Retail – General

A dangerous question as nobody likes the answer for several reasons.  Generally,

• People do not like paying tax
• They would rather spend their money themselves
• They do not agree with how it is spent
• They do not agree with those spending it

Unfortunately, our Government needs money to pay for all their expenditure and the Law says we must pay it. Therefore, it is our job to help you pay only what you are due under the Law and not a penny more.  We do this by either using the laws to plan your tax affairs for the future, or to minimise the tax due on what has already happened.

The law states we must, there are penalties for not doing so and you must submit an accurate Tax Return.  Follow this link for H M Revenue & Customs guidance on this matter. https://www.gov.uk/keeping-your-pay-tax-records

HOWEVER – we believe you should never see keeping records as an unnecessary expense and headache forced on you by HMRC and the Government.

Good record keeping makes or saves you money.  The process should be as simple and quick as possible while meeting all your legal requirements.  You will maintain profit margins, operate efficiently, claim all reliefs you are entitled to, and control your overheads.

GOOD RECORDS > ACCURATE INFORMATION > BETTER DECISIONS > GREATER SUCCESS

VAT is paid by people buying goods and services, who are not VAT Registered.

If you normally pay VAT to HMRC, what you are is an unpaid collector of VAT from your customers.

How VAT works:

• Your customers buy goods from you at a price, including VAT where applicable, which you collect on behalf of HMRC.
• You pay your suppliers for goods and services, including VAT where applicable.
• You pay the difference between these two amounts to HMRC, normally every three months.
• If you regularly pay VAT, you have effectively had an interest free loan because you have held that money as it has accumulated.

With the current payment dates, you will always have at least 1 month and 7 days VAT in your possession.  This means for every £1,000 of VAT you pay per quarter the amount of free loan you have varies between £400 after you pay VAT, up to £1,400 when you pay it.

You can often feel you pay more than you should as major expenses such as Wages, Non-Domestic Rates, Bank Loans, Bank Interest and Charges do not have a VAT element.  This means there is no VAT to reclaim and as profit increases it can feel VAT payments are increasing faster than you would expect.

We always run credibility checks to ensure that what you are paying is at the expected level or we look to explain when VAT payments fluctuate.