If the government provides us with a set of stupid, complex and illogical rules which means if you do something one way the tax will be X but do it another way and the tax will be Y, then why on earth wouldn't any sane person choose the route with less tax? Many of these people will have been forced down this route by the employer and will be saving little or no tax. My personal view is that if you are going to give a sole trader a grant based on the earnings from his/her work, it would seem to me to be fair to do the same for a director of a small business - and I can't see whyn it shouldn't be based on salary + dividends. The chancellor alluded to it the other day but if this is the wake up call government needs to stop dicking around with crazy rules like IR35 and others and can produce a set of coherent, straight forward tax rules then that at least would be a good thing to have come out of all this.
Xero's VAT process under MTD is truly awful. Fine to have a live link to HMRC when filing a return, but should be easy enough for anybody to view a VAT report showing what that report would show without a live link. It's just a report!!! I don't believe HMRC have stipulated this. If they have then it's making it more likely errors will occur when they say MTD has been introduced to reduce errors. Anybody wishing to add there comments or just vote for this as something for Xero to correct should go to this Xero discussion thread: https://community.xero.com/business/discussion/102050933/ and vote for a change.
Don't you always set a deadline for your clients or on any project? Seems sensible to me. Especially if your client was a windy politician! With his majority he can always extend it anyway. And international trade is not a zero sum game. Arguments always seem to talk about a winner and a loser but the right deal should give benefits to both parties so both can be better off. One reason people voted to leave is to take back some control. We are now free to weigh up what the EU are offering against what the US and others are offering and take a view. This certainly won't be a walk in the park but your point about shares and the exchange rate would seem to indicate outside investors at least, who have a less blinkered view of the UK than we ourselves do, think positively about our situation. (Or maybe just a better one than they had before!) Rather than Chamberlain or Churchill though, I hope we have more of a J F Kennedy who said, we do these things "... not because they are easy, but because they are hard." Shoot for the moon!
How much is way too much? I'd rather work full time for £150k as long as full time was no more than around 40 to 50 hours per week. And how much do pharmacists earn?
I agree. It's likely to be a rough ride for a time but none of us know the future which depends on so many things. To me it doesn't sound like Brexit will change the fundamental problems the business has now and perhaps the investment is needed now more than ever. Should pause and reflect on what the impact might be but not a reason on its own to stop. Trouble is if everyone acts like this it'll become self-fulfilling. KBO I reckon!
I'm not sure increasing the rate of CT would be a good idea. Up to a point the lower the tax the more money seems to flow. Up to a point.
What Osbourne's comment does do is say we want businesses to come here which must be right. But rather than tinkering and giving more allowances here and there why not take the oppportunity to get the broom out and get serious about overhauling the tax system. My shelf is on its 3rd set of supports with the weight of tax books (and poor DIY skills). May be MTD could work if the regs are designed to fit in with that rather than the other way round. There are opportunities as well as threats and perhaps this could be an opportunity.
I'm an agent - sole practitioner - and I'd pay for the servies of an uber agent for any time I have to actually get in touch with HMRC. They would always know the appropriate number to ring, which department, what the right answer to the automated phone systems was, etc. And when I did phone HMRC, they would also put the intital call in and call me back when someone had actually answered the phone - putting HMRC on hold obviously!
My answers
If the government provides us with a set of stupid, complex and illogical rules which means if you do something one way the tax will be X but do it another way and the tax will be Y, then why on earth wouldn't any sane person choose the route with less tax? Many of these people will have been forced down this route by the employer and will be saving little or no tax. My personal view is that if you are going to give a sole trader a grant based on the earnings from his/her work, it would seem to me to be fair to do the same for a director of a small business - and I can't see whyn it shouldn't be based on salary + dividends. The chancellor alluded to it the other day but if this is the wake up call government needs to stop dicking around with crazy rules like IR35 and others and can produce a set of coherent, straight forward tax rules then that at least would be a good thing to have come out of all this.
Xero's VAT process under MTD is truly awful. Fine to have a live link to HMRC when filing a return, but should be easy enough for anybody to view a VAT report showing what that report would show without a live link. It's just a report!!! I don't believe HMRC have stipulated this. If they have then it's making it more likely errors will occur when they say MTD has been introduced to reduce errors. Anybody wishing to add there comments or just vote for this as something for Xero to correct should go to this Xero discussion thread: https://community.xero.com/business/discussion/102050933/ and vote for a change.
Don't you always set a deadline for your clients or on any project? Seems sensible to me. Especially if your client was a windy politician! With his majority he can always extend it anyway. And international trade is not a zero sum game. Arguments always seem to talk about a winner and a loser but the right deal should give benefits to both parties so both can be better off. One reason people voted to leave is to take back some control. We are now free to weigh up what the EU are offering against what the US and others are offering and take a view. This certainly won't be a walk in the park but your point about shares and the exchange rate would seem to indicate outside investors at least, who have a less blinkered view of the UK than we ourselves do, think positively about our situation. (Or maybe just a better one than they had before!) Rather than Chamberlain or Churchill though, I hope we have more of a J F Kennedy who said, we do these things "... not because they are easy, but because they are hard." Shoot for the moon!
Yes but sounds too sensible and straight forward for HM Treasury.
How much is way too much? I'd rather work full time for £150k as long as full time was no more than around 40 to 50 hours per week. And how much do pharmacists earn?
Miguel is very good at basketball apparently. Wonder what his personal carbon footprint is?
I agree. It's likely to be a rough ride for a time but none of us know the future which depends on so many things. To me it doesn't sound like Brexit will change the fundamental problems the business has now and perhaps the investment is needed now more than ever. Should pause and reflect on what the impact might be but not a reason on its own to stop. Trouble is if everyone acts like this it'll become self-fulfilling. KBO I reckon!
I'm not sure increasing the rate of CT would be a good idea. Up to a point the lower the tax the more money seems to flow. Up to a point.
What Osbourne's comment does do is say we want businesses to come here which must be right. But rather than tinkering and giving more allowances here and there why not take the oppportunity to get the broom out and get serious about overhauling the tax system. My shelf is on its 3rd set of supports with the weight of tax books (and poor DIY skills). May be MTD could work if the regs are designed to fit in with that rather than the other way round. There are opportunities as well as threats and perhaps this could be an opportunity.
I'd like a fourth party involved - the uber agent
I'm an agent - sole practitioner - and I'd pay for the servies of an uber agent for any time I have to actually get in touch with HMRC. They would always know the appropriate number to ring, which department, what the right answer to the automated phone systems was, etc. And when I did phone HMRC, they would also put the intital call in and call me back when someone had actually answered the phone - putting HMRC on hold obviously!
Lack of ambition
There does seem to be a slight lack of ambition if HMRC aim to answer 80% of calls and ignore only 20%. If you aim low that's where you'll hit!