HMRC yesterday launched a pilot of an Alternative Dispute Resolution service for SMEs, which aims to reduce to need for tribunals during HMRC’s compliance checks. The scheme, which was trialled last year and saw 60% of disputes either fully or partially resolved, involves independent facilitators who work with both HMRC and business owners to ensure a quick and fair outcomes for both parties.
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.
Today Chancellor George Osborne announced, as part of his autumn statement, that the Government would be underwriting £20 billion in loans to small- and medium-sized businesses in an effort to get the UK’s private sector moving again through easier access to finances.
A survey carried out by recruitment firm Hays has revealed that a third of staff are choosing to stay put rather than risk job security by moving on. The research was carried out on 1,795 adults and found that 33% were reluctant to change jobs in the current turbulent job market and planned to put off job hunting until the economy picked up.
New research has revealed that micro businesses are leading the way in settling their bills on time, even compared to the big firms. The research, which was carried out by credit agency Experian on 6,000 UK businesses found that late payments across UK firms of all sizes increased by approximately a day during the summer period of July to September this year.
The Bank of England (BoE) governor Sir Mervyn King has stated that banks should be offered financial incentives to encourage more lending to struggling small businesses. Speaking at the Treasury Select Committee about the BoE’s decision to inject £75 billion back into the economy, Sir Mervyn King urged MPs to address the lack of lending to small businesses in the UK.
Although the general mood of the UK’s small businesses has been cautiously optimistic in the past few months, the continued fallout from the Eurozone crisis looks to be having a negative impact on the nation’s recovery.
Although some freelancers may find it more difficult to obtain a good credit card than a full-time employee, there’s a lot of disinformation flying around about freelancers and credit cards. Here we’ll bust three common myths.
New research by electricity supplier E.ON says that small businesses in the UK are wasting over £30 million every day by simply not switching off computers at the end of the work day. The study of over 800 SMEs found that nearly 40% of workers leave their computers on all night and only 20% switch them off properly over the weekend.
After an apparently successful trial in Merseyside since February this year, the Government’s New Enterprise Allowance (or NEA) is today rolling out nationally, giving unemployed people around the country a chance to start their own small business.
The Association of British Insurers (ABI) has calculated that the cost of this weeks riots could be as high as £500 million. But what will be the cost to small businesses?
The annual Barclays Take One Small Step awards, which aims to identify and nurture outstanding new business ideas, saw over 5,000 entries this year, each showing innovation, diversity and creative flair.
After being blasted for their performance in 2010 in a report from the Treasury select committee, HMRC Chairman Mike Clasper has issued a public apology, and has pledged that the taxman’s performance in 2011 will be radically improved.
HMRC staff are to begin calling new businesses to offer advice on how to correctly take care of their bookkeeping and tax obligations. HMRC is referring to this new practise as “telephone education”, and businesses will be contacted “at key stages in their lifecycles”.
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.
Of course we’re not talking about you. We know the Freelance Advisor readership are bastions of honesty, purity and fiscal responsibility. We just thought we’d let you know anyway, so you can warn your less-scrupulous friends about HMRC’s latest clampdown.
A little while ago the UK’s incumbent Franken-government announced the introduction of the New Enterprise Allowance (or NEA for acronym fans), a scheme to provide a £2,000 grant, small business loan and expert guidance to unemployed people looking to start their own businesses.
As many (hopefully all) of you will be aware, those good folks running the country have decided that as of today the VAT rate will be raised to 20%. While this has one distinct advantage (it’s easier to work out now – just divide by 5!), it also has one huge disadvantage – namely that from today things will cost more.
As we reported on Friday, new government legislation regarding the use of offshore Employee Benefit Trusts (EBTs) by Umbrella Companies as a means of saving clients money will now be passed into law, meaning the money-saving benefits of this method will be removed come April next year.
We’ve previously covered some ideas for micro-lending to help both your small business and those of others, and now we’ve found some more sites with similar ideas! Getting off the ground is always the hardest part of starting your own business – specifically, how do you get money, and how do you get your idea out there?
We’re all about freelancers here (you may have guessed by the name), and helping freelancers become as successful as possible. Once that success has arrived, you’ll either go one of two directions. Firstly, you might want to turn all your hard work into a business – this means re-investing money you’ve made or seeking outside investment. Secondly, you might just want to rest on your laurels and watch the huge stacks of cash grow around you.
Working job-to-job and contract-to-contract is all well and good. But if you want to build a business you’ll need to find some cash.
Christian Nellemann, founder of XLN Telecom, shares some of his experience on how you could get your business off the ground financially.
As the dust settles after the June Budget Financial Planning Expert Paul Cleworth give us some good news for contractors.
TODO: Is a review of salary levels with your accountant requried?
In case you missed George Osbourne’s Emergency Budget here are the highlights for Freelancers:
Freelance Advisor and financial planning expert Paul Cleworth has been analyzing this month’s Pre-Budget report to see if there are any gems for us freelancers and contractors.
We focus on how it affects contractors, the good and bad news as well as what opportunities there are for freelancers and contractors.
The PCG is a non-profit organisation that fights the freelance corner by lobbying government for better tax and regulation and promoting fair and ethical behaviour among recruiters. It also provides a host of tools and knowledge to its members to help them handle tax and regulatory matters properly.
PCG insider Charlie Bradburn tells us why they could be your greatest ally if you were ever to suffer a tax investigation and how their help-line can help you feel more at ease when confronted by a letter from the HMRC.
In this economic climate there are few letters which are worse to receive than a letter saying that your client has gone into administration or bankruptcy owing you money. But the number of these letters being sent out is on the increase. As a freelancer or contractor you will rank behind the banks, the Revenue and employees for payment and the prospect of getting money out of a company at this stage is remote at best. How then to stop your debts going bad?
A leading business organisation says small firms are still having trouble accessing finance, despite Government lending guarantees. The Forum of Private Business (FPB) says its members have reported they are still unable to access finance from banks, despite the Government implementing schemes such as the Enterprise Finance Guarantee, designed to help small businesses access bank [...]
The top 5 home-business occupations in 2009 Whether it is a second income to make ends meet, a result of reduncancy or a decision to make a fresh start as a freelancer, the home business and startup sector looks like it will continue to grow in 2009. Freelance Advisor and home business startup supremo Emma [...]
Freelance Advisor and author of ‘Spare Room Start Up’ Emma Jones gives us her review of the best applications for freelancers. Top 5 technology apps of 2008 As we enter the month of December, I can’t help but look back at the year that was. The thousands of new businesses started, the people we’ve profiled, [...]
Freelance Advisor and author of ‘Spare Room Start Up’ Emma Jones give us a timely reminder of the things we could be doing in the run up to Christmas. What can freelancers do when things get quiet over the holiday season and what plans can we make for 2009. When the phones hush and emails [...]
