Budget 2014
With many forecasters predicting a quiet budget, you would think there’s not much to report. Think again. There is a vast amount of change incorporated. This blog sets out the main changes, and some of the points for action that SMEs may want to consider…. General taxation 1.1 Tax thresholds The tax free threshold rises to £10,000, with a further increase to £10,500 in April 2015. The NIC threshold for both employee and employer contributions increases to £153 per week (£663 per month or £7,956 per annum) Action: If you have adopted the traditional low salary/ dividend reward structure you’ll need to adjust the amounts to keep to the most efficient split. 1.2 Savings rate From 2015, the Chancellor has abolished the 10% rate for the first £2,880 of savings income, has made it tax free. He has also extended the band to £5,000. From April 2015, company owners may…
Work ON, not IN!
[Originally a guest post on www.owenjonesdesign.com] Introduction It is a real problem when you are doing something you love isn’t it? You set up your business because you are good at something, or you are passionate about it, or both, but you never seem to make progress. You are busy doing what you love, but somehow it’s not as rewarding as you’d thought it would be. Very often, that is because you are working IN, and not ON your business. What’s the difference? If you are going to reap the rewards of your hard work, then you’ll need to balance these two aspects. Before you can do that, you need to understand what they are. Working in the business This is basically doing the stuff for clients/customers that the business was set up to do. For Owen, this is producing high quality design ideas, and implementing them as part of…