So having touched on Digital Tax Accounting from HMRC's perspective. What can we provide to make your life easier deal with HMRC for you without you coming back from your business and having to spend your FAMILY time doing things for the hated Taxman.

We know that in the main they want 4 submissions plus there is an additional annual adjustment submission unless you are claiming Universal Tax Credit which includes Working and Family Tax Credit in which case you will have to make 13 submissions (monthly plus the annual adjustment). So effectively in true George Osbourne style those with the least get the biggest burden and increased costs.

We know every business must have a bank account used for their business attached to their digital accounting and we know the old simple system of a spreadsheet or Simplex Account Book are not acceptable.

From the taxpayers point of view there will be set up costs to get their opening information on a system and higher ongoing costs than they currently pay because there is more work to be done.

Our solution is that we will provide you with the digital accounting system FREE yes we will have to charge you to set it up for you but we are willing to in most cases split that cost over several months to ease the pain. For those that feel able you will be able to input information on the system so keeping down your costs and we will be able to check it adjust it where you have put it in the wrong place and make the submissions for you. As a further result of digital tax accounting the number of checks and investigation by HMRC are expected to rise as they will have more information on which to base them to protect you we have our whole practice insured with tax investigation insurance, it is a much cheaper rate per client for us to arrange the insurance over the practice than it is for you to buy an individual policy, in fact we can get such a good rate we are giving it to you FREE. This means that you get no extra sudden bills for us having to deal with a records check or investigation from HMRC and lets be realistic, who is able to deal with a sudden unexpected bill that could be £1,000.

Further good news is that because the work will be spread over the year we have decided rather than send you a bill once a year to agree a price with you upfront each year and for it to be paid monthly by direct debit like your car insurance. That way you know what you are paying and it is in smaller chunks. We will offer you three choices of service Essential, Full and Premium and set out exactly what is included. If during the year you need something extra done then we will agree a price with you for that work.

We are appreciative of our clients who refer new clients to us and will be expanding our client reward system over the next few months.

I am just back from the ICPA Conference in Manchester where Tony Margaretelli and Steve Checkley gave an update on something that will be a major upheaval for most taxpayers. As they told us in June Spreadsheets are out and this will include spreadsheet based software this basically means that all taxpayers will have to be on a cloud based software.

The consultation documents are at last out and we received pre conference a 16 page summary of the main points, there is lots here still to digest.

As was envisaged figures will be submitted quarterly with a final submission 9 months after the end of the 12 month accounting period so that means instead of one deadline causing a peak of work at 31st January we now have 12 mini deadlines. The fines for late submission will be on a points system of types so persistent offenders will pay more (a lot more)

Here is the first sting in the tail those on Universal Credit (don't forget this is replacing working tax credit) will have to submit monthly not quarterly. So as I have intimated to people for the last 18 months many of these new HMRC provisions like RTI are aimed at removing benefit fraud.

We will be contacting clients in the first batches to go digital making appointments for them to come in and discuss what needs to be done to make them digital compliant and how we can help them achieve this as painlessly as possible.

PRESS RELEASE

Issued 29/08/2016

For immediate release

Continued Expansion for Local Accountancy Firm

On September 1, ATBS Ltd, trading as Accountancy Taxation and Business Services, will be bought by Yare Accountancy Services Ltd.

ATBS was founded in 1984 by Stephen Elms, a highly qualified accountant and long-term member of the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB). As his 65^th birthday approaches, Mr Elms has decided to sell his company to the well-respected and technologically advanced Yare Accountancy Services Ltd.

But Mr Elms will not be retiring yet! He and ABTS’s other staff members, Victoria King and Ceri Masters, have been welcomed into the Yare Accountancy team and will be available at the ATBS Ltd new office on London Road, Beccles.

In the driving seat of Yare Accountancy Services is Paul Ryan AIAA AFA MIPA ICPA, advanced Quickbooks pro-advisor. Mr Ryan says:

“The merger with ABTS will substantially increase our capacity to provide the top quality accounting services that we aspire to.”

Yare Accountancy & ATBS offices are open Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Why not pop in, meet the team, and find out about services and products – including the Yare Accountancy free phone app, available for Apple and Android phones.

Contact Paul Ryan or Iain Palmer at

·         Sackville Place, 44-48 Magdalen St, Norwich NR3 1JU – Phone: 01603 568 259

·         37 Southgates Road, Great Yarmouth NR30 3LL – Phone: 01493 717 007

·         London Road, Beccles NR34 8TS – Phone: 01502 451348.

What a month June has been. Iain Palmer MIAB ICPA  joining Yare Accountancy Services means that our capacity has increased significantly, we have taken on new clients during the month and adjusted our workflow as a result we have had our best month yet. Attending the BNI Norfolk Members conference was awesome and produced so many ideas, as did the ICPA Conference earlier in the month. It will take a few months to put things into place. But we have started and unveiled our new brochures at the Bni Norfolk Conference, we are running a transparent pricing policy based on the services in our brochures. The feedback so far has been very good.

The Yarmouth office is open 7am to 3pm times designed to assist our tradesman clients. Norwich is also open at 7am on Mondays and Wednesdays and early evening appointments are available in Great Yarmouth on Tuesdays and Thursdays and in Norwich on Wednesdays.

We also now have facilities to take card payments over the telephone giving clients a great choice of payment methods being Cash, Cheque, Internet Banking, Monthly Direct Debit or Debit and Credit Card.

Don't forget our Yare Accountancy Phone App free to download and use for either Ios or Android.

Yesterday at the ICPA Conference one of the big subjects was the Digital Tax Accounts which are being brought in by HMRC. At the moment information on what format these will be and how they will work is not plentiful in fact HMRC do not seem to know some of the answers to what apears to be a political decision from HM Treasury perpetrated by an MP called David Gauke. Mr Gauke seems to be using dodgy dossiers for his facts and figures something usually associated with Tony Blair.

What we do know is Digital Tax Accounts will need to be completed quarterly the start date is April, 2018 for Property Landlords, Self Employed and Partnerships. Limited Companies are not expected to join until 2020. We also know that  Spreadsheets will not be acceptable under DTA. There will be a new submission system tied in with accounting software which means everyone will need to keep their records in a Digital approved format and those records will have to be kept up to date for the quarterly submissions.

What does this mean for our clients? Well it means many will have to change the way they operate and will have increased costs because there will be more work to do.

What does it mean for us as Accountants? Increased workload, We are also the ones who will have to explain to the clients how this new scheme works and how because of the extra workload we will have to increase their fees.

How are we going to be different? Where possible we will be looking to use our knowledge and systems to save our clients time. We expect to be able to show some clients that the new system will give them more time to spend on their business and that even after taking into accounts our increased fees we can help them make more money.

Now is the time to get started and be ahead of the crowd, the first step is to download our FREE Phone App YARE ACCOUNTANCY either Apple or Android as this will be regularly updated with information about DTA as it becomes available, it also contains many useful features to help you run your business. It is also the place in the future where you will be able to access the software keeping your records for the DTA