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Most business plans assume that things will broadly go according to plan. Unfortunately, customers, suppliers and the economy do not always cooperate. One useful exercise is therefore to ask what would happen if sales unexpectedly fell by 10%. The answer may be reassuring. Alternatively, it may reveal that the business has far less room for […]

Modern accounting software can give business owners access to financial information almost instantly. That does not necessarily mean they are looking at the right information. A dashboard containing turnover, bank balance and profit can be useful, but these figures may tell only part of the story. Consider a business where sales have increased by 10%.

Some taxpayers have already started to receive Simple Assessment letters from HMRC for the 2025-26 tax year, with a further tranche due to be sent between October and December 2026. Simple Assessment is used where HMRC cannot collect income tax through PAYE or self-assessment. The PA302 letter sets out HMRC’s calculation of the tax due,

UK employers with employees who normally work overseas may have PAYE and National Insurance obligations when those employees come to the UK to carry out their duties in the UK on a short-term basis. Employers should consider the position whenever an overseas employee visits the UK to work. The fact that the employee remains employed

Making a trading loss whilst not ideal can sometimes generate a tax refund. If you are a self-employed individual or a member of a trading partnerships, a trading loss can potentially be set against other income or capital gains. This can reduce the amount of tax payable and, where tax has already been paid, may

HMRC has launched an improved online service to make it easier for individuals to register for self-assessment. Anyone who needs to submit a tax return for the first time for the 2025-26 tax year should notify HMRC by 5 October 2026 to avoid a potential penalty. The new service is available through a Personal Tax

1 October 2026 – Corporation Tax payment is due for companies with an accounting period ending 31 December 2025, unless the company is required to make quarterly instalment payments. 5 October 2026 – Deadline for notifying HMRC of a new liability to Income Tax or Capital Gains Tax for the 2025-26 tax year. This may

When a customer takes 60 or 90 days to pay an invoice that should have been settled in 30 days, there is another way of looking at the transaction. You are effectively providing the customer with finance, usually without charging them for it. Late payment remains a significant problem for smaller businesses, although the latest

For many businesses, broadband has gradually become as important as electricity. Cloud accounting, video meetings, online backups, customer management systems and increasingly artificial intelligence applications all depend on reliable connectivity. The Government’s latest Project Gigabit progress report, published on 22 September, says gigabit-capable broadband is now available to more than 88% of UK homes and

Recent employment figures suggest that the number of people on UK payrolls is continuing to fall. That does not necessarily mean your business should reduce its workforce. However, it does provide a useful reminder to look at one of the largest costs faced by many businesses. The important question is not whether other employers are