Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) is an executive agency of HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). Its valuation work covers every domestic and commercial property in England and Wales. It also provides independent and impartial valuation and professional property advice across the public sector. Its valuations help to bring in more than £51bn in revenue in local taxation.
What has the Valuation Office Agency got to do with business rates?
The Valuation Office Agency is responsible for setting a Rateable Value (RV) for every domestic and commercial property across England and Wales. The Rateable Value of a non-domestic property will help determine the business rates payable by the property’s ratepayer. It is a key part of the business rates system – but as an operational agency it delivers its work within legislative and policy frameworks set by HMT and MHCLG. Its role is to provide independent, impartial valuations that support local taxation and benefits. Based on the valuations it provides, local authorities then decide on rates that businesses will be responsible for paying.
How does the Valuation Office Agency value my business*?
Business rates are worked out based on your property’s “rateable value”. This is its open market
Tag Archive for Accounts & tax
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Basics of small business accounting: tips and tools for beginners
by Alice Feilden • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Alice Feilden on Small Business
Small business accounting can be daunting. But, this handy guide will help in getting your small business accounting right from the very beginning.
Step one: Know what’s required
It’s important to keep financial records from the very beginning of a business, no matter how incidental the expenses or how rudimentary the system. Companies based in the UK must be listed on Companies House and businesses must be registered with HMRC. Make sure to organise a financial record-keeping system too, which is legally required, and set up a business bank account. This will allow your business to take out a loan, use a business credit card and take card and online payments from clients.
Step two: Understand bookkeeping and accounting
Small business bookkeeping and small company accounting are often confused with one another or taken to mean the same thing. But they’re not! Bookkeeping is the process of recording and reporting company finances and acts as a small but crucial part of basic business accounting.
By extension, accounting is the process of analysing and examining financial information to create a business strategy, establish forecasts and make decisions.
As a small business, it’s worth first getting to grips with the fundamentals
Hot Business News Today
What are business rates? A guide for small businesses
by Sophie Attwood • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Sophie Attwood on Small Business
What are business rates?
Business rates are one of the UK’s oldest taxes; its origins can be traced back to the Poor Law of 1601. Business rates can be roughly defined as the tax paid for the occupation of a non-domestic property. They approximately correspond to 50 per cent of the annual rent of the property. Business rates are based on a specific value, known as “rateable value” and all commercial properties are valued on the same day.
Non-domestic rates or business rates are the way that those who occupy commercial (non-domestic) property contribute towards the cost of local authority services. They are administered and collected by local authorities. Under the business rates retention arrangements introduced in April 2013, authorities keep a proportion of the business rates paid locally. However, business rates are a controversial tax as they represent one of the biggest overheads for business.
Who sets non-domestic rates?
Business rates are set by central government more specifically the Valuation Office, an agency of Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC). The VOA calculates your business rates based on “rateable value” (RV). It compiles and maintains a full list of all rateable values. The rateable value of
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Do I need to pay business rates working from home?
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
At the height of the first wave of the pandemic last April, nearly half of the working population were working from home. Since then we’ve had a succession of lockdowns, with the government now encouraging people to stay WFH until July 19 2021 and possibly beyond. But do you have to pay business rates if you’re working from home?
For freelancers, sole traders and the self-employed, not much has changed. But others new to home working will be asking which taxes they do have to pay, including business rates.
Do I need to pay business rates working from home?
You do not usually have to pay business rates for home-based businesses if you:
Use a small part of your home for your business, for example if you use a bedroom as an office
Sell goods by post
You may need to pay business rates as well as Council Tax if:
Your property is part business and part domestic, for example, if you live above your shop
You sell goods or services to people who visit your property
You employ other people to work at your property
You’ve made changes to your home for your business, for example converted a garage into a beauty
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The EU VAT e-commerce package: how accounting can help
by Dan Matthews • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Dan Matthews on Small Business
On 1 July, the European Union will change the way in which VAT is reported and paid, potentially impacting anyone in the UK operating a business selling products & services online to consumers and practicing distance selling.
“The Covid-19 pandemic has caused a big shift in working patterns and, as a result, a lot of people have out of necessity or opportunity taken to start up an e-commerce business or switch to digital selling,”
“The change to EU VAT reporting will help. It’s designed to simplify tax reporting, promote ecommerce and increase online cross-border transactions. It will support small business and remove barriers in a post-Brexit environment.” says Asif Chaudhry, Director, Product Marketing at Sage.
What will change?
The changes are that for sales to consumers (basically anyone without a VAT registration) the VAT is charged based on which country the customer is in, not the country of the seller. Prior to this date there were thresholds, and businesses selling below these thresholds could charge their home VAT rates which avoided needing to know many different VAT rates.
Alongside this change the EU is expanding their one stop shop (OSS) simplifications which optionally allow businesses outside of the
Hot Business News Today
Basics of small business accounting: tips and tools for beginners
by Alice Feilden • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Alice Feilden on Small Business
Small business accounting can be daunting. But, this handy guide will help in getting your small business accounting right from the very beginning.
