Category Archives: News

Becca recently visited one of our newer clients to train them how to use Xero to reconcile a PayPal account using the add-on ‘Expandly’. This add-on collates all Amazon and eBay sales in one place, so they can be imported to Xero. We think it’s pretty nifty! Becca also created some bank rules for them within Xero. The client was really worried that it would take her hours and hours a day – time that she doesn’t have. Becca was able to show her that with just a couple clicks of a button everything could be reconciled to the standard that we needed to do the accounts. This would actually save her an hour a day, so she was extremely pleased … to say the least!

Congratulations to our apprentice, Sydney, who was awarded ‘Team Member of the Year’ at our recent Team Vision Day – voted by the team throughout the year. She has had a difficult year, and has shown great resilience and dedication to Numbers … which was rewarded by the recognition she received on Friday. Look out for pictures of the event!

Sydney has taken a little time out of her week to cut down the number of clients that have their payslips posted out to them. By reducing the amount of paper we use, we are doing our bit – although in a small way – to save the environment. Sydney feels good that she is doing the right thing. She says: “It’s only minimal, but every little helps!!”

“With Steve’s help, we identified that a business director was not receiving any dividends and was also below his personal allowance, so we voted a £5,200 dividend for him. This was tax free, so he hasn’t been taxed anymore on his tax return, and also he is going to receive a tax refund of £2,398.00!!! So, in a nutshell – An extra £5,200 tax free income and another £2,398 from the HMRC as a refund, total = £7,598.” How would YOU spend this extra cash? If you’d like to explore how we can save you money, give us a call on (Plymouth area office) 01752 226084 or (Exeter area office) 01392 537472, and pop in for a coffee and a chat.

Sydney has started sending out tax returns! Please send in any information that we request of you so that there will is no massive rush in January – and you don’t get a fine from HMRC!!

Last week we officially launched our Exeter office. 30 business leaders attended our formal event at the Exeter Golf and Country Club and everyone rated the event as very good or excellent. Every topic we covered was considered helpful to our attendees, with many booking follow up sessions. “Making Lives Better in Exeter felt great”, Steve concluded.

Two clients have been embroiled in long-standing disputes with HMRC. In both cases, HMRC have refused to accept client figures, but will not provide definitive lists of information they need to settle the cases. Last week, Steve met with both clients (1 in person, 1 by telephone), to initiate the next stage in our attempt to close down these issues. Sometimes, ‘Making Lives Better’ means fighting for the “Davids” of this world against the “Goliath” that is HMRC!

A major client came to see us two weeks ago and advised us that they were demerging their business. Potentially valuable, this could have led to significant Capital gains Tax liabilities, at a time when both sides of the business need to preserve cash. Steve and Andy led the clients through the complexity of a Statutory Demerger, which will set them up for future growth with no tax liability holding them back. Other clients are offering share incentives to their employees, and Steve has been busy setting the foundations to ensure that they can participate without a significant tax charge. So if you’re planning a major change in your business, or simply want to work out if it might be the right thing for you, get in touch and we can chat through your plans and steer you around any pitfalls. There’s no charge for our initial appraisal!

Our client had a court enforcement letter for an outstanding PAYE/CIS balance (WITH FINES INCLUDED) of £12,053.30 Sydney organised a meeting with the HMRC and manged to clear the penalties and outstanding amounts so that the client only had to pay £1,217.97. What a result!! During a VAT reclaim Sydney noticed a batch of statements. Statements do not have VAT itemised, so she could not process them to reclaim any VAT. To save our client even more money, Sydney requested these statements from the client so that he can reclaim over £7200 on top of the £7400 he can reclaim at this point in time. We don’t just work with the information we are given – we aim to find ways for our clients to claim back more money! What would you do with that extra? Maybe you could afford that holiday after all?!

Motor Repair Centre: We claimed over £1,800 for our client saving £360 in corporation tax. As a result of the large pension contributions made during the year we saved over £48,000 in Corporation Tax, with £10,000 of this being refunded from HMRC. In addition, this has sheltered future Inheritance Tax of over £102,000, so the pension planning will have secured a combined tax savings of £151,360! Management Consultancy: Over £10,000 was claimed in capital allowances saving over £2,000 in corporation tax. Construction company: Claiming £5,000 in capital allowances, we saved £1,000 Voting the directors salaries, we also saved the company over £2,100 throughout the year. Printing Company: With over £1,400 claimed in capital allowances our client saved over £280 TOTAL SAVINGS THIS WEEK: £156,740