Insights
Practical guidance for UK limited companies and the accountants who advise them.
The £150-a-head Christmas party rule and the £50 trivial benefits exemption are two different reliefs with two different traps. Go a penny over either and the whole amount becomes taxable.
Read articleVAT on a deposit is due when you get it, not when the job's finished. Here's how the tax point rules actually work, and where contractors get caught out.
Read articleThe 1-tonne payload test decides whether you can reclaim the VAT on a double cab pickup in full. A hardtop, a few accessories, and the wrong spec can tip you over the line.
Read articleThe domestic reverse charge means output VAT is close to a non-issue for CIS subcontractors. The real question is how much input VAT you're actually leaving on the table.
Read articleFor clients on standard scheme, quarterly VAT, Rooby now shows a real figure built from invoices, credit notes, and bank transactions, not a control account estimate. Here's who it applies to and why.
Read articleSince 2021, most VAT-registered subcontractors don't charge VAT on CIS work at all. The end-user exclusion, the 5% disregard, and the invoice wording that trips people up.
Read articleFiling and payment are due on the same date, with no three-month buffer like Corporation Tax. Here's the points-based late filing penalty and the escalating late payment charge.
Read articleBlocked input VAT, partial exemption, reverse charge supplies, and the flat rate scheme's gross-turnover quirk - the most common reasons the return comes in above a rough estimate.
Read articleThe two schemes change when VAT is due, not how much. For businesses with slow-paying customers, that timing difference is a real cash flow lever.
Read articleThe 2017 limited cost trader rule pushed most service businesses onto a 16.5% rate, which is rarely worth it. Here's how to tell if your business is one of the exceptions.
Read articleSign up with Xero uses Xero as your identity provider. Here's what that means in practice, why Xero requires it for App Store certification, and how it changes the onboarding experience.
Read articleXero's CT figure is an accounting provision, not a tax calculation. Here's what it misses: associated companies, marginal relief, R&D, loss relief, and more.
Read articleS455 charge, the 9-month rule, bed and breakfasting, and optimal repayment strategies. What every director with an overdrawn DLA needs to know.
Read articleThe 25% main rate only applies above £250,000. Between £50,000 and £250,000 there's a sliding scale, and associated companies make it much more complicated.
Read articleWith employer NI rising to 15% and the threshold dropping to £5,000, the maths for director extraction has shifted. Here's what's optimal now.
Read articleProfit and cash are not the same thing. A business can show a healthy P&L and still hit a cash crisis in the same quarter. Here's the mechanics.
Read articlePension contributions, capital allowances, R&D relief, loss carry-back, the legitimate ways UK limited companies reduce their Corporation Tax bill.
Read articleDisallowable expenses, the depreciation gap, associated companies reducing your thresholds - the most common reasons the bill comes in above the P&L estimate.
Read articleThe 9 months and 1 day rule, large company quarterly instalments, CT600 filing deadlines, and the penalties HMRC charges for missing them.
Read articleQuarterly instalment payments for large companies, Time to Pay arrangements for companies that can't pay, and how to approach HMRC before the deadline.
Read articleHMRC's Connect system, the filing patterns that flag companies for enquiry, aspect vs full enquiry, and what to do if one opens.
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