March 2017 Newsletter

“Team – Together Everyone Achieves More”

We are delighted to announce that Kayleigh Porter has recently joined our already brilliant team! Kayleigh is an AAT qualified Accounting Technician and will be starting to study towards becoming a Chartered Accountant very soon. She has already fit perfectly into our team and is settling in well.

Kayleigh commented, “Having been travelling for 3 months before starting at MJH I was quite nervous about the transition of being in a working environment again. However, all these feelings went away very quickly and all the staff have been very supportive with helping me settle in and showing me how to use all the different software and programs. I’m very much looking forward to the future and starting my training.”

“The currency of real networking is not greed but generosity” Keith Ferrazzi.

We regularly attend the Shout Network meetings to meet local business owners and build relationships and trust.

On the 24^th March we will be attending the Lancashire Business Expo at the Guild Hall! Come and visit our stand to find out more about us and what makes us different.  By entering our competition you could win a seat at our table in the Invincibles Lounge at PNE for the Norwich home game on Easter Monday.

“The secret of getting ahead is getting started” Mark Twain.

At MJH we are always trying to get ahead, so if your business has a 5^th April year end, why not bring all your records into your accountants (preferably us) so they can be completed as soon as possible thus avoiding unnecessary worry and allowing you to concentrate on growing your business.

It’s much easier to remember what you’ve spent or received if it’s still fresh in your mind rather than months ago. If you don’t already have an accountant, but will need one, then just give us a call to book a free initial meeting with our managing director Mark.

 Making tax Digital  Are you ready?

Making Tax Digital, or “MTD” for short, feels a little bit like “Brexit”.

Regardless of what we think should, or indeed will happen, it’s coming, and it will be here before we know it. So, in the words of Rod Stewart, “People get ready, there’s a train a-coming”

The fireworks will start in April 2018 when the first cohort of unincorporated businesses (including property businesses), whose turnover exceeds the VAT threshold, must get on board.

All other unincorporated businesses with turnover over £10k must comply from April 2019 and companies will be joining around April 2021.

So, what is MTD?

Regardless of the propaganda the government were initially spouting about making life easier for small businesses, the real reason for MTD is try and cut the “tax gap”, which is the theoretical shortfall between the tax due and the tax collected.

Basically, HMRC believe that if they force businesses to maintain digital records and make quarterly submissions, they are going to collect more tax. Time will tell whether this belief holds water.

Businesses will need to maintain their records digitally which can either take the form of a spreadsheet or more likely, by using accounting software which in time is likely to allow direct submission to HMRC.

As a minimum, each quarter, you must update HMRC as to your income and expenses across the usual self-assessment categories. You will have 30 days form the end of each quarter to submit this and 10 months from the end of your year to submit a final quarter adjustment.

HMRC will use this information along with that from other sources, such as employers, banks etc. to compile your personal tax account, making sure you pay the “right amount” of tax.

As things stand, whilst paying taxes quarterly is optional, there is certainly no requirement to pay taxes more regularly, however, I can only see it being a matter of time before HMRC move the goalposts on this.

Whilst MTD sounds like a nightmare, we will be with you every step of the way and we’re planning a number of seminars over the next 12 months to help you understand more about what’s involved.

Whilst this may be exciting for some of you, please do not sign up to MTD online without speaking to us first.

If you have any burning questions in the meantime, get in touch.