As summer has ended and the colder nights approach, it can be a bit tough to take with the local lockdowns in place. We need to try and stay spirited and make the most of our situation. If you are having to close or reduce hours, make sure to keep promoting your business on social media, so once you are back, you are still in front of people’s mind. There is some support still out there, carry on reading to see what you can apply for before the deadlines approach.

Coronavirus Loans

The Chancellor, Rishi Sunak has announced that businesses that have borrowed money through the government's loan scheme, such as the “bounce back” loan and the “Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme” would be given more time to repay the money.

A new Pay as You Grow flexible repayment system has been introduced by the chancellor for small businesses who took out the "Bounce Back". It means borrowings can be repaid over ten years instead of the original six-year term.

The longer repayment time also applied to small and medium-sized firms who borrowed under the “Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme”.

Businesses will also have more time to apply for these loans, application dates for the schemes had been due to end in October.

Job Support Scheme

As furlough comes towards the end, the chancellor announced a new replacement scheme for the Job Retention Scheme (furlough). From 01 November, the new scheme known as Job Support Scheme will see that the government will contribute towards the wages of employees who are working fewer than normal hours.

Any hours worked by the employees the employer will continue to pay their usual wages of the hours worked. For hours not worked, the government and the employer will each pay one third of the equivalent salary. The government’s contribution will be capped at £697.92 a month.

Kickstart Scheme

With Coronavirus effecting everyone, some of the hardest hit were the young people. The Kickstart Scheme provides funding to employers to create new 6-month job placements for young people aged between 16 – 24 who are currently claiming Universal Credit and at risk of long-term unemployment.

This is the government’s plan for jobs and to create hundreds and thousands of new, fully funded jobs across England, Scotland and Wales. More details are yet to come out and the first placements are likely to be available from November.

The Kickstart Scheme will cover 100% of the National Minimum Wage for 25 hours a week as well as the employer National Insurance contributions and employer minimum automatic enrolment contributions.

There will also be extra funding to support young people after the 6-month period to help build their experience and help them move into sustained employment after they have completed their Kickstart Scheme.

Self-Employment Income Support Scheme

The previous support for the self-employed has been decided by the government to be extended. The extension will provide two grants and will last for six months, from November 2020 to April 2021. Grants will be paid in two lump sum instalments each covering a 3-month period.

You must currently be eligible for the original Self-Employed Income Support Scheme, though you do not need to have claimed it. It must be declared that you are actively trading and that you are impacted by the pandemic. HMRC will provide more details about claiming in due course.

VAT Reduced Rate

There was a series of new measures introduced to help hospitality, holiday accommodation and attractions sector. These included VAT being cut to 5%, effective from 15 July 2020. The VAT cut will remain in place and has been extended to run until 31 March 2021.

For restaurants and cafés that provide food services for both take away and dine in, the temporary reduction in the VAT rate only applies to;

·         Food for consumption on the premises on which they are supplied

·         Non-alcoholic beverages for consumption on the premises on which they are supplied

·         Hot takeaway food for consumption off the premises on which they are supplied

·         Hot takeaway non-alcoholic beverages for consumption off the premises on which they are supplied

We all need to continue supporting each other, shop local wherever possible, helping the small independent shops. Let’s follow government guidelines and rules, to stop a spike in cases and who knows, our sacrifices may be worth it when we may be able to celebrate come Christmas.

As we try and get back some normality in our lives, and places start to open back up for business. We still need to remember that the fight is not over and need to abide by the rules set in place. Well done to all pushing through and staying motivated. Throughout lockdown we have updated you with what the government have announced and plan to do. There have been a lot of information announced, you can find all the latest below.

How has the Furlough scheme changed?

One of the many questions we get asked is, how has the furlough scheme changed? The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, furlough as its more commonly called is designed to help people who could not do their jobs because of the virus and prevent mass redundancies.

The scheme is to close in October and has had some criticism with the decision to close, but it has been backed by the Bank of England boss, which says workers should be helped to ''move forward'' and not kept in unproductive jobs.

From 01 August 2020 the government will pay 80% of wages up to a cap of £2,500. Employers will now have to pay employers National Insurance Contributions (NIC) and pension contributions. You can bring back employees to work shifts and then put back on furlough if needed. Remember any hours worked, the employee is entitled to 100% of their wage and this needs to come directly from the employer.