Step one: Know what’s required
It’s important to keep financial records from the very beginning of a business, no matter how incidental the expenses or how rudimentary the system. Companies based in the UK must be listed on Companies House and businesses must be registered with HMRC. Make sure to organise a financial record-keeping system too, which is legally required, and set up a business bank account. This will allow your business to take out a loan, use a business credit card and take card and online payments from clients.
Step two: Understand bookkeeping and accounting
Small business bookkeeping and small company accounting are often confused with one another or taken to mean the same thing. But they’re not! Bookkeeping is the process of recording and reporting company finances and acts as a small but crucial part of basic business accounting.
By extension, accounting is the process of analysing and examining financial information to create a business strategy, establish forecasts and make decisions.
As a small business, it’s worth first getting to grips with the fundamentals
Hot Business News Today
HMRC to go easy on small business strangled with Covid debt
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
Small businesses struggling with Covid debt will not be forced to pay overdue tax to HMRC immediately, says business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng.
HMRC had manoeuvred itself to be first in line to be payed-out should a small business go bust post-Covid. Being pressured into payment by tax collectors can be an extremely unpleasant experience for owner-directors of small businesses.
But Mr Kwarteng has told the Institute of Directors and business group R3, which represents insolvency and restructuring practitioners, that HMRC will go easy on small businesses unable to pay tax because of Covid-19 debt.
>See also: Small business owners who duck out of repaying Covid debt face ban
The government wants to avoid a tsunami of insolvencies this summer.
The news will come as a relief to small business owners, who already have enough to worry about with a stop-start reopening post-lockdown just as Covid-19 financial support such as Bounce Back Loans start having to be repaid.
Insolvency practitioners have warned that many small businesses will struggle to stay afloat from July when emergency Covid-19 financial support measures begin to be wound down.
In a letter, obtained by the Financial Times, Mr Kwarteng wrote that HMRC would be updating its
Hot Business News Today
HMRC to go easy on small business strangled with Covid debt
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
Small businesses struggling with Covid debt will not be forced to pay overdue tax to HMRC immediately, says business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng.
HMRC had manoeuvred itself to be first in line to be payed-out should a small business go bust post-Covid. Being pressured into payment by tax collectors can be an extremely unpleasant experience for owner-directors of small businesses.
But Mr Kwarteng has told the Institute of Directors and business group R3, which represents insolvency and restructuring practitioners, that HMRC will go easy on small businesses unable to pay tax because of Covid-19 debt.
>See also: Small business owners who duck out of repaying Covid debt face ban
The government wants to avoid a tsunami of insolvencies this summer.
The news will come as a relief to small business owners, who already have enough to worry about with a stop-start reopening post-lockdown just as Covid-19 financial support such as Bounce Back Loans start having to be repaid.
Insolvency practitioners have warned that many small businesses will struggle to stay afloat from July when emergency Covid-19 financial support measures begin to be wound down.
In a letter, obtained by the Financial Times, Mr Kwarteng wrote that HMRC would be updating its
Hot Business News Today
Payroll: how UK small businesses can get it right
by Dan Matthews • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Dan Matthews on Small Business
This year, like 2020, is one of change. Alterations to the legislative environment affecting payroll practitioners have come on top of seismic shifts in the way people work and, often, how they are paid.
For a small business, the difficulties might feel particularly acute, with a changing workforce potentially leading to reduced headcount and new recruits, as well as cover for temporary absences. Fewer people are available to handle a growing number of tasks and keep on top of fluid working practices.
Yet businesses must strategise beyond the shock of 2020 and push for future opportunities. In doing so, you need to understand how you’ll pay for accrued holidays, handle a workforce returning from furlough, employees in multiple locations and how this will impact expenses payments.
It’s a tricky situation, but with some preparation and the right software, growing businesses can navigate payroll problems with ease. Joanne Pringle, payroll product manager at Sage, believes the solution is to create a solid platform of information and processes from which you can work.
“When you have all the set processes mapped out, it allows you to have a laser-focus on changes when they come in,” she explains. “If you
Hot Business News Today
Payroll: how UK small businesses can get it right
by Dan Matthews • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Dan Matthews on Small Business
This year, like 2020, is one of change. Alterations to the legislative environment affecting payroll practitioners have come on top of seismic shifts in the way people work and, often, how they are paid.
For a small business, the difficulties might feel particularly acute, with a changing workforce potentially leading to reduced headcount and new recruits, as well as cover for temporary absences. Fewer people are available to handle a growing number of tasks and keep on top of fluid working practices.
Yet businesses must strategise beyond the shock of 2020 and push for future opportunities. In doing so, you need to understand how you’ll pay for accrued holidays, handle a workforce returning from furlough, employees in multiple locations and how this will impact expenses payments.
It’s a tricky situation, but with some preparation and the right software, growing businesses can navigate payroll problems with ease. Joanne Pringle, payroll product manager at Sage, believes the solution is to create a solid platform of information and processes from which you can work.
“When you have all the set processes mapped out, it allows you to have a laser-focus on changes when they come in,” she explains. “If you