Are you and your staff handling tips correctly? If you operate a café or restaurant, your employees will receive tips from the majority of customers. But as a business owner, what do need to do regarding income tax on these tips? Head of our Payroll Team Joanne Gibson explains. The starting point is to confirm...

Your company is about to support a local charity. This will include donating the use of company equipment and employees’ time, as these resources will partly be used for non-business activity, will the related costs be tax deductible? Usually, if your business incurs costs in connection with making a gift, it won’t be entitled to...

Q. Within my building supplies store, we account for VAT by using a point of sale retail scheme based on our daily gross takings figures. We have quite a lot of account customers who buy goods from the shop but don’t pay until 30 or 60 days later. We include the sale in the till...

Q. I’m the only director of my company and I own all its shares. I bought a van in my name but I intend to use it in the company’s trade. Can the company reclaim the VAT included in the purchase price? A. If the van was purchased and used privately or for a different...

Q. A friend has told you that he and his wife are taking a tax-free luxury weekend away on the company. Apparently, because the business has been running a long time HMRC allows this. Is this something you can take advantage of? A. Tax rules include a surprisingly long list of benefits in kind which...

Q. I’m a director and co-owner of a company. I use my own car for business journeys for which the company pays me a mileage allowance at HMRC’s official rates. Last month my car was off the road for over three weeks for repair and the insurance company provided me with a courtesy car. Apart...

Q. Mr Jones has arranged to add on a couple days to his family holiday so he can visit colleagues to discuss work matters. His accountant has told him that he can’t claim any of the costs relating to the trip. Is this correct? A. As you probably already know about the general rule for...