Today in our blog we would like to give you information on why our services can save your business both time and money. It certainly pays to employ an experienced, professional and trusted accountant to help you with your business finances and we believe that at WHR Accountants in Armagh we tick all the right boxes.

Accountants Crucial For Business Start Ups

Often when people start up a business they see an accountant as a luxury that they could well do without, but nothing could be further from the truth. The first year of any business is an absolutely crucial period and it is advisable that any business gets the right advice regarding its tax affairs during this time. If the business is not set up so it can maximise its potential or if they are paying more tax than they need to, or getting stung with late payments, then this can seriously impact on the financial health of the company.

Employing An Experienced Accountant

Employing an experienced accountant will save you time as well as money. If you are diligently poring over all the financial aspects of the business, filling in tax forms and returns etc, this is taking you away from running your business, marketing it and building it up. An accountant is there to take the strain away from you, ensure your business is financially sound and ready for growth, ensure you are paying the correct amount of tax, no more and no less, and generally doing all the mundane accounting tasks that are required. 

Tax regulations and allowances change a great deal and an accountancy firm such as WHR Accountants has its finger on the pulse with regard to these changes. It is virtually impossible to do all this and run a business as well, so delegation to an accountant is crucial in this respect.

Business Funding

At WHR Accountants we can also give you advice on the funding of your business if you need some extra collateral, and we also give general business advice on various aspects and can run a full payroll service for you if required. 

If you would like more information on our services you can either fill in the form on the Contact Us Page on the website or you can give our offices in Armagh a call on 028 3752 2909. 

Welcome to our blog here at WHR Accountants in Armagh, Northern Ireland. This is our first blog post of 2018 and we hope the year is treating you very well so far. Today we thought we would remind you of the impending self assessment tax return deadline.

Send In Your Tax Returns Or Face Penalties

The deadline is actually this coming Wednesday 31st January, and you must have your online tax returns in by midnight on this day or face penalties from Her Majesty`s Revenue & Customs. If you were wanting to send a paper tax return in to the HMRC this should have been done on or before 31st October of last year so you only have the option of an online return now. 

You must send in your tax return and pay any money that you owe by 31st January so it is vital that you are prepared and ready for this date. If you fail to send in your online tax return by this date, the next day you will be liable for a £100 fine. And if you leave it for another 3 months then the maximum penalty you are liable to pay rises by £10 per day up to a maximum of £900. 

After 6 months a further £300, or 5% of the tax due whichever is the higher sum, is added to the penalties. If the HMRC deems it to be a more serious case the penalties can be even higher.

Ensure You Are Well Prepared

So you can see that there are great drawbacks to not having your online self assessment tax returns prepared and sent in by the due date. Nobody wants to pay penalties to the HMRC on top of the taxes that are due so please ensure you get yours in on time.

If you are having problems with preparing your tax returns, or you having difficulty with the process of filing your tax returns online, we can certainly help you but you will have to contact us as soon as possible. For help can you please give us a call in office hours on 028 3752 2909. 

Wednesday, December 20th 2017 4:26pmHello and welcome to our blog here at WHR Accountants in Armagh. As this is our last blog post before the Christmas break we would like to wish all our customers and blog readers a very Merry Christmas and a peaceful and prosperous New Year. Without the support of our clients we would not be here so we do value all of you and look forward to helping you with your accounts, tax, payroll, auditing, business planning etc in 2018. I hope, like us, you have had a successful 2017 and we look forward to an even better year in 2018.

Christmas Opening Hours

Regarding our opening times during the festive break, we will be closing our doors around 4 pm on Friday 22nd December and then we will be open again on Thursday 28th and Friday 29th December. We will then close until we reopen again on Tuesday 2nd January. So if you do need to speak with us between Christmas and the New Year call in or ring us on the Thursday or Friday. 

The Challenges Ahead In 2018

I am sure that 2018 will bring its challenges for all of us, in particular there is the countdown to Brexit which will finally happen in March 2019. If you need any help and advice for getting your business finances in order and ensuring you are in sync with any new regulations which are introduced in the build up to leaving the European Union, you can get in touch at any time for an initial no obligation chat. It is essential you are well prepared for all eventualities in this respect and you know exactly what you are required to do. 

Once again have a great Christmas and we will be back with another blog in the New Year. Best wishes from all at WHR Accountants. 

Here are some details on the various tax deadlines which are coming up in the next month, be sure if you have a business to prepare yourself for these deadlines to ensure you don’t get penalised. Being prepared is half the battle to running a successful business. 

