Give gifts on 5th December
3 December 2019
You can give gifts to your staff and customers at any time of the year. Learn how to avoid the pitfalls of paying tax and VAT on your generosity.
Tax charge on a Director’s Loan
20 September 2019
When your company has a tax charge on a director’s loan If you are a director or shareholder in a ‘close’ company, any money owed to the company can trigger a tax charge on a director’s loan. What is a close company? A close company is broadly defined as a company which is under the […]
Love what we do? Tell a friend and get £100 each for you and them
10 June 2019
Get £100 each for you and a friend If you are a client of Alterledger, you can get up to £100 for yourself and for any friends that you refer to us. How do I get my reward? We’ll add credit to your account after your friend becomes a paying customer of Alterledger. What if […]
MTD Registration – progress to date
19 August 2019
MTD Registration – Key numbers The Making Tax Digital (MTD) rules became law for VAT periods starting on or after 1 April 2019. MTD registration requires VAT-registered businesses with taxable turnover over £85,000 to keep their VAT records digitally. They must also submit their VAT return direct from their Making Tax Digital-compatible software. The MTD […]
Pension re-declaration of compliance
13 May 2019
How to complete your auto-enrolment pension re-declaration of compliance Any employers who started employing workers before 1st October 2017 will have been issued with a staging date. This is the date when they had to have a qualifying auto enrolment pension in place. For anyone who starting employing people after 30th September 2017 pension duties […]
Pension re-enrolment
8 May 2019
Pension Re-Enrolment due every three years All employers should now be aware of the their pension obligations. Any employers who started employing workers before 1st October 2017 will have been issued with a staging date. This is the date when they had to have a qualifying auto enrolment pension in place. For new businesses / […]
Monthly PAYE payments or quarterly payments?
15 May 2019
How to pay your PAYE to HMRC The easiest way to pay your PAYE to HMRC is by bank transfer. The bank details for HMRC are shown below. You’ll need to use your 13-character accounts office reference number as the payment reference. You can find this on either: the letter HMRC sent you when you first registered […]
Furloughed workers
23 March 2020
Furloughed workers and the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme All UK employers will be able to access support for furloughed workers who would otherwise be laid off during the COVID-19 emergency. Details have now been provided by the UK Government. An online portal will be made available to claim funding from the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, […]
Farewell to Fiona
4 June 2020
Fiona is leaving Alterledger to continue her career in Edinburgh. She has made a valuable contribution to the company alongside studying for her ACCA professional qualification. We are sorry to see her go and wish her luck for the future. New opportunities Alterledger continues to grow so we will be recruiting shortly. Please check this […]
How many VAT registered businesses in the UK need to sign up to Making Tax Digital
30 March 2019
How many VAT registered businesses in the UK are there? Figures from the Office of National Statistics state that there are 2.67 million businesses registered for VAT and/or PAYE. Any business with employees must register for PAYE, but not all of these businesses are registered for VAT. This prompts the question – how many VAT […]
How late can I register for Making Tax Digital for VAT?
29 April 2019
When is my first Making Tax Digital VAT return due? If you are asking yourself “How late can I register for Making Tax Digital for VAT? (MTDfV)” you are likely to be storing up problems. Suppose you submit quarterly VAT returns to June and have to register for Making Tax Digital for VAT (MTDfV); your […]
Alterledger customer reviews are now on Trustpilot
5 June 2019
Trustpilot Alterledger customer reviews are now on Trustpilot. We previously used vouchedfor, but on the 4th June we started a review page on the Trustpilot site. If you have benefited from Alterledger’s services, why not leave a review? Trustpilot Why change to Trustpilot? The vouchedfor website is specifically for accountants and other financial services, but […]
Has Making Tax Digital for VAT been delayed?
15 March 2019
Has Making Tax Digital for VAT been delayed? Making tax digital for VAT legislation requires you to have “digital links” between your financial data and your VAT reports to HMRC. What changes might you need to make to your record keeping to achieve this? A “soft landing” delays the date that you need to have […]
Advocates Making Tax Digital for VAT Questions and Answers
2 March 2019
Advocates Making Tax Digital for VAT Questions and Answers Tim Alter gave a lunchtime talk to the Scottish Bar on 1st March 2019. The members of the Faculty of Advocates were highly engaged in the session on Making Tax Digital for VAT. There was a lively and heartfelt response including a wide ranging discussion on […]
Alterledger team has new trainee
7 November 2018
Welcome to Fiona We are delighted to welcome Fiona to the team at Alterledger as a Trainee Accountant. We look forward to introducing her to our clients. Fiona will be working through her ACCA qualification to build on her experience of working with HMRC.
