Submitted by
Sestini & Co | on Tue, 10/29/2013 - 8:43 | In
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I don’t know if I’ve been a bit slow to catch on, but all of a sudden, it seems as though Business Hubs, Impact Hubs and Co-working spaces are everywhere.
I’m not complaining, I think they are a fabulous idea.
It is also an idea of it’s time. As technology and business practice produce ever more ways for people to freelance, set up their own business or simply work flexibly, there is an increasing number of people spending at least some of [- -]
Submitted by
Sestini & Co | on Mon, 10/21/2013 - 6:21 | In
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Did anyone else find it odd that anyone believed Richard Branson and his wife might be living on Necker Island purely as a tax dodge rather than because it is a truly amazing place to live? (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24513875)
I can’t claim to have an inside track on his precise reasons for the choice, but personally I would happily live there without any tax breaks at all. It is his very own paradise. Of course, he went to the trouble of buying an [- -]
Submitted by
Sestini & Co | on Sun, 10/06/2013 - 19:50 | In
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Since its introduction in 2003 (and arguably prior to that date) SDLT has been a contraversial tax to say the least, as evidenced by the number of changes to the rates at which it is charged since its enactment. From a starting rate of 1% for properties costing at least £125,000 it now rises to 15% for properties purchased by certain “non-natural persons” for £2,000,000 or more.
One of the reasons for the controversy about SDLT is that it works on [- -]
Submitted by
Sestini & Co | on Wed, 10/02/2013 - 20:29 | In
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“But what if anything happened to you, my dear?” Echos of a phone call the other day, and not the first along these lines. My clients on the whole are delightful, caring individuals, but this question and others like it were not posed entirely with my welfare in mind.
The key question was, as a business owner and service provider, what would happen to them, their tax returns, accounts, their records etc, if I suddenly disappeared.
Having always worked for large organisations [- -]
Submitted by
Sestini & Co | on Thu, 08/29/2013 - 15:46 | In
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If your business has incurred VAT in other EU member states, you should now be thinking about making a claim under the EU VAT refund provisions. VAT incurred during 2012 must be claimed by 30 September 2013 or will be lost.
You can claim if you:
are VAT registered in the UK;
are not established in the member state of refund
are not registered, required to be registered or eligible to be registered in the member state of refund, and
do not make supplies [- -]
Submitted by
Sestini & Co | on Mon, 07/29/2013 - 16:06 | In
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Most people by now will have seen the adverts about auto-enrolment: various famous bosses from popular TV shows proclaiming “I’m in” with beaming smiles on their faces, with a voiceover impressing upon us what great news it is that our employers will be legally obliged to make pension contributions for us from now on.
The pensions regulator describe the change as follows: “Every employer has new legal duties to help their workers in the UK save for retirement. They must automatically [- -]
Submitted by
Sestini & Co | on Wed, 07/24/2013 - 19:01 | In
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For new business owners, the temptation or natural instinct is often to take on everything the business requires.
From being an employee with a clear set of strengths, skills and qualifications, we suddenly decide we can/should become the typist, the designer, the post room, the accountant, the marketing and PR department, the receptionist, the finance officer, CEO, PA and manufacturer/service provider.
Whilst this might be a necessary evil in the set up stages while there is little or no cash available, it [- -]
Submitted by
Sestini & Co | on Sat, 05/25/2013 - 7:19 | In
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As the learned tax professional John Whiting is wont to say, with the Budget as with so many things, the devil is always in the detail.
These notes and reflections are based on my initial review of the draft Finance Bill 2013, as posted on the HM Treasury website, http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk and there will no doubt be a few changes before Finance Act 2013 receives Royal Assent in the summer. Finance Bill 2013 is due to be published on 28 March 2013 [- -]