Keep good records

 
If you are a small business with just a bank account, no cash transactions, and you do not need to register for VAT, then all you need to do is to keep all the bank statements and write up the cheque book stubs neatly. We can do the rest.

Keep everything. Never throw anything away. That includes the P45 or P60 from your last job if you are just starting in business. Give everything to us and let us decide what’s important. We are quite used to a boxful or file of documents in random order. On the other hand, if something is missing, we do not have psychic powers and it could cost you money. Losing things will never save you money.

If you use one of our paper or spreadsheet systems, then you will be on track for keeping decent records. If you send the records back to us in a standard format, then we can process them quickly. We will get your records into our standard processing system as soon as possible. If you use our spreadsheet system, then this will be an all-electronic transfer.
 

Claim everything

 
You pay tax on business profits, which are sales income less expenses. Make sure you claim a deduction for every type of expense to keep your tax bill down. Obviously if you are keeping good records then you will be claiming for regular expenses. However, if you made private payments on behalf of the business, then you may also claim these as tax-deductible out-of-pocket expenses. You might make such payments if you used a personal credit card, and if you did, then please put any invoices or vouchers together in a separate pack and forward them to us.

Any bank loans or hire purchase agreements may also enable you to claim for tax-deductible interest which we can calculate as long as we see any documents you may have. You can often also claim capital allowances on motor vehicles such as vans and lorries or plant and machinery which you acquire. If you have taken out a personal loan to purchase shares in a company or partnership, or things to use in the business, then interest can often be claimed as a charge upon your personal income.

If you are not running a company but are working from home, a modest claim for the use of the home as an office may be made.

Pension payments are usually tax-deductible. Please let us know if you have made any.

If you are registered for VAT, make sure you claim all your input tax where this is possible. If you suffer deductions under the Construction Industry Scheme, make sure you claim all prepaid tax.

If you have a company, you might know that company formation expenses and business entertaining are disallowed, but you should tell your accountant about them anyway because there is still a useful extraction of profit at some point.

If you are running a motor car and you have a company, you may claim for mileage. If you are self-employed, then you may run the car within the business. This needs to be discussed with your accountant.

If you are not sure about anything, then please just give the documentation to us and we will decide what claim can be made, but please be aware that often you can claim for more than you think.
 

Don’t leave things to the last minute

 
We are used to dealing with deadlines and have the technology and the know-how to handle accounts and tax returns left to the last minute. However, it tends to put us in a straitjacket as far as tax planning is concerned. If you keep records economically and efficiently as we advise, then you should be able to get them handed in at an earlier date.
 
In addition, things do go wrong which are nobody’s fault, two rounds of flooding being an example. If you have left it to the last minute, there is no leeway when things go wrong, and you will end up paying for the consequences even if you think that you are not to blame.
 

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