.
Large and medium-sized organisations have just six months left to prepare for changes to off-payroll working rules, which are due to extend to the private sector next spring.
From 6 April 2020, firms that engage private-sector contractors will be responsible for deciding if the rules should apply and deducting income tax and national insurance.
Insight into VAT's barnacles of complexity.
Are Jaffa Cakes biscuits or, as the name implies, cakes?
This question is one of the most famous examples of the kind of debate that happens frequently in the world of VAT because precise definitions can make the difference between sink or swim for businesses that sell the products under discussion.
VAT is a form of what is known in general terms as a 'sales tax'.
How your status affects how much UK tax you pay.
For most people living in the UK, the question of what income and gains should be included on their tax return is an easily answered question because they are both UK-domiciled and UK tax resident. Anyone domiciled and resident in the UK needs to report their worldwide income and capital gains on their return.
However, what happens if you are either non-UK domiciled but UK resident, or UK-domiciled but non-UK resident? In these circumstances, different rules apply.
Are you on track for a comfortable retirement?
All of us dream of the day we can retire, saying goodbye to the alarm clock and commute, filling our days with sun-soaked beach holidays, leisurely rounds of golf, or cruising the world.
As delightful as that sounds, the days when people can retire at a certain date set by their employer or by the state are long gone for most people.
And upcoming changes for reverse charge VAT.
Few sectors have such an impact in the UK as the construction industry. It not only provides the fabric of our nation – the places where we live and work – but also underpins our entire economy.
In 2017, construction contributed £113 billion to the UK economy, while construction output increased by 14% in 18 months to the end of September 2018.
How it affects high net-worth individuals.
The tapered annual pension allowance for high net-worth individuals was in the headlines again recently.
Concerns were raised that its impact on doctors within the NHS pension scheme is prompting high-earning NHS staff to leave their posts or reduce their hours.
Avoiding waste, maximising profit.
Accountants, as a breed, are fans of efficiency. We tend to appreciate optimised systems and abhor waste, whether it's time, effort or resources being frittered away.
The concept of efficiency as we know it today is a product of the industrial revolution. That's when engineers and manufacturers became obsessed with squeezing out maximum profit by the smart use of new machinery and the automation of processes.
Advice for contractors and the self-employed.
Working from home offers all kinds of benefits, from the opportunity to create the perfect environment in which you can be most productive, to the improvements to work-life balance that come with ditching the commute.
There are advantages for businesses, too, assuming they trust their employees to work without direct supervision.
Outstanding invoices compromise cashlow.
When you supply goods and services, you expect to be paid, and promptly, but Britain has a deeply embedded culture of late payments. Indeed, for some businesses, delaying payment is an essential part of the business model.
Outstanding payments are problematic for various reasons. First, there's the basic problem of cashlow within the supplying business – electricity bills, rent and other regular outgoings need to be paid regardless.
An overview of accountancy issues in the third sector.
If you're in charge of running a charity, you'll know how it differs from operating a business and how its motives and goals vary.
Non-profit organisations are treated very differently under the law, and managing a charity's accounts can offer some unique challenges as a result.
MTD zero-hour is here.
The moment has come: if your business has a taxable turnover above the VAT-registration threshold, which is currently £85,000, you're now obliged to keep records in digital form and to file your VAT returns using HMRC-approved software.
You probably got a bit fed up of being reminded about the deadline for the first wave of the Government's Making Tax Digital (MTD) scheme in the course of the past year or so, and who could blame you?
How to minimise disruption in your business.
It has been a challenging and eventful three years for UK businesses with a series of high-proile incidents highlighting how situations can change suddenly and often without warning.
From the continued pressure of uncertainty relating to Brexit, terrorism, fire, extreme weather and cyber-attacks, how would your business cope if it was affected by something similar?
What you need to know for 2019/20.
With the Brexit process rumbling on, Making Tax Digital finally coming into force, and Easter around the corner, now is the time to put your inancial plans in place for 2019/20.
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Handy guide showing all the main tax categories for the tax year 2019/20 - includes taxable income bands and tax rates, tax-free mileage allowances, vehicle and fuel benefits in kind, captial gains tax and UK Company taxation information.