Advocates Making Tax Digital for VAT seminar in Edinburgh
28 February 2019
Advocates Making Tax Digital for VAT seminar We are looking forward to presenting the Advocates Making Tax Digital for VAT seminar in the Mackenzie Building in Edinburgh on 1st March 2019. Tim Alter will be presenting the lunchtime talk to the Faculty of Advocates. For any advocates who can’t make the Edinburgh talk at 1:00 […]
Trainee Accountant Job Glasgow
30 August 2018
Trainee Accountant Job Glasgow Due to the growing demand for our services, we have a trainee accountant job vacancy at Alterledger. The position offers study support and a route to gaining a permanent position as a qualified accountant in a modern accountancy practice. It is expected that the trainee would complete a qualification with CIMA or […]
Childcare voucher scheme – closure delayed again!
9 May 2018
Scheme open to new entrants until 4 October 2018 Childcare voucher schemes were supposed to close to new applicants on 5 April 2018, but has been extended for a further six months. Should you consider offering childcare vouchers to your employees while you still can? Summary of childcare voucher scheme The childcare voucher schemes were supposed to […]
Making Tax Digital for VAT – why have HMRC sent a letter?
22 November 2018
HMRC VAT letter – what does it mean? Many business have received an HMRC VAT letter in the last week. This letter informs VAT registered businesses that HMRC processes are being modernised, known as Making Tax Digital (MTD) for VAT. What do I need to do? The HMRC VAT letter doesn’t require you to do anything […]
How to reclaim extra VAT
2 December 2017
HMRC’s VAT Input Tax Toolkit highlights common errors businesses make when they reclaim VAT on purchases. As you would expect from an HMRC publication it focuses on situations where you can’t or shouldn’t reclaim VAT.
Accounting for Musicians Workshop Belfast @OhYeahCentre 2017
26 November 2017
Members of the Musicians Union are invited to a free seminar in Belfast on 7th December 2017. See below for booking form on Eventbrite.
Internship Opportunity at Alterledger
16 May 2018
Accounting Internship Opportunity at Alterledger in partnership with Santander and the University of Strathclyde.
Charities and Corporation Tax
16 November 2017
Charities and Corporation Tax returns are often misunderstood. Charities may think that they are automatically exempt from tax on all their income. As the article explains below, charities may be subject to Corporation Tax on profits / surpluses.
Employers Liability Insurance – make sure you have it!
13 October 2017
Following an anonymous complaint to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), a small Manchester-based company received a fine of £2,500 for failing to have adequate Employers Liability Insurance (ELI). What are the rules?
Mid-sized businesses free tax advice
27 September 2017
HMRC has announced extra help from its tax specialists to offer mid-sized businesses free tax advice.
Welcome Ian to Alterledger
31 July 2017
Ian Fordyce CA joined Alterledger on 31st July 2017. Ian has a wealth of experience in practice and industry. Tim and Ian worked together for a number of years as management accountants for a leading Scottish charity. We welcome Ian to Alterledger and look forward to introducing him to our clients.
VAT Flat Rate Scheme for Advocates
18 March 2017
The VAT Flat Rate scheme for advocates is changing along with all other Limited Cost Traders on 1st April 2017. The scheme was introduced with the intention of simplifying VAT. It was never intended to be a tax allowance or a way of saving VAT. The assumption from HMRC was that the scheme would be broadly revenue neutral.
Sole Director Companies and Auto Enrolment
18 March 2017
A company, or individual without employees is not required to have an Automatic Enrolment Pension Scheme. Where a company has no-one on payroll and no workers it is normally clear that Auto Enrolment doesn’t apply. The situation is less obvious with sole director companies and auto enrolment. If you are the sole director of your company and have no staff or workers, the company does not have automatic enrolment duties
National Insurance for Company Directors
5 February 2017
Most employees will pay Class 1 National Insurance each pay day. The weekly threshold is £157 a week with the monthly threshold being £680. If an employee earns above these amounts, they will start paying National Insurance above the threshold at 12%. National Insurance for Company Directors can be worked out differently.
Accounting for Musicians Glasgow 2017 @scottishmusic
26 November 2017
Members of the Musicians Union are invited to a free seminar in Glasgow on 5th December 2017. See below for booking form on Eventbrite.
