To all small business owners. Want good advice on tax issues but can’t afford an accountant’s fees. Then check out the Tax Blagger blog. I’ve found this info resource extremely useful, especially for topics such as tax on mobile phone bills and accounting for car use expenses. There is also a free advice service where you can add questions online. Great stuff Tax Blagger!

http://www.cumulotax.co.uk/

OK, so this has very little to do with marketing your services, but it has everything to do with protecting your businesses long term health.

So if you are a sole trade, or run a small business, have a think about what would happen if you couldn’t work. Can your business afford to hire someone to cover your work, can you personally cover the mortgage payments. If the answer is no, then pick up the phone and talk to your financial advisor or bank immediately.

OK, so I missed a day. Barely a week into my blog test and I skipped a day. But it was for a very good reason, I spent yesterday morning working out my VAT return. Consequently for the remainder of the day I played catch-up. I’m sure I’m not the first small business owner to experience this phenomenon, where back room processes disrupt actual fee earning work. I expect Digby Jones would have some interesting thoughts on this.

So what did I learn from this?

Firstly, that filling in your VAT return takes careful attention to detail, but actually isn’t that taxing (sorry). More interestingly, that changing your VAT payment scheme can significantly aid your cash flow. I changed yesterday from the normal accounting to the cash accounting scheme. This basically means my return needed to include output tax on invoices that have already been paid. On the normal accounting scheme you are required to include output tax for invoices submitted, even those unpaid. If that makes sense you should see a clear benefit for your cash flow.

But, those nice people at the HMRC have a range of other options that could help us small business owners. I’m not an expert here so you should consult the HMRC or your accountant. However I read about the flat rate scheme that seemed pretty good for small companies, particularly for reducing your time overhead calculating your return.