From 01 September 2020 the government will contribute 70% of wages up to a cap of £2,187.50. Employers will again pay employer National Insurance Contributions (NIC) and pension contributions just like for August. However, now employers will have to pay 10% of wages to make up the 80% total up to a cap of £2,500. Part time furlough is still available, but any hours worked by staff, employers will have to pay 100% of wage.

From 01 October 2020, 60% of wages will be contributed by the government up to a cap of £1,875. Employers will pay employer NICs and pension contributions and top up 20% of wages to make up 80% total up to a cap of £2,500 until when the scheme ends at the end of the month.

The aim of the tapering is to allow employers to ease employees back in to work at the same time as businesses productivity hopefully resumes.

How does the part time furlough work?

The part time furlough is designed to give you the chance to call an employee back in to work if there is a lot of work or put them back on furlough if the workload drops off. So, how does it work?

If you have a member of staff who works 8 hours a day, 5 days a week and your business is closed, you can furlough the member of staff and the government will cover a percentage of the wage, depending on the situation as mentioned above. If you want to trial opening your business for a couple of days a week, and you need the member of staff for 3 days a week, you will be liable to pay 100% of the wage for the 3 days worked, and the government will pay the percentage equivalent for the remaining 2 days not worked and on furlough. The rules mentioned above applies, regarding the percentage amount and NIC’s being paid by yourself.

The government has allowed the part time furlough to relieve some of the financial strain of keeping staff and prevent mass redundancies. For each furloughed member of staff still employed as of 31 January 2021, the government will give the employer a one-off £1,000 bonus

Kickstart Scheme

The chancellor also announced a new Kickstart Scheme worth to be in the region of £2 billion. The plan is to be launched to create hundreds of thousands of new, fully subsidised jobs for young people. If you claim Universal Credit and are aged between 16-24 and at risk of long-term unemployment will be eligible. Funding will be available for each six-month job placement and will cover 100% of the National Minimum Wage for 25 hours a week. Employers will be able to top this wage up if they please.

How to apply for this, still has not been fully revealed by the government. As it gets closer to the scheme being live, more information will be revealed and as always, as soon as we know, we will pass the information to you.

Help Out Eat Out

A little more positive news from the hospitality sector is for the month of August you can get 50% off your bill in participating restaurants with the other half covered by the government. This is capped at £10 per diner and excludes alcohol and is only valid for Monday – Wednesdays in August and can be used as many times as you like. The offer is for dine in only as the government encourages people to go out. To check which restaurants are participating click here and enter your post code to see who around you are participating.

Remember to support your independently owned food venues during these tough times and remember to practice social distancing. Stay motivated and stay safe as together we can end 2020 on a positive bang!

We have all been paying closer attention to the news in recent times. It does look like better days are to come, with restaurants and bars been given the green light to open. While we all are excited and wanting to enjoy ourselves, please remember to social distance as this is still very vital to our fight against this virus.

The Chancellor, Rishi Sunak has pledged great support during these tough times and has again set the foundation for all of us to come out of this. It will be no easy job, but together we can do this. Supporting small businesses is vital.

The Chancellor mentioned a few things in his speech, while some of his policies apply to Wales, others do not as they are the responsibility of the Welsh Government. We digest the main points here.

Job Retention Bonus

The furlough scheme will be ending in Wales at the end of October. We are more reliant on the job retention scheme here in Wales than any other part of the UK. There are about 300,000 people on the furlough scheme. The Welsh Government has said that it does not have the "financial fire power" to be able to continue the scheme itself.

The Chancellor said he would be introducing a new scheme called the Jobs Retention Bonus. Under the new scheme, firms will be paid £1,000 for each employee they bring back from furlough and continuously employ through to January 2021 on an average of at least £520 a month.

            Eating Out Discount

The Chancellor has said there will be a 50% discount on food if people eat out in August on Mondays to Wednesdays. This is to try and get people using restaurants.

This will entitle every diner to a 50% discount of up to £10 per head on their meal, at any participating restaurant, café, pub, or other eligible food venue. There is not a limit to the amount of times the discount can be used and will be valid Monday to Wednesday on any eat-in meal (including on non-alcoholic drinks) for all of August. Participating establishments will be fully reimbursed for the 50% discount.

