HMRC updates tax guidance for digital currencies.

Since the launch of Bitcoin in 2009, cryptocurrencies have grown steadily into the public consciousness, and the taxman's too. Once the realm of geeks and hackers, cryptocurrencies are becoming more mainstream.

In late 2017, the price of a single Bitcoin surged to about $20,000 before falling away dramatically.

Yes, speculative fortunes have been made and lost, but it continues to pique people's interest. HMRC has taken a growing interest in their use too, and of course their taxation.

Policy success, but headache for employers?

Back in 2012, less than half of private-sector employees in the UK had a pension scheme. Today, that figure is 85% and this huge increase is due to the successful rollout of auto-enrolment.

It started with the largest companies and now applies to employers of all sizes with staff earning more than £10,000 a year, and who are aged between 22 and state pension age.

However, auto-enrolment poses many challenges for smaller employers, as they must comply with the same regulations as listed PLCs, without a large payroll department to manage it.

This month the insider covers:

• Thousands file tax returns through self-assessment over Christmas
• Report spares taxpayers from last month's loan charge deadline
• Employers to pick up the bill for 6.2% National Living Wage increase?
• Christmas fails to prevent retailers from 'worst year on record'

Billions of pounds lost in unclaimed funds.

Helping you plan for your retirement is one of our core services, ensuring you are prepared when the time comes to call it a day.

With medical advances enabling more people to live for longer, the average person who retires at 65 lives for another 20 years.

According to the Office for National Statistics, males who retire at 65 can expect to live another 19 years while the average female will be around for 21 years after turning 65.

Does it pay off to provide low or zero-emission cars?

Offering a company car as a benefit can be a valuable and attractive perk to any valued employee.

Unfortunately, it is not necessarily a tax-free perk and it may be liable for PAYE because HMRC considers the private use of a company car to be a benefit-in-kind.

In some cases it can even be quite costly to the employee, especially if the company also pays for the fuel.

Useful guide that covers: Personal Allowances, Inheritance Tax, Tax Credits, Entrepreneurs' Relief, VAT, Penalties, Corporation Tax, Business Deductions, Captial Gains Tax, ISAs, Pension Contributions and Non-UK Domicile Taxation.

Finally the guide touches on upcoming changes.

This month the insider covers:

• Quarter of small businesses in the uk expect to go bust by 2024
• Extension of off-payroll rules into the private sector could face delay
• Complex taper rules could lead to 'huge' tax bills for high earners
• Budget set to take place in February once brexit is resolved

Tax breaks for innovative businesses.

The UK tax system is complicated but research and development (R&D) tax credits can be especially tricky to understand.

That's partly because what counts as R&D, and what amounts to true innovation, is judged on a case-by-case basis against criteria that can seem almost abstract.

Options to consider when starting up.

You've got a business idea, you've got the skills, the concept, the motivation and maybe even someone that's keen to pay for your services, but where do you start? What will you call your business? What business structure will suit it best?

It may be that as your business grows you run through several different structures, but most firms will set up one way and remain just that, even as their turnover grows or falls.

This month the insider covers:

• Delay to controversial loan charge review leaves thousands in limbo
• Ministry of Justice finally abandons plans to increase probate fees
• 'Postpone off-payroll extension to the private sector until 2021'
• Treasury Committee demands 'urgent' business rates reform

Don't leave it until the last minute, especially in 2020.

With only two months left until the 31 January deadline for online returns, self-assessment is very much on our minds.

There's a first flurry of activity around the deadline for paper filing at the end of October, now far behind us, but December and January are when things really get hectic.

We all have stories about clients who turn up with wheelbarrows full of crumpled receipts on 28 January, or last-minute signups with financial affairs so complicated they might have been designed to test brainpower and resilience.

Methods to overcome uncertainty in 2020.

So you've got a business idea, and you think it might be a runner. But then again, just as you've geared yourself up to commit, all sorts of midnight worries start to creep in.

Is now the time? Are people spending money? What about the sluggish housing market? What about Brexit? And the state of the local high street – does anyone even go there anymore?

You want to press ahead with your plan, but you also don't want to be reckless, or take a fall and lose what you've already built up – so where do you go from here?

It's been an eventful few years in British politics, but 2019 has been something else again with one jolt after another.

The 29 March deadline for the UK to leave the EU was extended to 31 October and then again until 31 January 2020. Boris Johnson replaced Theresa May as Prime Minister and Sajid Javid succeeded Philip Hammond as Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Javid was poised to deliver his first Budget on 6 November against a backdrop of constitutional crisis but, in late October, it was cancelled as Parliament voted in favour of holding the first December general election since 1923.

Steps to shield your firm from threats.

Fraud costs the UK around £190 billion a year, with businesses bearing almost three quarters – £140bn – of those losses.

This worrying picture is backed up by the 2019 Fraudscape report compiled by anti-fraud body Cifas, which provides statistics for fraud committed by employees.

Tax changes to private residences for 2020/21.

From 6 April 2020, HMRC is proposing three significant changes which will potentially increase the capital gains tax paid on the disposal of any residential property by an individual.

These changes seek to raise extra revenue from the disposal of residential properties and to collect these taxes more quickly.

This month the insider covers:

• Messages aim to promote pension saving to the self-employed
• Stamp duty receipts in England and Northern Ireland down 7% in 2018/19
• Record number of estates paying inheritance tax
• Employers need help to absorb the planned national living wage hike

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.