Biggest Tax Raising Parliment
The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has stated that this has been the biggest tax-raising parliament since records began, pushing UK tax revenues to historically high levels. They comment “At the time of the last general election, UK tax revenues amounted to around 33% of national income. By the time of the next election in…
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Dealing with Inflation
With continuing inflation in the UK, many of us and our businesses have been put “off track” in the short to medium term. The Bank of England recently increased interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point to 5.25 per cent. The rise was as expected by economists in view of the latest data…
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HM Revenue Customs thinks the solution lies in the use of online
HMRC Annual Report shows some important trends for business owners HMRC’s annual report was published last week, and it shows that they failed to meet many of their key customer services measures in 2022-23. Customer satisfaction dropped to 79% from 82% last year and telephone performance has also declined with an average wait of 16…
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Customer Services and Why It Matters
According to the Institute of Customer Service’s (ICS) most recent UK Customer Satisfaction Index more companies have declined in service than improved. In 2021 and 2022, customer satisfaction with complaint handling showed a steady improvement but this has now stalled and other areas of customer satisfaction that are predictive of business performance, such as measures…
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How high could interest rates rise?
Earlier this month the Bank of England (BOE) raised interest rates for a 12th consecutive time as the rate of rising prices remains high. The Bank rate has gone up from 4.25% to 4.5%. The BOE has been under pressure to put rates up because it has a target to keep inflation at 2%, but…
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Building business resilience
Millions of businesses and households are struggling with their energy costs, alongside increases in general taxation, the cost of council tax, water bills and other utilities. Is it all doom and gloom or can you plan forward and make adjustments in, and to, your business to factor in these changes? Our experience tells us that…
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Managing InheritanceTax
Like many other taxes, inheritance tax (or IHT) allowances have been frozen. This sounds generous of the chancellor at a time when the government is strapped for cash. But it actually means that we are paying more. Data from HMRC has revealed that Inheritance tax collected between April 2022 and February 2023 totalled £6.4bn, which…
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Budget Summary
Last week, Jeremy Hunt, Chancellor of the Exchequer, revealed his first Spring Budget. There was a focus on managing inflation and government debt, encouraging those who have left their jobs to return to the workforce, and increasing business investment. Here are some of the key measures announced in the Spring Budget that will affect businesses…
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Budget Update
COST OF LIVING SUPPORT Energy Costs The Energy Price Guarantee (EPG) brings a typical household energy bill in Great Britain down to around £2,500 per year. It has now been announced that the £2,500 EPG will be extended by 3 months to 30th June 2023, before increasing to £3,000 until the end of the EPG period on…
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HMRC fined 300,000 tax payers
A record 11.7 million people submitted their tax returns on time, but over 300,000 taxpayers missed the self assessment deadline This compared with 10.2m completed returns by the 2021 deadline, although HMRC did extend the filing period due to the fallout from the pandemic. On 31 January, 861,085 taxpayers filed online to meet the deadline,…
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