Newsletter - Control the controllables & more
Difficult times lie ahead. It is important to be in control of what you can and prepare for what you cannot. Fundamental for any business is a financial and tactical plan.
In its simplest form, don't underestimate the importance of a budget and cash flow to navigate and respond to reality as it unfolds over the coming months.
We can help you “Control the Controllables” with an easy to build and use budget and cash flow model that can be loaded into your xero ledger or held separately by you.
Contact andy.eaton@mountbusinessservices.co.uk
Charitable Donations
Donating to charity is positive for everyone involved and therefore attracts favourable tax treatment. Donating as an individual (where donations are less than 4x the tax paid in a year) allows a Gift Aid registered charity to reclaim basic rate tax from the Government. For every £1 donated the charity receives an additional 25p. Higher rate taxpayers can claim additional relief through their self-assessment.
Donating through a limited company can be treated as a business expense and is allowable for corporation tax purposes. There are some restrictions, for example a monetary donation cannot be conditional on the company receiving an order of goods or being repaid at a later date. Generally anything received in return must be "de minimis' ie of little or minimal importance or value.
ICO registration - Spam or Real?
Every organisation who processes personal information needs to pay a data protection fee to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). The ICO is the UK's independent body set up to uphold information rights. ‘Personal information’ means any detail about a living individual that can be used on its own, or with other data, to identify them.
The ICO’S work includes enforcement; decisions on freedom of information; monitoring organisations; investigating data breaches; development of data law and provision of technical resources. Your fee provides these services to your business.
Who needs to register and pay? Essentially any organisation which has CCTV, or holds personal information electronically and decides how that information is processed.
How to go about it? ico.org.uk/for-organisations/data-protection-fee/
Making the most of Xero -Contact & Statements
Every invoice or bill you make uses a contact name which can be searched for in "invoices" and "bills" respectively. But you can also use the "Contact" tab on the top bar to view all interactions with this contact. Examples of uses include:
Sending a branded statement showing how much a client owes you
Tracking how much you have spent with a supplier by selecting “view recent bills report”