We rarely like to think about the worst-case scenario but, when it comes to protecting your business’s future, having plans in place should a business partner pass away is absolutely critical. Wh...

KPIs can be used to provide the information you need to grow your business by tracking the most important statistics about your business and its performance. You can interrogate these statistics to ma...

Last November, we warned readers about something called the Requirement To Correct. As the deadline draws near, we thought it worthwhile to remind readers again about the scheme and why it’s absolut...

Online advertising is almost subsuming all other types of marketing and promotions these days. One of the two most popular platforms is Google’s Pay Per Click (PPC) system called “AdWords”. A...

Confusing IR35 legislation has long plagued contractors in the UK. Ambiguity around HM Revenue and Customs’ methods of judging employment status has led to a huge number of cases being taken to t...

Rapid business growth and becoming an overnight corporate success sounds wonderful, doesn’t it? However, you and I know that it’s not as easy as they make it look on Dragons’ Den. Instead, let�...

If you turn down the radio and listen really closely, you can possibly hear the nation’s sole traders dimly groaning in the background. This will have something to do with the fact that their next p...

If you have read every online article, searched every web page and are still left bewildered on the topic of employment status – don’t worry, you aren’t alone. The case of Gary Smith and Piml...

The apprenticeship levy was introduced in April 2017 and its introduction was part of a series of changes made as the government attempted to introduce what it described as “greater flexibility” t...

Whether you need somebody to do your cleaning or manage your IT systems, outsourcing may be the answer. When you have a task that needs completing, you have two options; hire somebody as an employe...

Limited company or contractor umbrella company? If you are new to contracting, you have two main options on your business structure: contracting under an umbrella company for less money but an ea...

Should your business have an app? Everyone seems to be addicted to their smartphones nowadays but how can you use this to your business’s advantage? Many companies have been able to capitalise on t...

In a landmark court case, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) have lost an appeal over an alleged IR35 violation after a contractor successfully had their ruling overturned. HMRC lose IR35 case - what i...

Preparing and filing abridged accounts is a way for you to limit the amount of knowledge that the public has about your finances. Indeed, many sole traders and partnerships are put off incorporation b...

As a business owner, finding time for family life whilst building up your empire can be a challenge. So, what if you choose to keep your company in the family instead? According to the Institute fo...

Whether you travel between different clients throughout the day or you drive out to win new work in person, your car will be of vital importance to your business. If that’s you, what you spend on...

During the lifetime of any business, there will be times when there’s not enough money coming in. When that’s the case, if you don’t act promptly, it could potentially spell the end for your bus...

In last year’s Autumn Budget, the Chancellor announced that 2018 would introduce “joint and several liability” for tax in online marketplaces. What does the legislation say? Following the ...

The Construction Industry Scheme (CIS) is a government-run scheme put in place to make sure that contractors and subcontractors pay what HMRC believes is the correct amount of taxes. This article e...

Running a business is complicated. Business forecasting makes it a bit easier. How do most businesses start? A gifted salesperson or technician or administrator who works for a company and, within ...

Back in 2015, then Chancellor George Osbourne said in his Budget that he planned to “bring tax into the digital age”, laying the groundwork for Making Tax Digital. Making Tax Digital is a b...

A few years ago, as part of an attempt to discourage buy-to-let investors purchase residential properties through limited companies, unit trusts, and other open-ended investment vehicles, the governme...

Who’d want to work from an office anyway? The torturous drive in, business rates through the roof, and a whole lot of associated expenses. Many of Britain’s self-employed are now foregoing the hel...

Last month, the National Approved Letting Scheme (NALS) warned that a “lottery” of new fees for landlords could push a large number of them out of the buy to let sector. The trade body stated t...

As an employer, you want to ensure you’re paying your staff the right amount for their hard work. A surprising number of companies are prosecuted every year for not paying the National Minimum Wa...

With the Self-Assessment Tax Return deadline just around the corner, the Burton Beavan team is here to remind you not to miss it! What is a Self-Assessment Tax Return? Each year, you need to fil...

