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
Tag Archive for COVID-19
Hot Business News Today
How to Bounce Back and Reinvent Your Post-Pandemic Self
by Tiana Burse • • 0 Comments
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
Sunak ignores small business pleas for more help to get through lockdown
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
Chancellor Rishi Sunak has ignored small business pleas for more taxpayer support to help get them through extended lockdown until July 19.
Small business owners, and especially nightclub operators, face going out of business because of the government pushing back the lifting of lockdown restrictions until end-July. The fear is that government scientists will again point to Covid-19 infection numbers again going in the wrong direction, and Britain remains at the current level of restrictions until spring 2022.
The Treasury has pointed to local authorities still having £1bn at their disposal to help small businesses cover such things as business rates on a case-by-case basis. Other than that, its arms are folded.
From the start of next month, small businesses will have to start contributing to the salaries of furloughed workers. Currently, the government covers 80 per cent of wages of workers in the furlough scheme. Next month that becomes 70 per cent, with employers having to cover an extra 10 per cent
Hospitality, leisure and retail operators will also have to start paying one third of their business rates bill from the start of July, ending more than a year of the bills being waived.
Small businesses
Hot Business News Today
Sunak ignores small business pleas for more help to get through lockdown
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
Chancellor Rishi Sunak has ignored small business pleas for more taxpayer support to help get them through extended lockdown until July 19.
Small business owners, and especially nightclub operators, face going out of business because of the government pushing back the lifting of lockdown restrictions until end-July. The fear is that government scientists will again point to Covid-19 infection numbers again going in the wrong direction, and Britain remains at the current level of restrictions until spring 2022.
The Treasury has pointed to local authorities still having £1bn at their disposal to help small businesses cover such things as business rates on a case-by-case basis. Other than that, its arms are folded.
From the start of next month, small businesses will have to start contributing to the salaries of furloughed workers. Currently, the government covers 80 per cent of wages of workers in the furlough scheme. Next month that becomes 70 per cent, with employers having to cover an extra 10 per cent
Hospitality, leisure and retail operators will also have to start paying one third of their business rates bill from the start of July, ending more than a year of the bills being waived.
Small businesses
Hot Business News Today
Small business calls for support extension to match reopening delay
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
Small business associations have called for support to be extended to match any delay in reopening due to current lockdown restrictions.
The final easing of lockdown restrictions is set to be postponed beyond June 21, according to reports. Most current rules will remain in place.
However, from July 1, businesses are due to contribute 10 per cent of staff wages in a staged withdrawal of furlough, which is set to finish at the end of September. And a moratorium on evictions and debt collection from commercial tenants is due to lift on June 30.
>See also: Swap Bounce Back debt for employee equity, say industry experts
The worry is that without more taxpayer support already vulnerable small businesses will close completely.
Organisations including the Federation of Small Businesses, UK Hospitality and British Chambers of Commerce said they were poised to demand help such as loan forbearance, more generous furlough terms, and an extension to an eviction ban and business rates holiday.
Most hospitaly venues are still losing money, are buried under a mountain of debt, and consider any delay to the lockdown easing timetable as a grave threat to the industry with hundreds of thousands of jobs at risk.
Hot Business News Today
Small business calls for support extension to match reopening delay
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
Small business associations have called for support to be extended to match any delay in reopening due to current lockdown restrictions.
The final easing of lockdown restrictions is set to be postponed beyond June 21, according to reports. Most current rules will remain in place.
However, from July 1, businesses are due to contribute 10 per cent of staff wages in a staged withdrawal of furlough, which is set to finish at the end of September. And a moratorium on evictions and debt collection from commercial tenants is due to lift on June 30.
>See also: Swap Bounce Back debt for employee equity, say industry experts
The worry is that without more taxpayer support already vulnerable small businesses will close completely.
Organisations including the Federation of Small Businesses, UK Hospitality and British Chambers of Commerce said they were poised to demand help such as loan forbearance, more generous furlough terms, and an extension to an eviction ban and business rates holiday.
Most hospitaly venues are still losing money, are buried under a mountain of debt, and consider any delay to the lockdown easing timetable as a grave threat to the industry with hundreds of thousands of jobs at risk.
Hot Business News Today
Small business to spend £23bn this year alone keeping Covid safe
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
Small businesses will spend £23bn this year on making premises Covid safe, according to research by financial services provider Hitachi Capital.
Office risk assessments, signs, sanitising products, professional cleaning and air filtering systems are forecast to cost every UK small business about £4,850 each on average this year, the equivalent of just under £23bn in total.
Hitachi Capital surveyed 1,500 small businesses for its survey.
Fixed premises will cost on average £5,443 this year to be Covid safe
Outdoor on onsite businesses cost on average £5,446 to be Covid safe
Businesses offering home working expect to spend on average £3,660
Small business that is completely working remotely (20 per cent of those surveyed) will have the smallest Covid-secure costs, with 68 per cent not spending anything on disease control and 21 per cent spending less than £1,000 per company.
>See also: Covid debt drowning small businesses to the tune of £104bn
Losing money to keep Covid safe
Meanwhile, one third of small businesses are losing money by sacrificing customer numbers to keep Covid safe, according to a separate Iwoca survey.
A quarter of small businesses are experiencing fewer sales because of coronavirus social distancing, the survey found. Four out of 10 small businesses
Hot Business News Today
Small business to spend £23bn this year alone keeping Covid safe
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
Small businesses will spend £23bn this year on making premises Covid safe, according to research by financial services provider Hitachi Capital.
Office risk assessments, signs, sanitising products, professional cleaning and air filtering systems are forecast to cost every UK small business about £4,850 each on average this year, the equivalent of just under £23bn in total.
Hitachi Capital surveyed 1,500 small businesses for its survey.
Fixed premises will cost on average £5,443 this year to be Covid safe
Outdoor on onsite businesses cost on average £5,446 to be Covid safe
Businesses offering home working expect to spend on average £3,660
Small business that is completely working remotely (20 per cent of those surveyed) will have the smallest Covid-secure costs, with 68 per cent not spending anything on disease control and 21 per cent spending less than £1,000 per company.
>See also: Covid debt drowning small businesses to the tune of £104bn
Losing money to keep Covid safe
Meanwhile, one third of small businesses are losing money by sacrificing customer numbers to keep Covid safe, according to a separate Iwoca survey.
A quarter of small businesses are experiencing fewer sales because of coronavirus social distancing, the survey found. Four out of 10 small businesses