Nobody can sneeze at the moment without glares from those nearby and someone shouting “Swine Flu” but the risk to businesses is real and serious. With an expected peak starting in August, to tie in with the holiday season, an expected 30% of the population is expected to contract the virus and require up to days off.

With this in mind The Business Advisory Network for Flu (BANF) has made the following planning assumptions for the first wave of swine flu in the UK:

• the first wave of swine flu will happen between August and November – around 30 per cent of the public will be infected
• the first wave will peak broadly between late August to late September
• during the peak weeks employee absence rates for illness (themselves or looking after ill children) may reach 12 per cent of the workforce – this is in addition to normal holiday absence
• the spread and tail-off of swine flu will not happen uniformly across the UK

Other fears are being raised about the issue of potential school closures. With an expected resurgence of Swine Flu during early September, it is estimated that a further 15% of employees will require time off to look after children.

For business to cope with this level of absenteeism, it is important to plan for the worst. Consider identifying key players within teams, those with essential roles, employees with cross department responsibilities and consider training programs now.

It is also important to consider the role of prevention within the workplace. Look for ways to prevent the spread of the virus and ensure employees are aware of the steps they need to take if they feel that they or a family member may be showing symptoms of the H1N1 virus.

Technorati Tags: swine flu, H1N1

According to Syscap, Firms will soon have credit lines available for the first time since the global economy went into meltdown last year.

After the collapse of Landsbanki subsidiary Key Business Finance in October last year, Firms have been finding it difficult to secure finance and Syscap has now secured new lines of funding worth up to £50m for firms.

Syscap say that the new funding lines will come as a big relief for accountancy firms who on July 31 will have to pay their semi-annual tax payment.

Mark Gidge of Syscap said: ‘Many perfectly credit-worthy accountancy firms are facing huge cash flow problems as their clients slowdown payments to improve their own cash position.’

‘The July tax deadline always creates a surge in demand for funding from accountancy firms but the requirements this year are far higher than normal.’

One of the upsides for Bookkeepers during this time, is that more and more small firms are coming to Bookkeepers as a cheaper option. When most Accountants charge upwards of £100 an hour to finalise the accounts, a Bookkeeper can cost as little as £15 per hour to do most of the work, saving you money.

Contact us if you need any assistance.

The code of practice proposed by Treasury to help crack down on tax avoidance will undermine the UK as a financial centre, critics from city law firms have told the Daily Telegraph.

Michael Wistow, head of tax at City law firm Berwin Leighton Paisner, said that the code would make the UK ‘a less attractive place to do business, which cannot be helpful in these most difficult times and will further damage the UK as a major financial centre.’

The code stipulates that banks be expected to follow the ‘spirit of the law’ as defined by HM Revenue and Customs rather than legal precedent.

‘All taxpayers, including banks, should be able to rely on the courts and Parliament alone,’ he said.

I was looking into various ways that small businesses can help to reduce their tax burden when I found this. It seems like the perfect place to start when putting a series of articles together to assist smaller companies with their taxes.

Credit to Small Business for the original work.

Most people who start up their own business, us included, will continue working full-time and run their own business in the evenings or weekends. But what does this mean for their tax situation? Will the tax be deducted from the day job wage? Or is it only taken from what is earned from the business? Are they separate?

The two are separate in the sense that your pay Pay As You Earn (PAYE) and National Insurance Contributions (NIC) for your employment is deducted from your pay, but the Income Tax on the profits from your web design business is payable in two instalments on 31 January and 31 July together with an adjustment of any balance owing the following 31 January.

You have three months from the date of commencement to notify your Tax District that you have started a business. You can obtain a form CWF1 from the HMRC website or call the Self-employed Registration Helpline on 08459 15 45 15. If you are in any doubts then give us a call.

At the end of the tax year in which you commenced trading in your own business you must complete a Tax Return including a Self Employment section for your business. Basically if your turnover (or sales) is under £15,000 you only need to fill in figures for turnover, expenses and profits. If the turnover is greater than £15,000 detailed profit and loss and balance sheet figures are required. For this purpose, we would recommend having a good accounts system in place from the start to record this information. Profits for the period up to 5 April after you started (and subsequent annual accounting periods) will be subject to Income Tax and National Insurance Contributions. Self employed payments of Tax and National Insurance Contributions are required twice yearly – by 31 January and 31 July.

The Basic National Insurance Contribution (NIC) is called Class 2 and for 2009/10 it is £2.40 per week usually paid by direct debit in four or five weekly instalments. But if your self-employed earnings are less than £5,075 no Class 2 is payable. The additional NIC is called Class 4. On profits between £5,715 and £43,875 the Class 4 rate is eight per cent and on profits above £43,875 it is one per cent.

It might be simpler to apply to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) for a deferment using form CA72A in HMRC leaflet CA72. This has the effect of deferring payment to after the tax year when the total NIC liability can be accurately determined.

Once the Income Tax and NIC liability is determined it is usual to pay in the two instalments mentioned above. In your situation where your business is not generating a regular income it would be inadvisable to pay through the tax code number and have the self-employed liability deducted from your full time earnings. However, you should remember to set aside a percentage of your business sales to pay for the tax and NIC liability. This is best done by transferring, say 25/30 per cent to a separate bank account.

SLH & Co. | Bookkeeper Surrey can help people looking to start their own business by putting accounting systems in place and handling the accounting function. If you require any help or assistance then please contact us.

The next two years is a make or break period for companies, and the way managers’ respond to the downturn will determine winners and losers for the next decade.

During a recession, it is noted that company performance is much more variable than during boom years. A study by Deloitte has revealed the extent of this variation, as much as 27% during bad times – compared to just 8% variation when the economy is good.

The study concluded that the spread of returns was so wide during recessions is reinforced by decisions taken by managers during difficult periods. Managers that focussed on securing financing, managing cash and controlling costs were able to effectively shepherd their organisations out of danger.

It is clear that management are being much more careful these days, however, taking shortcuts by attempting to do work in house that should be left to experts is one mistake that could prove costly. Recently we have been finding a lot of small companies are coming to us with their manual accounts in a bit of a pickle, this causes a couple of issues. Firstly, it is very difficult to make informed business decisions when cashflow is uncertain, secondly, when you send those accounts to your Accountant, it will take much longer for them to do the work – and at £60+ per hour that is a lot of money! A good Bookkeeper will charge around £20 per hour and can save hundreds of pounds a year by preparing accounts prior to the Accountant finalising them.