Last year’s Autumn Budget saw big changes in funding for the technology industry, NHS, the environment, and the property sector. The Budget speech also touched on the continuing reduction in nati...

Do you dream of growing your business in 2018 but you’re worried about the costs that come with employing more staff? The NICs Employment Allowance grants employers relief of up to £3,000 per ye...

Landlord tax errors are the focus of one of HMRC’s three current campaigns, the “Let Property” campaign, targeting the one million Britons who rent out properties. The drive of the campaign i...

There’s little doubt that, in the last few years, things have got tougher for landlords. One ongoing bugbear stretching back even further back in time has been the definitions that HMRC has for reve...

If you’re preparing to launch a new business or are still in your first two years of trading, you could be eligible for start-up loans of up to £100,000. Start-up loans – Where do I apply? Th...

Ever since the financial crisis of 2008, offshore tax avoidance and evasion has become a sore subject for many in society. We're not here to debate the rights and wrongs of this. Like any good acco...

As your business grows and changes, you may realise that you no longer need all of the assets that have on your books. How much do you pay in company asset disposal tax? Selling some of those assets ...

Lending money to your limited company, rather than giving money as start-up capital in return for shares, makes a lot of sense for a shareholding director. If, for example, you’re starting up a c...

HMRC late filing penalties are a nice little earner for the Treasury. According to the Financial Times, 840,000 UK taxpayers missed the January 31st deadline in 2017. Paul Aplin, vice-president of ...

Many business owners imagine that when they take their company to market, they get paid in one lump sum and walk away. The truth is often very different as many purchasers insist on earn-outs when you...

HMRC seem to be in a "cracking down on things" mood at the moment. Recently we discovered they'd recovered nearly £8bn in business taxes above the previous year through tax inspections and subseque...

Looking for people to invest in your business? If you can make your investment opportunity SEIS and EIS compliant, you’ll be offering potential investors the chance to benefit from very generous tax...

Based in the UK and have a ground-breaking digital product or service you want to roll out to consumers internationally? If so, here are the current rules on VAT for digital goods and services outside...

Why does British business need a simplification of corporation tax? Did you know that the UK tax code stretches to 17,000 pages? It would be longer but in later editions, they shrunk the size of the t...

One of the main attractions for people to set up limited companies is the concept of unlimited liability. Unlike when you’re a sole trader or a partnership where you are personally liable for the pa...

Angel investors have become the new TV reality rocks stars since the launch of the long-running BBC television show “Dragons’ Den” way back in 2005. In this article, Burton Beavan looks at an...

Here at Burton Beavan, we’ve helped hundreds of businesses grow, sometimes organically and other times through unlocking commercial finance for them. Growth is always difficult for any compan...

One of the many things new and existing entrepreneurs working with Burton Beavan get excited about is paying themselves in a completely different way to how they were when they were employed by ot...

Hello, and welcome to a new feature of the Burton Beavan website, a monthly (will try my best!) chat about tax. I will try to cover a topic in detail, give a summary of latest changes and a summary (n...

By Scott Ferguson Thinking of buying a car through your limited company? At first this can seem like a great tax saving idea, but it is important to consider all of the associated costs and tax impli...

BEWARE OF THE SPAM EMAILS FROM 'HMRC'. There has been a recent spate of scam emails being sent to members of the team here at Burton Beavan that give the impression that they originate for official H...

By Gareth Burton When I first got into the Lean Start-up movement a year or two ago, like most people I went online searching for as much information on the subject as I could find.  The funny thing...

So, I opened up the bin bag and wondered - how could anyone make sense of a jumble that consisted of cheque book stubs, paying in books and miscellaneous bits of paper that would have looked more at h...

Hello, and welcome to our blog.  The Burton Beavan blog is designed so that we can bring you the latest tax, accountancy, innovation and business news. Whether it be our 10 tax tips for the month, h...

By Gareth Burton Of all the quotes that I can recall from my trip to Silicon Valley then that was one that still rings in my ears to this day. To give you a bit of perspective we were fortunate enou...

What an earth does this headline mean? Let me tell you. I have spent the last 37 years working for ABB a multinational company in the power and automation sector. £20 billion turnover and around 135...