Temporary VAT Cut

If you supply food and non-alcoholic beverages for consumption on your premises, for example, a restaurant, café or pub, you’re currently required to charge VAT at the standard rate of 20%. However, when you make these supplies between 15 July 2020 and 12 January 2021 you will only need to charge 5%

It will apply to supplies of accommodation and admission to attractions as well. This will include takeaways, restaurants, cinemas and theme parks.

These are all in the pilot stages, and more information is to be released in the days to come. As soon as we know, we will also share the information with you. If there is something you want to know more about, you can call us on 02920 653995 to discuss. The introduction of these will mean we have a better chance to finish 2020 on a high.

It has been several weeks now since the whole country has come to a standstill. We still have strict restrictions in place, however there is still a lot we can do to ensure our businesses does not just fade away. We have all put endless efforts into our business and now is not the time to just give up. You should still be on social media, promoting your business, so once all this is over, and it will all be over, your business is in the front of everyone’s minds.

Our previous Coronavirus Blog detailed how you could get support from the Government Retention Scheme to the grants that are available. To read our previous blog, please click here https://bit.ly/Covid19interruptionCrossAcc

Bounce Back Loan

There will be support in the form of a bounce back loan which will help you to borrow between £2,000 and up to 25% of their turnover. The maximum loan is capped at £50,000. The government has guaranteed 100% of the loan and there will not be any fees or interest to pay for the first 12 months. After 12 months the interest rate will be 2.5% a year.

To be able to apply for the loan you will have to be based in the UK, have been in business before 1^st March 2020 and your success or development have been impacted by the coronavirus.

You cannot apply if you are already claiming under Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme or COVID-19 Corporate Financing Facility. If you have already received a loan of up to £50,000 under one of these schemes you can transfer it into the Bounce Back Loan scheme. A deadline of 4 November 2020 has been set to arrange with your lender.

The length of the loan is 6 years, but you can repay early without paying a fee. No repayments will be due during the first 12 months and any charges for the loan will be covered by the governments guarantee.

There are several lenders participating in the scheme including many of the main retail banks. You should approach a suitable lender yourself via the bank’s website. The lender will ask you to fill in a short online application form and self-declare that you are eligible. The lender will decide whether to offer you a loan or another type of finance and you will be responsible for repaying 100% of the amount borrowed.

Self-Employment Income Support Scheme

In line with the Chancellors commitment to help businesses who have been affected by the coronavirus, HMRC have launched the self-employment scheme. You should receive a letter through the post stating that you may be eligible. You will have to go to the HMRC website and complete an eligibility checker to see if you are eligible. You will need your National Insurance number and Self-Assessment Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR) number.

If HMRC confirm you are eligible, then you will need your Government gateway and user ID and password, if you have not created this yet, you will have to, to commence with the claim. You will have to enter your correct contact details as HMRC will contact you, using these details to tell you when the claim system is available for use.

HMRC will automatically calculate the income support you are entitled to, based on the information submitted from previous tax returns. After HMRC have received and checked your claim, they will pay the money directly in to your bank account in six working days.

You will need to make the claim yourself, although you can seek advice from an accountant. The grant is also not for limited companies or anyone operating a trade through a trust. HMRC will check claims and take action to withhold or recover payments found to be dishonest or inaccurate.

We are still available on the phone and by email, so if you do want to talk through what may be your best option, please feel free to contact us. We are always happy to help.

It has been a rollercoaster of a few weeks with some unprecedented times. It is a new worry that we’ve had to face, and we’ve had to face this together. The Coronavirus has not only brought the whole country to a standstill, but has slowed down the whole world.

However, together we must have high spirits, and come out of this stronger. We hope everyone reading this is safe and our thoughts are with those directly affected by the virus. We all must adhere to what the government are saying and stay home. Travel only if necessary as this will delay any spread and get us out of this sooner.

The government has pledged support for employees, and have now put together something for the self-employed. It may not be what we all wanted, however, we have to give credit to the government for the level of support they are showing.

Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme

Q: I have heard the government will contribute towards employee wages?

