Small Business Matters

Take the Intuit financial fitness challenge

Intuit is searching for 300 small businesses in need of a fitness boost as it launches the latest in a series of government-supported training workshops.

The workshops will take place in Liverpool as part of Global Entrepreneurship Congress (GEC) – the largest gathering of start-up champions in the world. More than 400 businesses have already benefited from Intuit’s financial fitness workshops since they were launched in November 2011.

Intuit's financial fitness initiative was devised in response to figures from the Office for National Statistics which revealed that one in three businesses do not make it past their third birthday. 

Intuit’s own research into early-stage businesses, the Three-year Glitch report, highlighted that poor financial management is one of the key contributors to business failure and that getting to grips with their finances early is vital to the success of startups.

Get your business financially fit

Intuit is offering 300 places to small and early-stage businesses to take part in the next series of workshops, hosted in Liverpool on 12 March as part of GEC2012. 

Intuit, makers of QuickBooks desktop and online accounting software and one of the main sponsors of this year’s GEC, will host three workshop sessions throughout the first day of the GEC. The free-to-attend workshops offer unique opportunities for regional businesses in and around Liverpool to shape up, with practical advice and training on the key aspects of financial fitness, including:

• Invoicing and being paid
• Tracking income and expenses
• Managing cashflow
• Handling VAT and other taxes

How to make sure your employee records are correct for your Employer Annual Return

HMRC has launched a new online video to help employers reduce the problems caused by inaccurate employee data.

Every year, HMRC receives thousands of employer returns, containing the details of millions of employees, including names, dates of birth and National Insurance numbers. While the vast majority of the employee data is correct, HMRC says that in some cases dummy, incomplete or incorrect information is included.

For example, a recent study of employer returns found that 128 staff were entered as Mr, Ms or Mrs Dummy, while 824 employees had the surname “Unknown”.

Another 40 employees, according to their dates of birth, were aged over 200. Many other employees had their forenames and surnames swapped around, or their first names replaced by initials, which can make it more difficult for HMRC to identify the individuals.

This new video discusses how inaccurate employer returns can affect employees, employers and HMRC, and offers advice on what information is required and how employers can help reduce errors.

Jim Harra, HMRC’s Director of Customer Operations, said:

“It’s really important that employers get their employees’ information right, so that HMRC can match it to the right tax records. Otherwise, it can lead to more contact from staff, trying to sort out their tax, and from HMRC, trying to sort out the data issues."

HMRC has also launched two free webinars which you might find useful:

Small business news round-up (12/2/12)

We search out key small business news stories and articles each week so you don’t have to, leaving you more time to spend on running your business.

Want to keep up with regular small business news, features and tips, why not subscribe to our blog by RSS or email?

Powers to tackle PAYE dodgers come into force

HMRC will soon be able to require employers to pay a security where there is serious risk that they won’t pay their PAYE tax deductions or NICs.

The powers will come into force from April and are an extension of an initiative that has already been successfully used for VAT, insurance premium tax and environmental taxes. 

Find out more.

Taxman to target builders and home delivery tax cheats

Home-improvement tradespeople such as roofers, bricklayers and carpenters, and people who make money from hand-delivered home catalogues are to be targeted by the taxman in the latest campaigns against tax evasion.

HMRC records checks campaign halted

HMRC has announced that its business records checks scheme is on hold and will be relaunched with a “fresh approach” early in the next financial year, following a review.

The review, which included discussions of the pilot programme with trade and professional bodies’ representatives, recommended that the checks are more targeted in future, linking to available education and support.

Accountants and business groups had argued that business owners were being harassed by a pilot version of the scheme. HMRC was also accused of going after small businesses while turning a blind eye to huge unpaid tax bills from big businesses.

Small business news round-up (4/2/12)

We search out key small business news stories and articles each week so you don’t have to, leaving you more time to spend on running your business.

Want to keep up with regular small business news, features and tips, why not subscribe to our blog by RSS or email?

HMRC records checks campaign halted

HMRC has announced that its business records checks scheme  is on hold and will be relaunched with a “fresh approach” early in the next financial year, following a review.

The review, which included discussions of the pilot programme with trade and professional bodies’ representatives, recommended that the checks are more targeted in future, linking to available education and support.

Find out more

Builders most likely to make mistakes on tax returns

Those in the construction industry are seen as the most likely to provide incorrect information on their tax returns, according to a survey of accountants.

In a poll by Bloomsbury Professional, a third of those questioned regarded builders as high risk due to frequent use of cash payments and poor bookkeeping.

