Welcome to Accounting and Office Solutions, affordable accounting for the small business
I am Sonia Booth, an AAT licensed accountant, qualifying many moons ago back in 1997. A rather unconventional route into accounting saw me start life as an Estate Secretary for a country estate in Wiltshire where I learnt lots about running a small business with its combination of forestry, farming, tenanted properties, employees, public access and events. I completed my AAT training during my 14 year career with the estate.
I set up AOS in 2005 and since then have helped lots of small businesses. I realised very early on that my main motivation (sadly!) was not making oodles of money but helping people; to make order out of chaos, to use their accounting software and understand the figures it produced or any other small business issue. And if I don’t know the answer I can find someone that does or we work it out together.
That’s why AOS has always remained a small business practice, because that’s what gives me the buzz.
I shall use this blog to focus very much on the small business and hope to give you some useful updates and tips as well as the usual accounting reminders that crop up on a regular basis.
A flavour of future topics;
How do I register as self-employed or register a company?
Should I be VAT registered?
What home expenses can I claim as a sole-trader?
What is “payment on account”?
How do I choose accounting software?
How much money do I need to save for my tax bill?
There are a couple of August reminders for you before I sign off my first blog;
For employers - changes to the job retention furlough scheme;
From 1 August 2020 the scheme will no longer fund employers’ National Insurance (NI) and pension’s contributions. Employers will have to make these payments from their own resources for all employees, whether furloughed or not.
From 1 August 2020 the government will pay 80% of wages up to a cap of £2,500 for the hours an employee is on furlough and employers will pay ER NICs and pension contributions for the hours the employee is on furlough.
For September the government will pay 70% of wages up to a cap of £2,187.50 for the hours the employee is on furlough. Employers will pay ER NICs and pension contributions and top up employees’ wages to ensure they receive 80% of their wages up to a cap of £2,500, for time they are furloughed.
For October the government will pay 60% of wages up to a cap of £1,875 for the hours the employee is on furlough. Employers will pay ER NICs and pension contributions and top up employees’ wages to ensure they receive 80% of their wages up to a cap of £2,500, for time they are furloughed
Employers will continue to able to choose to top up employee wages above the 80% total and £2,500 cap for the hours not worked at their own expense if they wish. Employers will have to pay their employees for the hours worked.
Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme
For the self-employed - the claim portal opens for the second and final self-employment grant claim;
From 17 August the HMRC claim portal should be open. If you were eligible for the first grant and can confirm to HMRC that your business has been adversely affected on or after 14 July 2020, you’ll be able to make a claim.
The second grant is at a lower rate than the first and allows you to claim 70% of your average monthly trading profits, paid out in a single instalment covering 3 months’ worth of profits, and capped at £6,570 in total.
The grant is available to those whose trading profits are up to £50,000 per year and receive the majority of their income from self-employment.
As with the first grant HMRC will contact you if you’re eligible and HMRC will work out your eligibility for the second grant in the same way as the first grant.
You can make a claim for the second grant if you’re eligible, even if you did not make a claim for the first grant.
The grant does not need to be repaid but will be subject to Income Tax and self-employed National Insurance.