The dawn of the New Year took on a somewhat bum note for business drivers and other motorists thanks to a double whammy of cost increases to swallow, with a headline from the BBC1 reporting that ‘fuel prices hit 18-month high after OPEC production cuts’ and ITV News stating ‘drivers face most expensive petrol prices in two years’. The 24% jump in the price of oil seen from mid-November to the end of December contributed to petrol and diesel prices increasing by over 3p per litre during the festive month.
Editor | 11 January 2017
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Editor | 6 January 2017
/ /The latest figures from a recruitment body might be discouraging for any contractors that made ‘getting a new job’ one of their New Year’s Resolutions.
The Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo), whose latest figures cover November last year, found that the number of contract vacancies for jobseekers fell by five per cent compared with figures from the previous year.
Editor | 16 December 2016
/ / / /From April, contractors working in the public sector will lose the right to determine their own IR35 status. As a consequence, thousands of PSC contractors could see their take home pay reduced.
In many cases it is feared that the legitimate contractors will be caught out by the reforms and unfairly end up on inside-IR35 contract and paying a heavy price for it.
There are, however, some ways that contractors can try to avoid IR35 and, if inevitable, mitigate the impact of an imposed inside-IR35 contract.
Editor | 1 December 2016
/ / / /Following last week’s Autumn Statement the government’s position on public sector IR35 reform is clear. But Britain’s judges could block the plans if they are shown to contradict employment law.
Set to be introduced in April 2017, the public sector IR35 reforms will lead to many public sector contractors losing some of their take home pay and the changes could have some nasty unintended consequences for public services too.
Editor | 24 November 2016
/ / / / /The Chancellor’s first Autumn Statement contained some pretty eye-watering sums. The estimated cost of Brexit at £58.7bn and an extra £122bn of borrowing in this parliament are two of the biggest.
There were some positive numbers though. £26bn to fund investment in housing, transport, digital technology and research and development will prove valuable to contractors in some of these industries.
Others, meanwhile, will be left counting the cost of tax increases. Here are seven of the most important points for contractors and limited company owners.
Editor | 10 January 2017
/ / / / /Representatives from Umbrella Accountants will be joining other accountancy professionals from across the country at the FreeAgent Premium Partner Summit in February.
We have attended the summit for the last two years and found it informative and a chance to provide feedback to the team at FreeAgent regarding future developments. It’s also a chance to meet other accountants in the same industry and exchange ideas and solutions which we have also found extremely useful.
If any clients have any suggestions for FreeAgent for future development or improvements then we encourage you to email accountancy@umbrella.co.uk and we will put them to the team while we are there.
Editor | 22 December 2016
/ / / /In the first Scottish budget since the country gained more wide-ranging power to control income tax, the SNP’s finance minister has announced plans that will put a squeeze on middle and higher income tax payers in the country.
The first Holyrood budget, announced earlier this month, includes plans for a £190 million raid higher earners that will see some contractors paying £300 more than their English counterparts.
Editor | 9 December 2016
/ / / /The government has published a new policy document detailing the changes to IR35 and off-payroll working rules for public sector contractors.
Although there weren’t any major shocks in the changes, which come into effect for personal service company (PSC) contractors next April, we thought it beneficial to publish a full preview of the rules so that customers can start to prepare for the changes.
Editor | 29 November 2016
/ / / / /Starting with the more positive news for business motorists to come out of Phillip Hammond’s debut Autumn Statement, fuel duty has been frozen for the seventh consecutive year, meaning that contractors aren’t faced with having to dig deeper in order to put fuel in their vehicles, and nor are the firms some of them work for, such as couriers or construction companies.
The lamentable state of UK roads often results in delays along with damage to vehicles’ wheels, suspension and other components, so additional welcome news for contractors who drive is that an extra £1.1 billion will be provided by the government by 2020-21, aimed at relieving congestion and upgrading key roads. £220 million will also be spent on alleviating notorious pinch-points, helping the self-employed make more efficient use of their valuable time.
Editor | 16 November 2016
/ / / / /As a FreeAgent Premium Partner, Umbrella Accountants would like to congratulate FreeAgent on their recent flotation on the London Stock Exchange.
The company was set up in 2007 by the three founders, Ed Molyneux, Olly Headey and Roan Lavery who were finding nothing suitable for their accounting needs in the marketplace. Set up with the intention of making accounting less painful for end users the company has gone from strength to strength since then winning prestigious Software Satisfaction Awards and thousands of new users along the way.
Umbrella Accountants moved to FreeAgent over two years ago because we also wanted to make handling finances as simple as possible for our contractors so it was a natural fit. We have attended Partner conferences at the head offices Scotland where we have seen much of what the future holds for the software, as well as taking part in round table discussions on tax changes that affect contractors and freelancers.
Congratulations once more to everyone at FreeAgent and we look forward to continuing to grow with them.