• Salaried Staff: For full time and part time salaried employees, the employee’s actual salary before tax, as of 28 February should be used to calculate the 80%. Fees, commission and bonuses should not be included.
• Varied Staff: If the employee has been employed for a full twelve months prior to the claim, you can claim for the higher of either:
• The same month’s earning from the previous year
• Average monthly earnings from the 2019-20 tax year

However, if the employee has been employed for less than a year, you can claim for an average of their monthly earnings since they started work. If the employee only started in February 2020, you will need to use a pro-rata for their earnings so far to claim.

Once you’ve worked out how much of an employee’s salary you can claim for, you must then work out the amount of Employer National Insurance Contributions and minimum automatic enrolment employer pension contributions you are entitled to claim.

Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan (CBIL)

Q: It’s great that the government will help with wages once it is due to be out by the end of April 2020, but how can business get help immediately?

During this interrupting time, there is bound to be a dip in cashflow, so how can businesses get an injection of cash when all trade has halted? Well the government has introduced a temporary Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme which supports SMEs with access to loans, overdrafts, invoice finance and asset finance of up to £5 million and for up to 6 years.

The government will also make a Business Interruption Payment to cover the first 12 months of interest payments and any lender-levied fees, so smaller businesses will benefit from no upfront costs and lower initial repayments.

The government will provide lenders with a guarantee of 80% on each loan to give lenders further confidence in continuing to provide finance to SMEs. This is great for businesses with low credit rating. The scheme will be delivered through commercial lenders, backed by the government-owned British Business Bank.

To be eligible your business must tick the following;

• Be UK-based in its business activity
• Have an annual turnover of no more than £45 million
• Have a borrowing proposal which the lender:
• Would consider viable, were it not for the COVID-19 pandemic
• Believes will enable you to trade out of any short-term to medium-term difficulty

To apply, you should talk to your bank or bank manager or one of the 40 accredited finance providers as soon as possible, to discuss your business plan. You can find out the latest on the best ways to contact them via their websites or click here https://bit.ly/CrossAccCBIL

Self-Employment Income Support Scheme

Q: Will the self-employed be looked after by the government?

Great credit must be given to the government as a lot of pressure is on them during this unprecedented time. They have taken strides that no government has in history. The chancellor has left the self-employed questioning whether there would be any support. However, the chancellor has announced that there will be a scheme in place to allow you to claim a taxable grant worth 80% of your trading profits up to a maximum of £2,500 per month for the next 3 months. This may be extended if needed.

You can apply if you’re a self-employed individual or a member of a partnership and you;

• Have submitted your Income Tax Self Assessment tax return for the tax year 2018-19
• Traded in the tax year 2019-20
• Are trading when you apply, or would be except for COVID-19
• Intend to continue to trade in the tax year 2020-21
• Have lost trading/partnership trading profits due to COVID-19

Your self-employed trading profits must also be less than £50,000 and more than half of your income, come from self-employment. This is determined by at least one of the following conditions being true;

• Having trading profits/partnership trading profits in 2018-19 of less than £50,000 and these profits constitute more than half of your total taxable income
• Having average trading profits in 2016-17, 2017-18, and 2018-19 of less than £50,000 and these profits constitute more than half of your average taxable income in the same period

If you started trading between 2016-2019, HMRC will only use those years for which you filed a Self-Assessment tax return. If you have not submitted your Income Tax Self-Assessment tax return for the tax year 2018-19, you must do this by 23 April 2020. HMRC will use data on 2018-19 returns already submitted to identify those eligible and will risk assess any late returns filed before the 23 April 2020 deadline in the usual way.

So to summarise, the grant will be 80% of average trading profits from the year 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19 and will be up to a maximum of £2,500 per month for 3 months. The grant will be paid directly into your bank account, in one instalment.

You cannot apply for this scheme yet. HMRC will contact you if you are eligible for the scheme and invite you to apply online. Again, this is looking to be all set up by the end of April 2020.

Q: I am in the Hospitality, Retail or Leisure sector, I have heard there is extra support since we’ve been effected the most, as we cannot work from home etc...

We’ve all heard of IR35, but do you know the rule changes that are being introduced? IR35 also known as the ‘off-payroll’ working rules and will kick in if a worker provides their services through an intermediary.  It’s been in the news for some time now affecting a lot of News and TV presenters and has been making big headlines.   From April 2020 this will now be affecting the private sector from any industry where they are working either through a limited company or as a sole trader but the relationship between themselves and the client could constitute an employer/employee relationship.

