News & views

The agreed sale price of a small business for sale, is influenced by a number of factors including revenues, business category, the business location, cash flow multiples and of course, the asking price. Although these factors are important in monitoring small business sales another overlooked factor speaks to fundamental market conditions, in particular the amount of time the business spends on the market. It is possible to study the health of the market by looking at the factor of time as it can determine the demand among buyers and expectations of sellers.

Can we still use spreadsheets after MTD comes into force?
One of the most commonly asked questions concerning the Making Tax Digital changes coming in from April 2019 concerns whether spreadsheets count as “functional compatible software”.  The answer to this is both yes and no.

Probate fees are to increase according to a new government consultation, which will see the end of the current flat fee approach and the introduction of a new banded approach based on the value of an estate. 

In the autumn budget, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond proposed the UK implement a ‘digital services tax’ on sales by technology giants. 

It has been widely reported in the news that Moore Stephens has merged with BDO.

Generally speaking, the purchase of any vehicle where there is any element of private use means any reclaim of VAT may be restricted. HMRC’s website offers the following guidance:

In the UK, there are around 1.4 million businesses that employ staff to run payroll in house. 

On Friday 1st February, HMRC announced that over 93% of taxpayers filed their self-assessment tax returns on time and before the 31st January deadline.

What is cloud accounting?

Cloud accounting uses software that is hosted on remote servers rather than on a company’s own servers. Data is sent to and stored in "the cloud," where it is processed and returned to the user - all application functions are performed off-site and not on the user's desktop.

A reminder that from 1 April 2019, VAT registered traders with turnover in excess of the current VAT registration limit, £85,000, will need to file returns after 1 April 2019 linked to HMRC’s Making Tax Digital (MTD) systems.