Sorry for radio silence

I'm not at all well.  Haven't been since May - when I ended up housebound.  Have had an op and am recovering slowly, but way off being able to be competent in tax matters!

Whilst the info in the blog should still be valid, PLEASE check back to the HMRC website using the links and also the 'technical' language I use to make sure it's still right.  TAX LAW CHANGES A LOT AND FREQUENTLY!

L

Extra: Stock Expenses under Accruals Basis

This post comes out of a discussion on Folksy about how to deal with Stock Expenses under the Accruals Basis.

What are these? Well it's a special little calculation that HMRC expect you to do so that you only get tax relief on the cost of raw materials used to make finished products, where you have actually sold/ gifted or destroyed (ie they've left your business) the value of those raw materials in that Accounting Period.

TSCB 14: new Cash Accounting Rules 2: Ch.. ch.. ch.. ch.. changes!

I feel it's appropriate that I wrote this blog article to the strains of David Bowie's 'Changes'.  Not so great that I listened to it so often that it's now an earworm, but less about my struggles controlling the repeat function in iTunes...

Two days ago I posted TSCB13: the Background to the new Cash Accounting rules here.  At morning coffee time.  As soon as the Chancellor sat down after giving his Budget speech, HMRC & the Treasury released forests of paperwork giving the details behind the speech.  Slightly unexpectedly, a few of the trees in that forest made changes to the new Cash Accounting rules. Quite significant ones.

So this article tells you what the changes are and how they differ from the original proposals for the new Cash Accounting rules and from the existing Accruals Basis.

Today's Featured Seller is BigBlueBed (Alix) - she sells on Etsy here (where you can find this tweed broaoch), and Folksy here. And you can find out what she's up to on her Facebook page here

TSCB 13: new Cash Accounting rules 1: Background

Hello! and welcome back.  I know it's been a long time coming, but the Tax for Small Crafting Businesses is now back up & running. What forced me into it? The new changes for small businesses with the new Cash Accounting rules.

In case you're wondering, I've skipped past TSCB 12 - on complex Stock situations (part 2) to concentrate on the new rules.  I'll go back and finish it later on.

Here we go:

As it’s Budget Day today, I thought I’d give you a heads up about the new Cash Accounting rules.  As you know from my previous blog posts in this Tax for Small Crafting Businesses series, all businesses should be using the Accruals Basis.  And as I know from some of the responses I’ve had from you, dear readers, the nuts & bolts of how that works came as a nasty shock to some of you!

This article is going to give the background of why these changes are coming in, and a bit about the key features.  Future articles will explain a bit more about what’s involved and the pitfalls to avoid in deciding whether or not to stick with the current Accruals Basis or move to the new Cash Accounting.

STOP PRESS: The Budget documents have now been released, and whilst the new rules have the green light, some changes have been made.  Have a look at the next article TSCB14 for the updated position as they've moved the goalposts a bit! (Update 20 March 2013 13:49)

The pictures today are sneak previews of products that I've got in development for TootHillMedley.  This first one, individual picnic blankets - don't you hate having your feet near the food or your back to everyone?  The inspiration comes from the EM Forster book Room With a View where they use Gaberdine Squares on damp ground.

TSCB 12: Complex Stock Situations (holding post)

Apologies, I've not published this post yet, as it's not finished.  So I'm doing this as a holding page whilst I get on with the new Cash Accounting rules stuff and I'll come back to it in a week or so. Maybe. I remember saying that a few years ago.  It will happen. Eventually...

Update: Good Intentions and all that

I've had a lot of good intentions to add more material to the blog on UK tax issues, but then again I can also see there's a need for something a bit more formal, which explains a particular topic and then sets out in the form of worksheets all the hoops you have to jump through to get to an answer for your tax return that's acceptable to HMRC.

What I'm up to at the moment is planning a series of eBooks (pdf form) that will enable the small crafting business to keep the required records in a way that makes it easy to monitor how their business is doing AND provide the figures needed for the tax return.

Tax Amnesty for online businesses

Thanks to a couple of threads on Folksy that someone else on Etsy pointed me to, I've realised that HMRC are running an amnesty for people who haven't yet registered with them as self-employed but want to get their tax affairs in order.

Find out about it here:
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/campaigns/emarket.htm

You have to tell HMRC you want to join the amnesty by 14 June 2012, and pay all tax owing by September.  I've got a professional exam coming up (one day I'll say enough to exams!) so I can't pre-digest it for you.

Also found through the Folksy/ Etsy threads is HMRC's YouTube channel.  Who knew!
http://www.youtube.com/user/HMRCgovuk?feature=watch
Worth a look, there's a video on working out whether you're trading or not...

It's ALWAYS a good idea to get yourself sorted with the taxman sooner rather than later!

Lois
TootHillMedley