Author Emily Coltman

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“VAT… is a total nonsense”

Apr 11, ’07 2:42 PM

I came across a gem in my husband’s Sunday paper, written by a businessman who had had a VAT inspection. Hunter Davies, writing in The Sunday Times, said that he found VAT "a total nonsense" because he has to spend a lot of time "collecting tax for the government", only to have to "give it…

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Sage could learn from Winweb here

Feb 16, ’07 3:50 PM

I’m on the phone on hold to Sage support at this very moment. A disembodied voice tells me that my call will be answered in "9 to 10 minutes".  That’s got to be better than the "more than 15 minutes" I got when I phoned at 12.15 – lunch break time. The question I need…

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Alternative simple accounting for micro-businesses

Nov 29, ’06 4:12 PM

A few weeks ago I had quite a heated debate with Richard Murphy on the issue of cash accounting for small businesses. As he opposed that idea, I – and others – asked him to put forward an alternative solution, as the one point we all agreed upon was that the tax regime for small…

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Cash accounting for small businesses anyone?

Oct 25, ’06 2:20 PM

Readers of Accounting Web may have seen Nichola Ross Martin’s article on the potential benefits of allowing small unincorporated businesses to prepare their accounts on the basis of cash received and spent. At the moment this isn’t possible and all businesses have to use accruals accounting – prepayments, accruals, WIP, UITF40, the list goes on…

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Use your common sense?

Oct 19, ’06 2:45 PM

A note from the Revenue to its staff tells them to "use your common sense"… A client of ours has recently moved.  VAT know that we’re his accountants if only because we’ve been working with them on a long-drawn-out query.  But a letter from us and a phone call from the client, while they’re enough…

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Tangled in red-tape

Oct 5, ’06 8:22 AM

I was on a course yesterday called "Small company reporting requirements".The amount of red tape and paperwork that even a small limited company needs to keep up with can be mind-boggling.Now that the tax savings from being a limited company are not so significant, many smaller businesses (with profits under £50,000 per year) may decide not to become limited companies, to avoid the extra admin and red-tape.If you're a small business owner, a discussion with your accountant may help you choose which is the best course for you: - Stay unincorporated and reduce the red-tape burden, but pay more tax - Become a limited company, and pay less tax and have the protection of limited liability, but have more paperwork and reporting to keep up to speed withFor example, we have several smaller clients who have chosen not to be companies, because they've got young families and want to have as much time as possible to spend with their children.It's all about what works best for you - but if you have a limited company, be sure to take advice from your accountant and make sure you are doing your best to keep up to date with all the required paperwork. Doing it all in a rush after the year-end is not a good idea!

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