The past 12 months have thrown a lot at finance professionals, from the unpredictability of the ongoing pandemic to preparations for Brexit, with a handful of legislation changes in the mix too. With so much going on, you can’t be blamed if the next step of Making Tax Digital (MTD) for VAT has slipped under your radar.
For many, MTD may feel like old news, but there is a subtle yet important change being introduced on 1 April 2021 that every finance team needs to be aware of.
- Topic:
- Finance
After the UK left the single market on New Year’s Eve last year - some accounting practices and systems changed for VAT registered businesses in the UK. One of these is the new postponed VAT system.
What is the postponed VAT system?
For businesses in the UK that import goods from anywhere in the world, they can use this new system. In the most simple terms, it essentially allows businesses to account for VAT on their VAT return, rather than having to pay the tax on goods on their point of entry into the UK and then having to claim it back. This removes the need to make payment, freeing up cash.
- Topic:
- Finance
If you are in business then there aren’t many weeks that go by without thinking about tax and understanding what you can and can’t claim is usually top of everyone’s list of questions.
In this post, we’re looking at a few of the expenses that are allowable against corporation tax and for directors and employees. Naturally, this isn’t a comprehensive list. Tax statutes run to thousands of pages so with limited space we’ve decided to focus on the most common things that you may come across.
- Topic:
- Finance
The role of the finance team has been evolving for some time. Driven by modern thinking, at C-level and within the finance team itself, and with an influx of accounting technology available, many professionals have seen their focus and their responsibilities shift during the last few years. For those who hadn't begun to shift, the pandemic has accelerated similar change.
- Topic:
- Finance
The start of 2021 is a good time to reevaluate your business strategy. Having managed to make it through in spite of the tough trading conditions and unprecedented upheaval of 2020, the new year is an excellent opportunity for a fresh start and perhaps a new lease of life.
- Topic:
- Finance
In this article, we examine how including input from managers in Finance and HR – not separately but as part of a focused joint effort – can bring some surprising new ideas to the table. Find out how.
- Topic:
- Finance
“My workload is increasing more and more all the time and I can’t keep up with it”
That’s a quote from just one of the 1,000 UK finance professionals we spoke to as part of our study into the pain points the industry is facing in 2021. And it seems this particular person is not alone in feeling overwhelmed by their workload. In fact, when asked about the biggest new challenges they’ll be facing this year, almost a quarter (23.9%) said an increase in workload, with only staff or skills shortages being cited as a bigger issue.
- Topic:
- Finance
There’s no point in producing an exceptional expenses policy if you never tell anyone about it.
If you find that people have broken the rules it is a fair defence for them to say that you never told them what the rules are but on a positive note, having a clearly communicated expenses policy means that people aren’t left out of pocket when they pay for work things out of their own money.
Video is everywhere nowadays and given that it has rapidly become the number 1 form of media used in advertising, we can see that it works. If you have a successful medium it therefore makes sense to utilise it as a tool to deliver your company policies and procedures. You don’t have to deliver the whole policy either as a ‘highlights reel’ of the most important and common aspects of policy will work really well.
- Topic:
- Finance
It's the legislation that feels like it's always round the corner. IR35 is set to be deployed into the private sector from 6 April after being pushed back a year due to the pandemic.
This time it looks like there will be no further postponements so finance teams working in businesses that rely heavily on contractors, will need to pick back up preparations to ensure all employees have the correct IR35 status by the April deadline.
- Topic:
- Finance
After a turbulent 2020, many professional services firms and project-oriented businesses are considering whether fundamental changes must now be made in order to leverage the most potential from 2021. Read on for some fresh thinking on reshaping your business.
- Topic:
- Finance