An intermediary will usually be the worker’s own personal service company, such as a limited company. They could also be a partnership, a managed service company, or an individual who is on self-assessment.

The rules make sure that workers, who would have been an employee if they were providing their services directly to the client, pay broadly the same tax and National Insurance contributions as employees.

The rules apply if a worker provides their services to a client through an intermediary but would be classed as an employee if they were contracted directly.

So, who decides?

If you’re a worker and your client is in the public sector like a school or library, it’s their responsibility to decide your employment status. You should be told of their decision; we’ve seen a large number of the larger companies starting to make changes to their arrangements with their subcontractors in preparation for this event.     This will affect everyone, including people who employ a Cleaner, a subcontractor in the building industry.   IR35 supersedes the CIS scheme i.e. its take priority over the CIS scheme above everything.

If you are a worker and your client is in the private sector, it’s your intermediary’s responsibility to decide your own employment status for each contract. The private sector includes third sector organisations, such as some charities.

HMRC do have a calculator on their website to help you see for yourself whether you would have to comply with the rules.

There are tests that are run to decide this for you.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/check-employment-status-for-tax

Some of the tests are as follows

Who has the control, can you say no to projects or specific pieces of work, or are you required to take whatever work is given to you.

Do you use your own tools at work?

Do you have public liability insurance and employers liability insurance?

Can you send in a substitute for yourself?   Not a main point but it does get weighted on any HMRC decision.

The difference on what this will mean for you, is that you will no longer be able to claim the travel expenses you would have been able to claim before regardless of the distance you are travelling to work, plus you will pay the higher national insurance which currently is 12% for employees and 13.8% for  employers.   You effectively could pay out both rates, not just the one.

HMRC do not care if you have given up your employment rights, i.e. holiday pay and sick pay.    We are expecting them to spot check individuals at any point during 2020.

The costs to the private sector will be very high, we haven’t seen the updated budget expected to be out in March 2020.  But are expecting with all the news coverage and the actions the larger companies are planning, everyone could be affected imminently.

If you are facing this problem with your own subcontractors, please get in touch with us, we have a risk assessment template for our clients that they can use.   If you are a subcontractor yourself, it is worth getting in touch with your contractor to find out their plans for the system.   

A lot of these companies are planning on putting everyone on PAYE whether you receive the employment rights that go with that change, we are still waiting to see.

2019 has not been the easiest of years for many of our clients, the lengthy political and economic uncertainty is making the general public think a lot more about spending their hard-earned money.  Small businesses are having to renegotiate with their suppliers and look at all their costs to ride the storm we find ourselves in at the moment.

Not ones to sit down and wait for things to happen, this blog is about refinancing. 2019 may not have been the best year, but let’s not sit and see if 2020 will be better. Now is the time to review your finances. Autumn is a great time of year to look at this, you’re halfway through the financial year, summer is over, and Christmas is around the corner, the end of the year will be here before you know it.

So, what is refinancing?

Refinancing is the process of replacing an existing loan with a new loan. Typically, people refinance so they can get a better deal on their current loan. For example, you may be able to get a better interest rate than what you are on currently, saving you money. Refinancing also depends on your credit score, current deal and many other factors.

You may also have some assets in your business currently tying up cash and want to get a loan to put more liquid cash into the business, to allow you to put some plans for 2020 into practise right now.

Why refinance?

If you have a loan or a mortgage, it is worth speaking to the provider for refinancing. Some potential advantage of refinancing includes:

• Lowering your monthly payments. You can then put to use your extra saving to pay off other debts or towards your saving goals.
• You can combine your debts into one with some refinancing options. This is good so you know exactly when payments need to be made.
• Usually able to negotiate lower interest rates.
• Cashflow is tight but you have some assets that can assist you gain some cash to put back into the business.

Studies have shown that trying to negotiate a better refinancing deal tends to save people money and a lot of stress. Some questions to ask yourself is if you are paying too much monthly on any equipment that you could possibly lower or if you are too dependent on your bank overdraft as it is one of the most expensive bowing methods. Knowing where all your finances lay can help you budget and with the extra cash you can invest in yourself or your business.