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Coronavirus - Government Support Update

Support

Coronavirus - Government Support Update

Read about the recent updates to the Self-Employment Income Support and Coronavirus Job Retention Schemes

Self-Employment Income Support Scheme
Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme

Coronavirus Update

Update

Coronavirus Update

Following the recent government announcements our office at East London Street EDINBURGH is now closed and our partners and staff are working remotely and are available to help you and your business. The best form of contact is by email to office@bondca.co.uk

Read about government support here

Coronavirus – UK Government Support to Businesses

Support

Coronavirus – UK Government Support to Businesses

We are in difficult times and hope you and your family are coping with the restraints being imposed. Our office is open for business and we will deal with any queries by telephone/email until the restrictions are removed. Coronavirus – UK Government Support to Businesses The Chancellor announced on 17th March 2020 a package of measures to provide support for businesses to ensure the impact of COVID-19 is minimised. In the next few days we will provide full details of these support measures and how to claim or apply for them. However, we understand that timing is crucial for many businesses, and we want our clients to be fully prepared and be in a position to take advantage of whatever financial support they are entitled to at the earliest opportunity. It is therefore important to highlight two specific elements of the government’s support measures. Business Interruption Loan Scheme A new Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme, delivered by the British Business Bank, will enable businesses to apply for a loan of up to £5 million with no fees and a 6-month interest free period. Business Grants There will be a £10,000 cash grant available to small businesses, which will be delivered by local authorities. A £25,000 grant will also be available to retail, hospitality and leisure businesses operating from smaller premises, with a rateable value between £15,000 and £51,000. Without knowing the full details yet regarding the application processes for a Business Interruption Loan or a Business Grant (this information will be available in the next few days), it is reasonable to assume that a set of relatively current business accounts and some basic financial projections will be pre-requisites for any business applying for a loan or grant under these schemes. Therefore if you are considering applying for this financial support please ensure that your accounting records are as up to date as possible, and that you are able to provide a basic set of accounts and financial projections. If you need any advice or support in producing these accounts or financial projections please contact us and we will assist in whatever way we can to help you get the financial support you need for your business at this extremely difficult time. If you have any concerns about not being able to pay outstanding or looming tax liabilities, then HMRC have set up a dedicated helpline for businesses and self-employed individuals to receive support with their tax affairs. By contacting the dedicated helpline on 0800 0159 559 you may be able to agree a bespoke Time to Pay arrangement with HMRC. There is also statutory sick pay relief available for certain employers with employees suffering from coronavirus. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any queries or wish to discuss any matters. Kind regards Caroline Bond

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FSB Annual Dinner

KDD

FSB Annual Dinner 2018

Caroline and Susan were delighted to attend the FSB Annual Dinner in Glasgow last night, a fantastic evening with Kate Davies as a guest speaker. We are so proud to have played a small part in the inspiring journey that Kate has made over the last 10 years.

Read more about Kate Davies Designs here

Calm Amid the Storms

Spurtle

Photograph Exhibition

Bond CA hosted an exhibition for local photographer Rich Dyson, displaying his 'Beyond the Shore' collection. This was recently featured in the Broughton Spurtle.

Read the article here

Art Exhibition - Works by Graham Kershaw

Graham Kershaw

Art Exhibition

Bond CA hosted an Art Exhibition for Graham Kershaw on 11 August 2017 - the evening kicked off with music and a glass of bubbly.  The evening was a great success, thank you to everyone who made it along.  The paintings will be on display throughout August and September please call or email if you would like to view these

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Staff Birthday

Birthday

​Staff Birthday​

Gina celebrating her recent birthday in the office - the birthday cake was made by Susan Gee’s daughters Sophie and Maddie. 

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Yarn Festival Event

Yarn Festival Event

Yarn Festival Event 

Mica and Jo have to be congratulated on another successful yarn festival at the Corn Exchange on Saturday 11 March 2017. Here is a picture of Susan and Maddie at the Kate Davies stand, Maddie is going to be busy with her new knitting projects.



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Chef January

spoon

Chef January

​A new tradition at Bond CA – following on from last year’s successful souper January 2016 – this year our staff all agreed to take turns in making delicious home cooked food. Our theme this year was Foods of the World we enjoyed, Italian, Indian, Chinese and traditional British fayre. This year we collected £100 for Childreach International.

Childreach international works with children in some of the poorest places to help improve their education and healthcare, as well as protecting them in rough environments.


