WIN £100,000 FROM THE TAXMAN!02/02/12

A report has confirmed that HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) plan to give those paying their tax early the chance to win £100,000. The idea is being introduced as a potential means of easing pressure on HMRC, who are looking to find anything that encourages people to file and pay on time.

Full details are eagerly awaited. Let’s hope the chances of winning £100,000 are greater than winning the lottery!

THE ITALIAN JOB

We often complain about HMRC’s heavy-handed tactics in collecting tax, but we have it easy compared to what Italian taxpayers will be facing soon in a crackdown on tax evasion. The Italian tax authorities have just released the following mind-boggling data and apparently nobody is disputing its accuracy:

• There are 4 million taxpayers in Italy, with 66% claiming a gross annual income of £16,500 or less.

• 188,000 of taxpayers declaring income up to that level own a Maserati, Ferrari or Porsche and 518 of them own and run a private jet or helicopter.

• Tax evasion is estimated to total Euro 275 billion each year.

• Spot visits to businesses have resulted in admissions that true profits are 6 times what have been declared.

UNDERSTANIDNG WHAT YOUR CUSTOMERS ARE DOING ON FACEBOOK22/12/11

Most people reading this article will have a Facebook account.  Whether for business or pleasure, chances are that you use Facebook for keeping in touch with friends and family and perhaps promoting your business. We all know that utilising Facebook can potentially be a good way to win new business. However, in order to develop an effective marketing plan for Facebook, you first need to do some research in order to understand what your customers (and potential customers) actually do on Facebook and how they use it.

Research suggests that in many cases consumers are not just willing to interact with brands on Facebook, they are even willing to “like” brands on Facebook and recommend certain brands to friends and contacts. As such, Facebook represents a very real way to market your products / services and develop new sales opportunities online.

For example:

Take a look at your customers’ Facebook profiles and observe how many of them “like” your brand. Now observe how many “like” a competitor’s brand. It may be worth visiting your competitor’s Facebook page in order to develop a better understanding as to why customers “like” this brand.

If your customers tend to “like” brands on Facebook, you should give them the opportunity to “like” your brand too. You can achieve this by adding a “like us on Facebook” button to your company’s website, e-newsletters and electronic promotional materials. This gives your customers an opportunity to promote their support for your brand online. Remember, your customers are already pre-disposed to supporting your brand – after all, they did buy from you to begin with. You can therefore harness this goodwill by allowing your clients to express their support by “liking” your business online.

This is only one of many potential ways to market to your clients and potential clients on Facebook. The most important thing is to understand your customers and your target market. Observe how they use Facebook and how they interact with other brands on Facebook. Then develop a strategy to get your customers working for you by promoting your business online

OFFICE IN THE CLOUD

Microsoft Office has long been the default choice of office software for businesses. With the recent launch of Microsoft Office 365, many businesses are considering the advantages inherent in the new software’s cloud-based collaboration capabilities. So what is it all about?

Office 365 allows users to work together easily by allowing “anywhere access” to email, web conferencing, documents, and calendars combined with enterprise-class security. “Anywhere access” means that users can access their important documents, contacts, email and calendars on nearly any device with an internet connection and a browser (whether PC, Mac, tablet or smartphone).

Microsoft offers packages for small businesses and large enterprises with different pricing depending on the level of functionality required. The basic package allows access to email, documents, contacts, and calendars for a fixed monthly fee (per user). This plan is ideal for businesses with fewer than 25 employees who do not have dedicated IT staff or expertise.

The larger “enterprise” packages are designed for firms with advanced IT requirements such as active directory integration, advanced email archiving, 24 x7 IT admin support, etc.

The big attraction with Office 365 is that it takes a lot of the headache out of business IT. Since Microsoft hosts the office 365 package, they look after updates, security and so on. This reduces IT costs for your business and offers increased flexibility – if you hire more staff you simply add more users to your monthly subscription. From a productivity perspective, hosting the office package in the cloud means that all staff can access and share documents and files quickly and easily.

Microsoft’s biggest competitor in this space is Google with its “Google Docs” software which offers similar functionality. However the big advantage for Microsoft’s system (and the reason most businesses will choose Office 365 over Google Docs) is familiarity. Word, Excel, Powerpoint and Outlook have long been the “global standard” in office software. Since most business people are comfortable and familiar with these packages, IT managers will choose to stick with Microsoft Office.

PENALTIES FOR LATE PAYMENT OF INCOME TAX AND LATE FILING02/12/11

Tax returns for the year to 5 April 2011 filed late will create a penalty even if the correct amount of tax is paid on time or indeed there is no more tax to pay. Arguably that was a move which could have been expected before now, and at least the basic penalty stays at £100.

What may not be so apparent to those of you who tend not to pass the papers we need until close to or even after the deadline (31 January 2012 for the tax return for the year to 5 April 2011) is how quickly penalties can now stack up. The new penalties for late filing of Self Assessment returns result in, for example, an overall penalty after 3 months delay of £10 per day up to a maximum of £900.

Please therefore help us to help you – by giving us enough time to prepare your tax return well before the deadline of 31 January 2012.

IS THERE ANY GOOD NEWS?

With the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement predicting more borrowing and less growth, the Eurozone crisis dragging on and talk of a “double dip” recession, one starts to wonder: “where is the good news?!”

Well there IS good news, but YOU have to make it happen!

Our most successful business clients have one trait in common: they understand that they cannot control global economic events, they can only control events local and relevant to them. But how do you remain successful locally?

Firstly, it takes time for global economic events to filter down to local markets. When an event happens there is always a certain amount of time to alter your business strategy. If you haven’t set targets then you can get carried along like a paper cup on the ocean, which can lead to you as a business owner feeling out of control. This is what happens without targets and a strategy for long term survival, so please talk to us about your goals for the future.

