Research carried out by business solutions firm, Pitney Bowes, has revealed that almost 50% of small firms are cancelling Christmas parties this year in order to save money. Five hundred small businesses participated in the survey which found that 63% of respondents admitted to scaling back on seasonal festivities.
According to research carried out by energy supplier E.ON, just one in five small businesses in the UK are using energy-efficient equipment in the workplace. These new figures are based on a survey of 1,167 small businesses across the UK.
You are not alone if you are confused about cloud computing – recent research has shown that nearly half of those not using cloud computing don’t know what it means. Whether you are worried about security or how you would access your data without internet access read on and see my answers to the common questions which people ask me about cloud computing.
New research has found that more than a third of small businesses would consider relocating in order to help cut costs. The study was carried out by Make It Cheaper, a price comparison site for businesses, and the Centre for Economic and Business Research who identified the cheapest and costliest regions in the UK to run a business.
There are any number of reasons a fledgling business can fail – and the sad truth is that the majority do within the first year. Be it financial mismanagement, lacklustre marketing or just poor products, the reasons for failure are almost as numerous as the failed businesses themselves. Now a study from the Startup Genome, a research group assembled to investigate what makes a successful business, has revealed that the top killer of startups is in fact premature scaling.
A survey carried out by Sedo, a global domain marketplace, has revealed that small businesses are paying 5% more for their domain names than they were this time last year.
The decision by the Payments Council to not abolish cheques has been welcomed by small businesses who were concerned that no alternative viable payment system has been proposed.
Many Contractors choose to use the services of an existing ‘Umbrella Company’ – they are limited companies that employ Contractors. If you choose to do this, your contracts will be treated for tax purposes as if they are all inside IR35.
The latest report by GlobalExpense (a ruddy huge expense management company) has found that UK businesses failed to claim around £124 million in 2010 in mileage expenses. The shortfall was largely due to missing VAT receipts, which are required to claim back any business mileage.
If you’re travelling when doing business, you’ll probably want to claim mileage expenses. This can be done in two different ways. Firstly, if you’re operating under your own Limited Company you can claim tax-deductible mileage expenses (more information on this in our Guide to Limited Company Expenses). Alternatively, you can negotiate mileage allowances with a client as part of your contract.
We first took a look at Receipt Bank, or Receipt Farm as it was then known, about a year ago. Still in it’s infancy, the service nonetheless offered an invaluable service for freelancers who generate a lot of receipts and need to claim back those all-important expenses.
We’ve taken a look at services like Keebo in the past – most notably ReceiptFarm – that take over the arduous task of managing your receipts and expenses for a small monthly fee. Keebo are the new kids on the block, having just launched in the last few weeks.
For the freelancer who works from a home office there are a whole range of legitimate business expenses which can be claimed.
This poses the question: what are they? And how do you calculate the amount you can claim? What follows is a simple guide.
It is essential to ensure your workplace is deemed temporary when determining whether you have the right to claim travel and subsistence expenses. If you are a contractor, assessing your workplace status is extremely important. There are a number of rules set by HMRC which will determine whether you have the right to claim travel and subsistence expenses whilst you work. The rules heavily focus on whether your place of work can be classified as temporary or permanent.
Michael Rose | Lifestyle & Time out
Dribble.com – what are you working on?: Part game, part forum, part image library designers will find a lot of inspiration here and, if you’re really inspired you can bounce a piece of work to riff off the creation and join discussions about how to code the design in CSS — design geeks will LOVE it.
Shedworking.co.uk: Garden offices look set to become the next big thing in backyards this summer and with some beautiful off-the-lorry designs if you’ve got some money to throw at the problem it needn’t involve to much DIY.
Keebo promise to have your receipts online within 72 hours and offer a no quibble 90 day money back guarantee if you want to try their new service.
If you have read our guide to the expenses freelancers can claim the following guide gives some in depth information on how to claim your business expenses.
What expenses can I claim?
Freelancers and contractors with limited companies can claim the following as legitimate business expenses.
I was following a discussion over the weekend about someone asking if it was OK to expense accountancy training as part of his role as a company owner. My understanding of any expenses, including training costs, is that the expense must be wholly and exclusively in the line of your work. So clearly you can’t [...]
New in the Freelancer Hot Tub this week:
* Little known ways to find freelance work (Feature)
* 6 things that may happen if you falsely claim expenses
* Potted guide to IR35
* Freelance Rates: What do you charge?
The Professional Contractors Group (PCG), which represents UK freelancers and contractors, has warned the Government against “heavy-handed action” which would remove tax relief on expenses. The warning particularly concerns freelancers who work through ‘umbrella companies’ which oversee the offering of a number of freelancers’ services on large or long-term contracts. “PCG supports the presence of [...]
Part 2 of an interview with Steve Crouch of SRC Chartered Accountants. Here Steve tells us about the types of expenses freelancers can claim such as those associated with working from home and some more general things to look out for. Topics Covered: The expenses a freelancer can claim; Expenses associated with working from home; [...]
#6: Five Things you always wanted to ask your accountant - part 2 [ 17:54 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