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Making Tax Digital

Making Tax Digital

In 2015 the government announced major plans to modernise the tax administration system by introducing digital services for tax. There are three main strands to these proposals, as follows:
 

  • personalised digital tax accounts for individuals and for businesses
  • quarterly digital reporting of income and expenditure by businesses, self-employed people and landlords
  • options for paying tax.

 
Consultations have now been published by HMRC which provide further details of these proposals and so we have set out below what we currently know about the changes.

Digital tax accounts

Digital tax accounts for individuals have already been created by HMRC. These are called Personal Tax Accounts. These accounts have been linked to HMRC internal systems so that they will be pre-populated with income and tax details that HMRC already hold. This includes employment income, PAYE and NIC and any state retirement pension. From April 2018, it is intended that interest paid by banks and building societies will be included in digital tax accounts. In order for this to happen, banks and building societies will be required to provide information to HMRC earlier, and more frequently, than currently. Taxpayers will also be able to report any additional sources of income through their digital tax accounts in 2018.
 
HMRC expect that with pre-populated information and taxpayers able to add in other sources of income, the digital tax account will mean that a significant number of taxpayers, with relatively straightforward tax affairs, will not need to complete a tax return.
 
Digital tax accounts are also being established for businesses and these will show an overview of the income tax or corporation tax, VAT and NIC details of the business. In order to show details of the income subject to income tax or corporation tax, details of the business’s income and expenses will be provided by new quarterly tax updates.

Quarterly updates

By 2020, most businesses, self-employed people and landlords will be required to keep track of their tax affairs digitally and update HMRC at least quarterly through their digital tax account. These changes will be phased in from 2018. These measures will not apply to unincorporated businesses or landlords where their turnover or gross income from property is under £10,000. Some businesses and landlords with income above £10,000 will also benefit from a deferral of the new rules by one year. The upper threshold and eligibility for this deferral have not been detailed in the consultations. Charities and Community Amateur Sports Clubs are also likely to be exempted from these new rules.
 
To meet these quarterly reporting requirements, taxpayers will be expected to use software or apps which record day-to-day transactions, categorise them into different types of income or expenses and then feed the summary data directly into HMRC systems. HMRC has no plans to offer free software but expects developers to provide free software for businesses with the most straightforward affairs.
 
The periodic updates of data to HMRC will be made quarterly but could be done more frequently if a business or landlord chooses. When an update is due, businesses and landlords will have one month to compile the information and declare that the period’s data is complete to the best of their knowledge.
 

In order to help the self-employed and landlords meet these additional reporting requirements, HMRC are consulting on a range of options including:

  • the extension of cash basis accounting to more businesses and allowing unincorporated property businesses to use the cash basis
  • the reduction in the number of accounting adjustments required to arrive at a taxable profit or loss.

 
Please let us know if you would like further details of these changes.

What about partnerships?

The consultations propose that a partnership, through a nominated partner, would fulfil the obligations of record keeping on behalf of the partners. The partnership’s updates would then feed directly into each partner’s digital tax account as pre-populated income based on the profit allocation of the partnership. Therefore individual partners would not have to maintain their own digital records. A similar approach would be taken for jointly held property which is let out.

The ‘End of Year’ return

Throughout the year, businesses will have provided HMRC updates of their business income and expenditure. After the end of the year, having made any adjustments to arrive at their taxable profit or loss, businesses will make an ‘End of Year’ declaration that everything is correct and complete. This declaration will be made within nine months of the end of a period of account (normally a period consisting of four consecutive quarterly returns).

Tax payment changes

For employees, HMRC has already started using real-time PAYE data to reduce under and overpayments by changing tax codes in-year. They are proposing to extend this principle through individuals’ digital tax accounts to include common income types in the in-year tax calculations. In principle, tax arising on additional income which is small or regular will be collected through PAYE tax code changes. On larger amounts of income, individuals will be advised through their digital tax accounts how much tax will become due after the end of the tax year and will be given options on how and when to pay what is owed. Businesses, self-employed people and landlords, who are keeping their records digitally, will be able to adopt pay-as-you-go tax payments on a voluntary basis.

Timeline - key dates

November 2016

Consultations on Making Tax Digital closed

Accounting periods starting after:

April 2018

Quarterly updates for unincorporated businesses and landlords

April 2019

VAT comes within Making Tax Digital

April 2020

Quarterly updates for companies

How we can help you

Please note that, at the moment, you do not have to do anything in respect of these developments. If you do want to access your digital tax account you may need to verify your identity. You can find details at: www.gov.uk/personal-tax-account. If we are your tax agents, we cannot access the account on your behalf.
 
Please be assured though that we will continue to assist you with your tax affairs and we will keep you informed of developments in the Making Tax Digital project.
 

