12 Tax Tips of Christmas

Date: 13th December 2011  |  Author: Sean Toomer

Happy Christmas you lovely lovely person! As our Christmas gift to you, we’ve posted 12 of our best tax tips, free for you to use to help you save as much tax as possible. Enjoy!

#taxtip 1

On the first day of Christmas my accountant said to me…
Boogie! Boogie! Boogie!
You can claim up to £150 per head for your staff Christmas party – so get boogieing! (You have to invite us too, it’s the law).
But, remember, the £150 is per head, per year, so it’s not just restricted to Christmas. How about a staff summer BBQ too?

#taxtip 2

On the second day of Christmas my accountant said to me…
Check out the VAT Flat Rate Scheme
If you’re VAT registered, you could save loads being on the Flat Rate Scheme (FRS). The FRS scheme means instead of paying the difference between 20% on sales and 20% on purchases, you just pay a flat rate percentage on your total gross sales (determined by your industry). Not only can you save money, but it means you can bang out your VAT return in 5 minutes! Check it out here.

#taxtip 3

On the third day of Christmas my accountant said to me…
Incorporate!
The tax rates being what they are now, no matter how much you’re earning, it’s always more tax efficient being a limited company (as opposed to Sole Trader/Partnership). You save loads of tax by paying yourself in a certain way. We’ve done a whole freebie guide on this, check it out here.

#taxtip 4

On the fourth day of Christmas my accountant said to me…
Make it a family affair
Have you got a wife, boyfriend, mistress, life partner etc? Do they help out with your business? Why not make them a part of your business and use up their tax free allowance that may otherwise be wasted.
Be careful! You’ve got to get this right, due to certain ‘income shifting’ rules, so make sure you speak to an accountant first.

#taxtip 5

On the fifth day of Christmas my accountant said to me…
Turn a loss into an epic win!
If you’ve got more than one business or source of income, you may be able to show a loss for the year and offset this loss against your other income to create a tax refund. We’re awesome at this, so speak to us if you want to know more.

#taxtip 6

On the sixth day of Christmas my accountant said to me…
You drive me right round baby, right round!
Are you claiming the cost of fuel in the best way? It’s usually better to claim 45p per mile rather than the actual cost. Some of our clients are saving thousands in tax a year, just with this. Download our free mileage log to help you save here.

#taxtip 7

On the seventh day of Christmas my accountant said to me…
Give away your company! (Just a little bit)
Have you got employees who’ve been with you since the dawn of time, are really hard working and deserve to be rewarded? You could issue them a minority share and pay part of their salary as a dividend and save loads of tax for both the employee and the company. It’s a win win! Although, it’s complicated and you’ll certainly need help setting this up. You know who to call, yes?

#taxtip 8

On the eighth day of Christmas my accountant said to me…
Go shopping!
It’s important which dates you buy stuff to determine when you get the tax savings. For example, if your year end is 31st March and you buy something on the 1st April, you’ve got to wait an entire year to get those tax savings. So, anything you intend to buy, do so before your end of year.

#taxtip 9

On the ninth day of Christmas my accountant said to me…
Claim your household costs
If you work from home, you can claim a reasonable proportion of your household bills through your business (gas, electricity, internet etc). It’s the small things that count you know…

#taxtip 10

On the tenth day of Christmas my accountant said to me…
Do NOT have a company car
They’re a rip off and you’ll pay loads in tax. Instead, either pay for the car personally, or get a van or a pick up. Van’s and pick up’s (which are classed as vans) are 100% tax deductable. The rules are similar for electric vehicles too…

#taxtip 11

On the eleventh day of Christmas my accountant said to me…
Talk, talk and then talk some more
Speak to us! Speak to your accountant as much as you can throughout the year, at any opportunity you see fit. When you buy something, when you plan on selling something, if you want to open a new branch, anything. If they’re good accountants, they won’t charge to speak to you or give you advice in any form. If they don’t do this, they’re dinosaurs, so call us.
The more you speak to your accountant, the better placed they are to make sure you do the right things, in the right way at the right time, to save as much tax as possible.

#taxtip 12

On the twelve day of Christmas my accountant said to me…
Get an awesome accountant!
The best, 100%, absolute, definitely, god damn best thing you can do to save tax is get a good accountant. We always save more in tax than we charge, so we pay for ourselves! Do it. Call us.

Give us a call today on 023 8061 4457, or click here to see how else you can contact us. However you get in touch, we’d love to hear from you.

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