xero Articles

Landlords and the self-employed: the way you report income is changing. Everything you need to know about Making Tax Digital for Income Tax Self-Assessment (MTD ITSA)

Currently landlords and the self-employed submit an annual tax return to HMRC.

A new system is taking over in 2024. Making Tax Digital for Income Tax Self-Assessment (MTD ITSA) will mean more frequent submissions to HMRC. We’ve outlined the plans below.  Read on to learn if you’ll be affected.

Have you called in at the depot?

FreeAgent is a class leading piece of cloud accounting software and it has got there through constant improvements and innovations. 

We have attended a number of FreeAgent Partner events where the roadmap of future features and refinements has been shown and its comprehensive and far reaching with some really exciting developments ahead.

Umbrella Accountants has recruited four young apprentices from local colleges to help the company capitalise on growth and boost the digital arm of its business.

Benjamin Smallman, 16; Sheraz Sheikh, 18; Liam Parker, 19; and Nicola Worthington, 23; have all joined Umbrella in training roles over the last couple of months.

In addition to their college accountancy course, which they attend one day per week, the group gains practical experience of everyday working life at Umbrella Accountants. 

Umbrella, the Cloud Accountants, are pleased to announce that we now have 18 accredited accountants for both FreeAgent and Xero Cloud Accounting Software products.

By giving a choice Umbrella are able to find a solution that satisfies most contractors & freelancers operating through their own limited company in the UK.

 In fact Umbrella Accountants LLP are one of the few accountants to offer more than one Cloud Accounting Service.

We are also able to help if you are already with a different provider i.e. Sage One, Quickbooks, ClearBooks etc.

Umbrella contractor accountants currently have in excess of 1,000 limited companies using one of their accounting services.

Umbrella Accountants are one of the few cloud accounting companies that offer a choice of accounting software having added Xero to join FreeAgent in our recommended software options.

Xero and FreeAgent are both Cloud Based Accountancy Packages.

What does this mean?

Cloud Based accounting means that you have no software or hardware requirements you simply access your accounting via the internet. Everything is hosted elsewhere.

Making Tax Digital deadline: Time is running out for contractors
marketing | 4 October 2018
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Contractors are running out of time to comply with HMRC’s new Making Tax Digital (MTD) initiative, which requires them to keep digital accounting records and use approved software to submit tax information to HMRC.

The first MTD deadline, for limited company contractors that earn over the £85,000 VAT threshold, is just a little over six months away.

From April 2019, these contractors will no longer be able to submit their VAT return manually with HMRC’s ‘direct tools’. Instead they will have to use HMRC-compliant software like FreeAgent or Xero to keep digital records and automatically submit their VAT returns. 

 

Umbrella Accountants will be attending at Accountex 2017!

Accountex combines a world-class conference and exhibition dedicated to Accountancy Professionals. Umbrella Accountants are despatching Ricky Patidar to catch up on all the latest technology at the exhibition at the Excel Centre in London

Exhibiting at the show will be Cloud Accounting specialists such as FreeAgent, Sage, Receipt Bank, Expensify and Xero. We’re always looking to discover how cutting edge cloud-based platforms can make a difference to our clients – the more automation available and the more accurate the information the more time our contractors can spend away from their accounts. 

If you are a contractor or freelancer the most tax efficient way for you to work is often through your own limited company. This allows you to benefit from the incentives offered for setting-up and running your own business and hence allows you to maximise your earnings after tax.

It also enables you to develop and build your business & brand and potentially in the future employ others.

The downside of this is that there is more responsibility on you as a director of your own limited company and there are statutory requirements re maintaining financial records, preparing and submitting year-end accounts, corporation tax returns, personal tax returns, payroll and managing invoicing & payments. 

marketing | 5 August 2015
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A leading provider of accountancy and support services to professional contractors, freelancers and small/medium sized businesses has invested in new premises after outgrowing its former base. 

The buzz around the accountancy sector is all about small businesses and cloud accounting. Even KPMG one of the world’s largest accountancy firms has launched into the sector with their new offering called Enterprise.

But what is Cloud Accounting and how does it help?