Christmas Jumper Day

Hillmans Chartered Accountants in Worle, Weston-super-Mare are proud to support Christmas Jumper Day.

What is Christmas Jumper Day?

Christmas Jumper Day is an annual fundraising campaign in the UK organised by Save the Children. The charity is asking people to make the world better with a sweater by wearing a Christmas jumper for the day and donating to Save the Children.

As Chartered Accountants we’re known for being a rather conservative bunch. However on Friday 12th December we’re going to throw caution to the wind and swap our work attire for a Christmas jumper.

All our team will be wearing a woolly jumper and donating to the Save the Children foundation which is an amazing charity.

If you would like to donate and spread the jumper joy please text TEAMHILLMANS to 70050 to donate £2. Your £2 could buy potentially life-saving antibiotics to treat three newborn babies fighting infections.

For further information on Christmas Jumper Day please visit: http://jumpers.savethechildren.org.uk.

Autumn Statement 2014

Summary

The Chancellor of the Exchequer pulled out a few surprises in his Autumn Statement. The most eye-catching is the reform of stamp duty land tax (SDLT), which is payable by purchasers of land and property. The changes should reduce the SDLT payable on 98% of transactions which complete from 4 December 2014 onwards.

Small businesses should be pleased with the £1,500 business rate discount for small high street shops, cafes, pubs and restaurants. All employers will benefit from the zero rate of employers' national insurance for workers aged under 21, which is to be extended to apprentices aged under 25 from April 2016.

eNews - December 2014

BNI Business Networking Group Launched in Weston-super-Mare 

Hillmans is a founder member of BNI UK & Ireland Bridges, a local business networking group being set up in WestonSuperMare. If you would like to attend one of these meetings as a guest to see how they run please contact Steven Hillman. We’d be delighted to welcome you there!

For more information please click here.

Small Business Saturday

Small Business Saturday December 6th 

Businesses across the UK are gearing up for the second annual Small Business Saturday, taking place on December 6. The day-long event, which is supported by all political parties, was launched to shine a spotlight on the nation’s 4.9m small and medium-sized companies and encourage consumers to switch their shop from a chain to an independent business.

eNews - November 2014

Pensions Death Tax

Currently if you die before you have started to draw your pension, the value of your pension fund will not usually be subject to inheritance tax (IHT) at 40%, as it is excluded from your estate. However, there can be a 55% tax charge where your pension fund is passed to someone else under your will, especially if you die aged over 75.

Payroll Weston super Mare

Payroll / operating a PAYE scheme

A brief introduction to the Pay As You Earn Scheme:

The PAYE regime is the system of tax collection where employers deduct income tax and national insurance contributions (NICs) from an employees wage. This can be deducted weekly or monthly.

The PAYE system was originally designed to be a simple method of collecting tax at source, however over the years is has become increasingly more complicated with a variety of tax codes being introduced. Cases of employees paying too much or too little tax has become more common in recent years.

eNews - October 2014

Creating Extra Cash-flow 

Could your creative company benefit from a boost to its cash flow? If it produces computer games, films, high-end TV or animation programmes, it may qualify for a new payable tax credit.

All of these products can qualify for extra tax relief if they can be certified as culturally British, and at least a quarter of the core production costs are incurred in the UK. There are some other conditions:

- only businesses trading as companies can qualify for the tax relief, not individuals or partnerships; and- the product must be intended for release to, or to be broadcast to the general public, not produced for training or advertising purposes.
High-end TV programmes are essentially quality drama; not news, current affairs or quiz shows. Unfortunately producing original music doesn't qualify as a creative product for these tax reliefs.

Xero Certified Advisors - Hillmans Accountants

Why do we love Xero?

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Because Hillmans Ltd and Xero are on the same team. Read more. We both work together to provide timely advice to our small business clients, using the latest (and greatest) technology available.

Hillmans Chartered Accountants are Xero Certified Advisors, so it’s safe to say we know our way around the software!

eNews - Sept 2014

Late Filing Penalties 
 
From 6 October 2014 the HMRC computer will automatically issue you with a penalty if you submit your full payment submission (FPS) under RTI "late", or don't submit it at all for a month in which you paid your employees.

So what makes the FPS "late"? HMRC say the FPS must be submitted on or before the day the employer pays the employees (the "payment date"). But is that the day the funds leave the employer's bank account or the day the employee receives the money?

eNews - Aug 2014

Maximising Statutory Maternity Pay   

Paying statutory maternity pay (SMP) is not optional. It must be paid if your employee qualifies, but the good news is that a small business can recover 103% of the SMP paid from HMRC. A business that pays less than £45,000 of class 1 NICs in one tax year is defined as "small" for this purpose.

In a family business there may be scope for maximising the SMP payable for the first six weeks of maternity leave, and hence getting the Government to refund that SMP with a bit extra to cover the employer's NICs due. Let's see how this could work.