HMRC will provide new tax codes at the start of every new tax year if the Personal Allowance has changed, if someone has had a change of circumstances, including perhaps had a pay rise, and even to those who are taking their pensions for the first time. It’s important to check that your tax code is correct, as any mistake early in the year could mean paying too much or too little tax going forwards. Either way, the sooner you get this sorted out, the better, as you don’t want to be owed money by HMRC, and you certainly don’t want to owe unpaid tax. How can I check my tax code? There are variou ..read more

Whenever you leave a tip in a restaurant or a hairdressing salon, for example, you would hope that the tip money you left will go directly to the person who provided you the service you are tipping for. But for many restaurants and other industries, that hasn’t always been the case. So now, the Government is working on draft legislation known as the ‘Tipping Act’ to bring fairness to sectors where tipping is common, to ensure the people who were being paid the tip get it. What is currently happening? In some restaurants, the tips paid by card especially, and sometimes those paid in cash, are c ..read more

Thousands of people in the UK who are paid weekly could find themselves making extra tax payments this year if they are paid on a Thursday or Friday. Employees paid on Thursday 4April or Friday 5 April may need to pay extra tax as they would have received 53 payments in the 2024/25 tax year rather than 52, the Low Incomes Tax Reform Group (LITRG) has warned. Even those paid fortnightly or even every four weeks could also be caught in this tax trap, which may result in HMRC looking to clawback unpaid tax. Why will these people owe more tax? HMRC allows employers to give an additional amount of ..read more

How I grew a $25 million accounting practice Article by Sanjay Swarup, SKS Business Services Book a Meeting Call Us When I was 43 and the family’s main breadwinner, I quit the security of a corporate job to set out on my own [to start my own firm]. Fourteen years later, I have a $25 million accounting practice with 22 offices and over 800 employees. Below, I share my story, advice for success, and why I think it’s better to “Fail Small than Fail Big.” Watch and learn I joined the energy giant BP in 2000, the year it announced a $1.1 billion deal to outsource its business proce ..read more

Is it time to tweak your hybrid working strategy? Article by Sanjay Swarup, SKS Business Services Book a Meeting Call Us As the move to work from home (WFH) enters its fifth year, has your accounting firm updated the policies it introduced during those panicked months of early 2020?  As a business with a sizeable overseas workforce, we have been using remote working practices for over a decade—yes, we were making grainy Skype calls as far back as 2007!  Despite this head start, we constantly evolve our post-pandemic hybrid working strategy.  Here, we share ..read more

Now is the time to start thinking about your end-of-year tax planning while there is still time to maximise the benefit of any allowances you haven’t used yet this tax year. The end of the current tax year is April 5, 2024, and there are various tax breaks you want to make the most of before that date. However, there is another date to bear in mind too – March 6, which is when Chancellor Jeremy Hunt will deliver his Budget to the House of Commons. There is some expectation that he will announce tax cuts on this date, which is customary in a General Election year. The question is whether it wil ..read more

How to negotiate pricing with new and existing clients Article by Lewis Bird, SKS Business Services BOOK A MEETING CALL US As an industry that deals in hard facts, why do accountants struggle to calculate and communicate their own value? This short guide helps you articulate your worth and have that (not so) difficult conversation about setting client fees. Why are accounting firms so terrible at increasing their fees? Whenever I ask an accounting firm why they don’t charge more, I see the same look in the partners’ eyes. I call this ‘The fear’. In the early days of building a ..read more

How to keep your accounting software costs low in 2024 Article by Sanjay Swarup, SKS Business Services BOOK A MEETING CALL US How much does your practice spend on software? More importantly, how much has this increased over the last three years?  In a previous article, I outlined how small-to-medium-sized practices can avoid rising costs. Here, I want to zoom in on accounting software and share practical advice on making your tech work harder.  From accountant to software producer When I studied accounting in the late 1980s, textbooks were king and home computing was ..read more

How to combat rising costs at your accountancy firm Article by Sanjay Swarup, SKS Business Services BOOK A MEETING CALL US As we settle into 2024, the persistent issue of rising costs remains the biggest obstacle for accountancy firms looking to grow. In this article, we will explore strategies for overcoming this challenge by cultivating a skilled and efficient workforce. In the past three years, the convergence of a global pandemic and turbulent geopolitical events has unleashed a perfect storm of macroeconomic challenges for small businesses, creating unprecedented conditions t ..read more

Build your firm as an asset, not a job Article by Sanjay Swarup, SKS Business Services BOOK A MEETING CALL US Why did you set up or buy your accountancy firm: good income, choice of clients, work-life balance, pension pot? Too often, partners get stuck after item one – salary. They are running a business that supports a good lifestyle but miss out on other valuable rewards. Day-to-day demands leave them trapped in a cycle of doing a ‘job’ when they would rather spend time building their business into an asset. By ‘asset,’ we mean a firm with solid financials, efficient operat ..read more