Find out more

More than one million will face tax fine, says HMRC

Just over one million taxpayers face a penalty of £100 for failing to submit their self-assessment tax returns on time. The figure of 1.1 million is the lowest since online filing first started, and compares with 1.4 million last year and 1.6 million the year before.

Don’t forget: VAT is moving online from April 2012 – register now

Did you know that VAT is moving online for all VAT-registered businesses from April 2012? Time to get registered as paper VAT returns will soon be a thing of the past.

What’s changing?

Currently, only newly registered businesses and those with turnovers of more than £100,000 have to submit their VAT online, as well as pay electronically. Anyone else can send HMRC a paper VAT return, if they wish.

That is changing from April, when all 1.9 million VAT-registered businesses in the UK will have to submit their VAT returns online, and pay electronically, for accounting periods beginning on or after 1 April 2012.

You may be charged a penalty if you submit your VAT Return on paper instead of online once the new rules kick in.

Why?

According to HMRC, online filing has a number of benefits, compared to paper filing. These include:

February tip: Get professional advice

As part of our monthly calendar tips, our tip for February is:

If you don’t already have one, get an accountant and talk to them about financial management.

To find a QuickBooks ProAdvisor in your area, visit quickbooks.co.uk/february

Here’s why:

You’ll save time and stress

Successful business owners know it's best to focus on what they’re good at, rather than struggling on with something they could pay an expert to do better in half the time. Time spent tearing your hair out over tax forms is time away from doing what you do best – running your business and generating income.

Even if you’re comfortable filling in all the relevant paperwork yourself, with an accountant you’ll have the peace of mind that you’ve filled in everything you need to and that you’ve filled it in right. If you make a mistake you’ll certainly be asked by HMRC to correct it, taking more of your time. However, in the worst case scenario, a tax inspector may want to look over all your financial records

HMRC gives two-day leeway on Self Assessment tax deadline

HMRC has agreed to effectively push the 31 January Self Assessment tax return deadline back to 2 February this year.

The reason is that HMRC strike action is planned for 31 January, meaning that there may not be enough staff on hand to deal with last-minute queries.

HMRC has confirmed: “To make sure our customers are not disadvantaged if they cannot get through to HMRC's call centres on 31 January, we will not impose any late filing penalties for people who file their Self Assessment returns on 1 and 2 February.”

HMRC says that the SA deadline remains midnight on 31 January but that it will treat all returns that come in by midnight on 2 February as though they were submitted by 31 January. No one will have to pay interest on payments due on 31 January that are paid on 1 or 2 February.

HMRC Acting Director of General Personal Tax, Stephen Banyard, said: "We've always been very clear that we want the returns - not the penalties. For that reason, we don't want anyone who can't get through for help and advice on 31 January to be disadvantaged in any way."

Will you have to prove it?                    

Some tax experts have questioned whether HMRC might make people prove that they could not file on time because they were awaiting a response to a legitimate last-minute query.

Download your free month-by-month guide to financial fitness

At Intuit, we know that when you’re running your own business there are lots of things to keep up with, and when they’re all scattered in various places it can be tricky. That’s why we have produced a calendar to pull everything together – you can see all the important information you need at a glance.

Download our calendar month by month as we publish a new tip each time or download it all at once so you can plan everything out right now.

Our calendar includes:

Key financial compliance dates

Self Assessment, payroll, Companies House requirements - every month there are compliance deadlines to keep on top of. We’ve picked out the key dates so you don’t have any unforeseen disasters, or fines! Put them in your computer calendar, set reminders on your phone, stick post-it notes on the fridge – whatever you need to do to make sure you meet those deadlines.

The most useful small business events

Industry events are a great way to compare notes with other small businesses and to meet new suppliers and even prospective customers. However, if you don’t keep your ear to the ground they can pass you by.

QuickBooks Tips and Tricks: Getting around QuickBooks 2012

In this regular QuickBooks Tips and Tricks series we’ll provide lots of information, including video tutorials, expert advice and more, to help you get the most out of your QuickBooks software.  

Want to keep up with regular QuickBooks tips and tricks as well as small business news, features and insights? Why not subscribe to our blog by RSS or email?

Previously we’ve provided an overview of QuickBooks 2012and a handy quick-start guide. Today we’ll look at navigating around the software.

Don’ forget that you can try QuickBooks out for yourself for free.

If there are any QuickBooks tips, tricks or features you’d like us to cover, please let us know and we’ll do our best. Similarly, if you have any tips of your own, please send them in.