PAH Accountants

What is Electronic Invoicing?

Electronic invoicing is the transmission and storage of invoices without the delivery of paper documents.

Why use this method?

This can offer many advantages over traditional paper invoices. The rapid electronic transmission of documents in a secure environment may provide for:

• An improvement to the traceability of orders
• Decrease in paper storage
• Reduction in paper and handling costs

Value Added Tax (VAT) is a tax levied on the sale of certain goods and services. There are different rates of VAT which apply. Suppliers are either exempt, zero-rated or chargeable. Currently chargeables supplies are at 5% or 17.5%.

Do I have to?

Registration for VAT may be compulsory, depending on the level of current or future turnover of the business. A business can voluntarily register for VAT; however, in order to register, a business must either be making taxable supplies (sales where VAT would apply) or intend to make taxable supplies in the future.

The two most common cases where a business must register and charge VAT are:

• A non-registered business making taxable supplies whose value exceed £70,000 within the last twelve months or

Hopefully you were here with PAH Accounting where we were reporting live the key fundemental budget points that affect small business. If not I have produced a handy summary into these factors below with some commentary and opinion to go with it!

George Osborn, the new chancellor presenting his first Tory budget.  He got stuck straight into Labour, commenting on the perceived errors of the past. He stated that this was an ‘unavoidable’ budget and that he is aiming to ‘balance the books within 5 years’. Some bold predictions for sure!

In the his summary Mr Osborn wanted stressed his pre budget talk that this was to be  ‘tough but fair ‘. Again getting at the previous regime this budget intended to ‘Pay for the past and plan for the future’. On key element also was his aim to

It seems like only a few weeks ago, ………………………..well it was!!!

Due to the election we will be seeing the first budget from the new Tory government. The date has been set as 22nd June.

Join us here for some live Blogging and tweeting. I am sure there will be a few interesting changes afoot!

What an exciting week last week with a hung parliament causing an almighty stir for the nation! We now know who the new government is; however, we are still not fully aware of how it will function. The Liberal Democrats and Conservatives are now working together to govern the country. But, what will this mean for small businesses?

There is to be a budget within 50 days of the new Prime Minister, David

An exciting day as ever when the Chancellor, Alistair Darling announces the budget. Well, at least that’s what we expected. It was effectively a little bit dull with nothing significant happening (unless you drink Cider!) This has been commentated as being an election based budget to ensure Labour remain in power. We will see!

As is the norm, PAH Accounting have prepared a review of the key factors which affect small business, including commentary and opinion on the effect it can have. Feel

This week we have a guest blog from Geoff Davis of GRD Credit Control Services. Geoff is producing a series of Top Tips on credit control and how to ensure you get paid on time.  His weekly series will follow the process of making the decision to allow credit all the way through to debt recovery action. In this guest blog Geoff highlights tip number one -

DON’T OFFER CREDIT

OK – surprising perhaps for me to recommend this but there is very often a view, particularly from newer businesses, that they must offer credit to their customers. This is not the case and you need to consider the industry you are in.

If you are a plumber’s merchant supplying only to the trade then to compete you will have to offer credit terms. If you

So you’ve decided to start your own business! You’ve taken the plunge and thought ‘I know what I want to do’. Thats the easy and first step. Detailed below is a review of a few considerations and tips that you should think about when setting up your business.

Consider your business structure

You will need to decide what is going to be the best structure for your business. Do you want to be a Sole Trader or a Limited Company (Or LLP, Parnership!).  There are different taxation, legislatory and administration implications with each. It may also be that your target customers/ potential suppliers may rate your credibility higher if you are a Limited Company. It is also possible to protect a business name if you set it up as a Company. If you are unsure about

This is probably the most common question that accountants get asked.

The maths are obvious. The more expenses claimed against income that your business can legitimately claim, the lower the taxable profit will be.

What can or cannot be claimed for will be dependent on individual circumstances. Claiming tax deductions can make a big difference to the taxable profits that your business makes. It is also useful to ensure you have claimed the correct

Who Makes The Tea?  The Thoughts of a Home Worker…..

Having recently decided to go self employed, set up and run my own accountancy firm, the first thing I had to do was organise my own home office.  It is not as easy as one may think.  One of the first things to get used to is doing everything; hence the question of ‘who makes the tea’.  I have a corporate background where there was always someone to do it for you and yes, I should take my turn, but I was always too busy and this was low down on my list of