Please speak to us if you have any questions regarding Making Tax Digital.​

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Charity Event Souper January

Soup

Charity Event Souper January 


Due to a very busy January the staff all agreed to take turns in making homemade soup and bring this in for lunch for us all to share and enjoy. We thought it would be a good idea to contribute to a charity and managed to raise £120 which was donated to a local charity First Hand

http://www.firsthand-lothian.org.uk/


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31 January deadline celebrations

Bond CA Team

31 January deadline celebrations

Staff Day Out on Monday 1 February 2016 - just the start of the Bond CA celebrations after the passing of the 31 January deadline for submission of 2014/15 self-assessment tax returns. We have managed 100% success ensuring that all our clients’ returns were lodged by the deadline of 31st January. This was achieved by planning our work throughout the year and clients coming in as early as possible with their tax return information and our exceptional team who all worked their socks off to make it all happen.

Happy New Tax Year everyone and here’s to another successful year

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20 Years in Business

20 Years in Business

This year we’re celebrating 20 years in business!

It’s fair to say that the last 20 years has seen many changes:

  1. Mobile phones were the size of a brick – forget apps or access to the internet. You were lucky if you got a signal.
  2. Nelson Mandela put South Africa on the sport world stage as the Rainbow Nation, winning the Rugby World Cup.
  3. Forrest Gump won the Best Picture at the Oscars, with Tom Hanks winning the Best Actor for his role in the film.
  4. The Scottish National Jazz Orchestra was formed in 1995; dedicated to promoting Jazz.

Bond CA is well established in Broughton/ New Town district of Edinburgh, and fits in well with the general upbeat feel of the area. Caroline and the Team are looking forward to all future opportunities and challenges.

To read more on our nostalgic journey please click the links below:

Bond CA - 20 Years in Business

Bond CA - Testimonia​ls

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10 Good Reasons to Use Us

10 Good Reasons to Use Us

1. Personalised Service

We do not adopt a 'one size fits all' approach to client work – we understand that each business is unique and therefore requires a level of service that fits its needs. BOND CA endeavour to assess your needs by getting to know your business through regular meetings and visiting your business premises.

2. Focus on Friendliness

Drop into the office any time for a coffee and a chat. We pride ourselves on being friendly and accessible. You will normally deal directly with a partner and become part of the 'BOND family' as soon you become a client.

3. Versatility of Experience

We aim to be a 'one-stop shop' for all your accounting and taxation needs. We have a mixed bag of qualified and highly experienced staff who between them provide small and medium sized businesses with a vast array of specialist services and advice.

4. Value-Adding Service

We are commercial in our approach to client work. We don’t just prepare accounts and tax returns for you, we will endeavour to add value by using our own business experiences and best practices to help make your business more profitable.

5. Flexible Fees

Choose a fee and payment arrangement that suits you. We provide you with peace of mind with an agreed fixed fee for specific assignments, which means you can call us without the fear of the clock running on your account. We also operate a monthly payment plan for recurring work such as annual accounts and tax returns, so that you can spread the cost over the year.

6. Ease of Access

Based in the centre of Edinburgh and Glasgow, we are easily accessible by train, bus, car, and tram. We work with your convenience in mind, so we will come to your business premises if that makes things simpler for you.

7. Industry Connections

We have built our practice through client referrals and industry networking. Become a part of our family, and you will be introduced to a number of contacts who may be beneficial to you and your business.

8. More for Your Money

We strongly believe that we provide the best value for money in terms of the level of service and advice that we give our clients. Our focus is on providing extremely competitive fees, rather than promoting ourselves as providing the cheapest services. As we are a small practice with low overheads, our hourly rates for partners and qualified staff compare very favourably with rates charged by larger firms for less-qualified staff.

9. Tailor-Made Solutions

We tailor a package to suit your requirements and budget: if your business requires the services of an experienced finance director but can’t afford the cost of a full-time employee, we're here to help. Our outsourcing service ranges from one day per week providing high-level support to an accounts team, to one day per month providing advice and support to the business owner or MD.

10. Free No-Obligation Discussion

Your initial discussion with us is free of charge and without obligations. Simply call us to arrange a meeting or organise a chat about your business needs. We're confident that we can help you to achieve continued success!

Phone Bond CA on 0131 557 5500 for reliable Chartered Accountants who help you make the most out of your business. Alternatively, you can email us at caroline@bondca.co.uk

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Bond CA are registered with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland as an accountancy practice and for the purposes of anti-money laundering legislation.

VAT Number: 682 9407 03

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