Tax Due Deadlines

31 July 2018 – Deadline for payment of second instalment self-assessment for 2017-18.

1 August 2018 – Due date for corporation tax due for the year ended 31 October 2017.

19 August 2018 – PAYE and NIC deductions due for month ended 5 August 2018. (If you pay your tax electronically the due date is 22 August 2018)

19 August 2018 – Filing deadline for the CIS300 monthly return for the month ended 5 August 2018.

19 August 2018 – CIS tax deducted for the month ended 5 August 2018 is payable by today. 

Making Tax Digital Launches April 2019

Finally here is a reminder that from April 2019, HMRC’s much trumpeted Making Tax Digital (MTD) scheme will apply to certain businesses.

The April 2019 launch will only apply to VAT registered traders. More specifically, Making Tax Digital will apply to businesses who have a turnover above the VAT threshold – the smallest businesses will not be required to use the system, although they can choose to do so voluntarily if they so wish to.

From April 2019, businesses above the VAT threshold will be mandated to keep their records digitally and provide quarterly updates to HMRC for their VAT. 

Contacting WHR Solicitors

If you have any queries about any of the above information, or you just want some expert advice on any financial aspect of running your business, just give our offices a call here in Armagh on 028 3752 2909. That is all for today, we will be back with another blog article very soon. 

VAT Will Still Be With Us Whether It`s A Brexit Deal Or No Deal

Thursday, August 30th 2018 4:44pm

There has been a lot of talk over the last few weeks about the possibility of the UK being unable to broker a deal with the European Union for when they finally leave next year, although recent indications do seem to show that a deal could be closer now than it has been for some while.

But whether there is a Brexit deal or a no deal there is very little doubt that VAT is here to stay as it is far too valuable for HMRC to let it go. The Department for Exiting the European Union has issued a number of guidelines giving details on what is likely to happen if it does come to pass that there is no deal and some of these details concern VAT and how Brexit will affect businesses.

VAT Guidelines

The main headlines of these guidelines concerning VAT, as published on the Business Advice website are as follows:

• The UK will continue to have a VAT system after it leaves the EU
• Businesses will need to apply the same customs rules to goods moving between the EU and the UK as they would for the rest of the world
• Postponed accounting for import VAT will be applied on goods coming into the UK
• VAT will be payable on goods entering the UK as parcels sent by overseas businesses (currently true for parcels from outside the EU). For parcels worth up to £135, a technology-based solution will be applied where overseas businesses register with HMRC in order to pay VAT
• The UK will cease to be a member of EU VAT IT systems including the VAT Mini One Stop Shop.

Confidence In Goods & Services

When the UK leaves the EU it is vital that confidence and trust in all the goods and services from this country are maintained so that businesses will be affected as little as possible by the changes.

If you own a business and you would like any advice on your business and how it will be affected by Brexit please give us a call for a chat in the first instance on 028 3752 2909 and we will be glad to assist you.

Hello and welcome to the blog of WHR Accountants. Today we have news that accountancy has proven one of the top 5 industries for salary growth over the last 12 months which seems to show that the sector is in a pretty healthy state. The four industries that had a higher salary growth were the car industry, property, manufacturing and the legal sector. 
The average salary in the accountancy industry rose 6.4% in February 2017 compared to the year previously. The average salary this February was £33,261 compared to £31,253 the previous year. 

Whilst jobs and pay in accountancy are above the national average, applications for jobs have fallen by nearly 10% which does not seem to add up. But Lee Biggins, who is the founder and managing director of CV-Library, believes this is the norm for the time of the year. He said:

“It’s unsurprising to see application rates dropping off after January in the accounting industry; the mantra of ‘New Year, new me’ means January is traditionally one of the busiest periods for recruiters, with job applications vastly increasing in number.

“The challenge for businesses now is to tap into the talent pool while it’s still available. As a result, we’re seeing increasingly fierce activity from companies, with job postings and salaries on the rise,”

We believe that the accountancy profession is still one of the best professions to join and will always be so. It is an industry that will always be required by other businesses and it is a respected occupation that offers a variety of work to candidates. You also get to meet a wide variety of people from all walks of life and it is a job that will challenge you and that you can grow into.

The above quote was taken from the Economia website and you will find the full article at the following link: Accountancy And A Rise In Salaries

If you need an accountant for your business we would love to hear from you. Check out the website and give us a call on 028 3752 2909.