Secondly, successful business people understand the need to be flexible with the way they deal with suppliers, employees and customers.  Brainstorm with your team about how you can be more efficient in your daily operations and consider how you can deal with your customer’s needs more effectively. Then set an action plan for change. Our most successful clients do this regularly and are prepared to change their methodologies – in essence, they are flexible in the way they operate. Remember to focus on what you can change and don’t worry about what you can’t!

There is a well-known principle called the “Parato Principle”, which is also known as the 80:20 rule:

• 80% of sales come from 20% of customers;
• 80% of complaints come from 20% of customers;
• 80% of your profits come from 20% of the time you spend;
• 80% of your sales come from 20% of your products;
• 80% of your sales are made by 20% of your sales staff

Therefore focus on the most effective areas and eliminate, ignore, automate, delegate or re-training the rest.

Set targets, focus on what you can change, ignore the rest and you will create your own good news!

WATCH OUT FOR BIG INCREASE IN COMPANY CAR TAX02/11/11

There is a sharp increase in the taxable car benefit on many company cars with effect from 6 April 2012. This is by reference to a new emissions scale which creates an income tax charge (and Class 1A national insurance liability) for the private use of a company car on 10% of the car’s list price from 76 g/km to 99 g/km, rising by 1% per 5 g/km to the usual maximum of 35% (there is also a reduced charge on 5% where the emissions do not exceed 75 g/km).

That may not sound much of an increase, but it is in fact a 50% increase in tax if you have a company car with CO2 emissions of 120 g/km, or 40% if they are between 115 and 119 g/km. We can advise of the exact tax charge in your particular circumstances, and include advanced warning of a further but more modest increase in the taxable benefit from 2013/14 of 1% of the list price where the CO2 emissions are between 95 and 219 g/km.

PENALTIES FOR LATE PAYMENT OF INCOME TAX AND LATE FILING

Tax returns for the year to 5 April 2011 filed late will create a penalty even if the correct amount of tax is paid on time or indeed there is no more tax to pay. Arguably that was a move which could have been expected before now, and at least the basic penalty stays at £100.

What may not be so apparent to those of you who tend not to pass the papers we need until close to or even after the deadline (31 January 2012 for the tax return for the year to 5 April 2011) is how quickly penalties can now stack up. The new penalties for late filing of Self Assessment returns result in, for example, an overall penalty after 3 months delay of £10 per day up to a maximum of £900.

Please therefore help us to help you – by giving us enough time to prepare your tax return well before the deadline of 31 January 2012.

TIPS TO HELP YOU GET MORE CLIENTS

Business owners and managers, regardless of their industry, have one thing in common – they all want to win more clients. In today’s challenging business environment, small and medium sized businesses need to work harder to develop strategies that win new business. Here are some tips to help you develop a winning strategy for your business.

Sell The Benefits, Not The Product – Customers buy from you because you give them a solution to a problem. For example, businesses buy new computers because they need to update and replace old, slow machines. The attractive solution to this problem – new computers at a fair price with some added benefit such as good backup and support services from the supplier. Regardless of the product or service that you offer, sell the benefits to your customers. Differentiate your firm and increase your chances of closing the sale by offering added benefits such as great service, a free add-on, etc.

Focus on the Numbers – There is no point in selling huge quantities of a product or service to your “biggest customer” if you are selling at a loss. You should focus your business development efforts on targeting new “high margin” customers and build your business into a more profitable entity. Equally, you should try to reduce the number of or even eradicate non-profitable customers from your business. You can do this by increasing the price of your products or services to a level where you make a healthy margin. If the customer stays with you then you have a positive result – they are now profitable. If they leave you for another supplier – no harm, since they were loss making for your business.

Build Relationships with your target market should be viewed as an investment. It requires time, effort and budget. In order to become a market leader your business needs to demonstrate its expertise. You can do this by writing articles for business magazines and newspapers, producing newsletters, public speaking at seminars and events or just by meeting potential clients face to face. Essentially, you are giving a little something away to potential customers for free. Over time, by continuously demonstrating expertise and giving away some free advice, potential clients are more likely to buy from you.

BUILD A WINNING TEAM

To build a business and steer it towards success, you need a strong team behind you. Here are the steps to building a good management team in your business:

• Assess where you are today – Before you can plan where you want to go with your team, you need to work out where you currently are. Make a realistic assessment of your team – what kind of staff do you currently have?, what are their strengths and weaknesses and the areas you need to build on?
• Failure to plan is a plan for failure – Planning is essential for any business and if you want to build a winning team, you need to plan each step of the process – from where you are today to where you want to be in 3 or 4 years. For any team to succeed as a whole unit, you need a strategic plan in place. Pick and choose your team members and then get them together for a planning meeting and encourage all team members to contribute their ideas.
• Define Team Members’ Roles – It’s imperative that you have a clear idea of your own role in the team – either as team leader, coordinator or motivator. Just as you should be clear about your role, your team members should be clear on their respective roles. Involve your team in this process.
• Identify Goals - Team members who are aware that their performance will not go unnoticed feel motivated to go the extra mile. Therefore it is important to develop and implement a performance measurement and reward system to support your team’s plans. This kind of system also helps you to map out the progress towards achievement of goals and targets.
• Don’t Manage Your Team, Be Their Coach - Your management team doesn’t need to be micro managed. Instead you should aim to coach your team. Be their mentor and provide regular guidance and on the job training. By ensuring that your team are trained and updated on the latest trends, issues and challenges in the market, your business will achieve its goals.