TAXTALK HAVE MOVED……

After a good 18 months of hapopy blogging on the hosted version of WordPress, which is excellent I might add, we the team at TaxTalk have gone for the plunge and have now integrated our blog into our lovely new website.

All the existing content has been migrated, and, in the future, you will find us at www.rjp.co.uk/taxtalk/

Please come and find us!!!

How to maximise the value of Entrepreneurs’ Relief – part 2

Installment 2 of our focus on entrepreneurs’ relief. In essence, the entrepreneurs’ relief rules can appear deceptively simple; it can be dangerous to assume that all business assets qualify for the relief and this should be regularly checked. In addition, there are ways in which the relief can be maximised with forward planning. With the recent increase in the top rate of capital gains tax to 28%, it is a valuable relief and worth arranging your business affairs to ensure it is maximised.

How can business owners maximise the value of Entrepreneurs’ Relief – Part 1

Entrepreneurs’ relief can offer significant tax savings when exiting a business either completely or partially. However to get the maximum benefit of this relief, it is important to think ahead and plan accordingly. There are a number of qualifying criteria to consider depending on your individual circumstances, and action should be taken as soon as possible to avoid disqualification. In most cases, entrepreneurs wishing to use this relief need to review their position at least a year before a sale to ensure they qualify.

Latest disclosure amnesty offers opportunity for all to ‘come clean’

If you are not a plumber (or even if you are!) you might be forgiven for not being aware of the current tax amnesty being offered by HMRC. Plumbers, gas fitters, heating engineers and other associated trade members are all being given the chance to notify HMRC of any tax underpayment by 31st May 2011. Provided certain conditions are met, any penalties payable will be at a greatly reduced rate.

Is your house in order? Business record keeping spot checks start

It’s now full steam ahead with this initiative to improve record keeping and HMRC have just issued the first batch of letters to 1,000 businesses advising that they want to carry out an inspection visit. Their intention is to visit 50,000 small businesses each year for the next 4 years. What can you do to make sure you’re not one of them…..ask Anne Eager!

R&D Tax Credits to become valuable funding source for innovators and high tech start ups

Although the recent Budget didn’t include any obvious giveaways for small businesses, improvements to the R&D tax credit system could be a real boon for entrepreneurs and SMEs.

EIS is now an investment option for MBOs

Enhancements to the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) is one of the most useful policies introduced in the 2011 Budget – for business owners and tax payers looking to shelter their income from the current 50% tax rate. In addition to the increase in income tax relief from 20 per cent to 30 per cent making it more valuable to higher rate tax payers, access to the EIS scheme has also been widened.

Now we know it’s not forever how can you avoid the 50% tax rate?

Now it has been confirmed the 50% tax rate will be lifted in the not too distant future, how might it be possible to avoid paying it al together? Taxtalk explores some relevant tax planning opportunities.

Tax planning needs a ‘holistic’ approach

Holistic tax planning might sound airy fairy but it makes a big difference to the amount of tax you pay. Company directors take note!

Will a business lunch constitute bribery after June 2011?

Business owners should be mindful of changes to the Bribery Act that come into effect in the summer of 2011 which are designed to prevent ‘corporate bribery’.  These make it an offence if ‘commercial organisations’ fail to prevent bribery from taking place within their business relationships in the UK or abroad.  The Act also requires that business owners have ‘adequate procedures’ in place to improve governance and demonstrate their intentions to comply.

With London hosting the Olympic Games next year, it is an exciting and potentially very lucrative time for business owners.  Past experiences show that for companies involved in the construction, hospitality and tourism sectors in particular, there are exceptional opportunities to secure new contracts.

In brief, the new Bribery Act will make it a criminal offence to either offer, promise or to give an advantage or benefit to someone in the hope of obtaining an improper commercial benefit or indeed to request, receive or agree to receive such an advantage or benefit. Anyone found guilty of one of these offences could face up to 10 years imprisonment. More worryingly for businesses, a director or senior manager who either consents or ‘turns a blind eye’ to these offences being committed will also potentially commit the offences and could be found guilty, and indeed the business itself could be fined.

It is important to understand the Act’s amendments because certain types of corporate hospitality and gifts may be considered a bribe and may be illegal.  So a business lunch designed to cement relationships would be acceptable but lavish events hosted on the understanding that business would automatically ensue may be questioned as bribery.

One concern that companies dealing internationally have expressed is that they would be subject to more stringent regimes than some overseas competitors, which places them at risk in parts of the world where corruption is rife. There is also a very real threat of prosecution that will come from aggrieved competitors who feel they have been disadvantaged by what they suspect to be (real or imagined) inappropriate commercial relationships.

Small business owners in particular may find the costs of complying with the Bribery Act to be high.  Policies, procedures and budgets for corporate entertaining should be reviewed to ensure employees stay within the law. And looking ahead, internal policies to prevent/monitor potential bribery and staff training to understand the implications are advisable.  There are inevitably going to be many grey areas and a national event on the scale of the Olympics is certainly going to test the viability of the Act.

Find out more by reading the Government’s impending guidance about how to prevent bribery which has just been published.