Archive for the ‘Finance’ Category

An Umbrella Company, Self Employed Tax and You

April 1st, 2012

If you’re a contractor or pay self employed tax, you run the risk of paying considerably more self employed tax than you need to. By establishing an umbrella company you will be able simplify the processes through which you are remunerated for your expertise, and claim lots of everyday costs against tax .

For example, if you were a consultant retained by a pharmaceutical company on a self employed basis, you could choose to create an umbrella company which could then hire you on a full time basis, and be reimbursed for your labour by the company to which you are contracted. The umbrella company can then remunerate you as a permanent member of staff rather than as a self employed person . Through the umbrella company you could also, and simply , declare your business costs as expenses, which the umbrella company would be able to treat as operating costs, deducting them from the moneys received from the company to which you’re contracted before you are paid, and crucially, before you are taxed .

The costs that the umbrella company might be able to remove from your self employed tax in this way could cover mileage or other travelling costs, your computer and internet usage at home if you ever work from home . You could also have your umbrella company issue you with a business vehicle and business telephone , and to a limited extent these benefits could be discounted against your tax liability and will ultimately end up saving you money .

The advantages of establishing an umbrella company over paying Self Employed Tax go beyond fact that the total amount of tax that you are liable for may be lesser , they also include a considerable cutting of the red tape surrounding the self employed tax process , and can also get you access to tax reliefs that are exclusively available for small businesses in certain industries . Sneakier users of the umbrella company scheme might also use it to increase self employed tax relief by “hiring” a partner or family member as a company director or secretary .

This other person is then paid by the umbrella company, rather than paying self employed tax. The amount salaried to the third party is in reality a proportion of the salary paid to the contractor by the contracting company, but by sharing this money between two staff members of the umbrella company it is possible to benefit from the untaxed income or “personal allowance” which all British people of working age receive , with the first portion of their income (today it’s the first ?7,475, from April 2012 it will rise to ?8,105, with an additional increase included in in the Spring 2012 budget) going untaxed.

Live Forex Charts and the Top Forex Brokers

April 1st, 2012

Exactly what on earth are live forex charts and what are they for ? Who are top forex brokers and what do they mean to the man in the street ? Actually , both Forex Education and top forex brokers have a significant role to play in the interplay of international import and export. The international foreign exchange market is a very changeable , quickly changing and unregulated trading place, it offers a purchaser the occasion to interact with any seller, trading international currency either long term or just temporarily.

Unlike most other forms of commodity , shares or futures trading, there is little top-down control and no central legislative body to lay down the rules for all of the exchanges. In lieu of this, independent centres of trading carry out business in different corners of the globe , with little official interference, and private arrangements are brokered between those who are happy to buy and those who are keen to sell.

The idea, as ever, is to buy the currency cheaper than you sell it, making a differential along the way , but whilst also worth having as a profit-making enterprise in its own right, the foreign exchange market is there to support the global trade in goods and services, and key to this whole process are live forex charts and the Top Forex Brokers

Imagine you’re a British fruit juice manufacturer and you’ve entered into a bargain to take a large consignment of frozen orange juice concentrate from an industrial orange farm in Florida. The arrangement is made in US dollars, and it’s more money than you can exchange at your local post office, so you have to go to the market and use your pounds to purchase American currency with which you can pay your bill . This is when the top forex brokers are most useful.

By using a top forex broker, you can be sure that you get the keenest exchange rate and the highest number of dollars for your sterling, effectively preventing you from paying more for your orange juice than you absolutely must. Your top forex brokers will use a handy bit of equipment , to whit live forex charts, which a top forex broker to understand either at a glance or in more detail the prices that one currency will fetch in another. These exchange rates will be constantly changing according to the fluctuations of give and take in the forex market, hence the need for live forex charts rather than a static table that can’t possibly keep up with momentary changes in the spot price.

It might come over as a little irrelevant, but these live forex charts are seriously useful aid that allow skilful top forex brokers to make a big difference to trade. Using these live forex charts, your top forex broker is empowered to obtain the best possible deal for your dollars , allowing you to get your orange juice as affordably as possible and so make a pronounced difference to the bottom line of your business.

Come across An Accountant Who Works Well With Small Businesses

June 7th, 2010

Before I set up my business in New Zealand, I knew the most important hurdle I would face would be finding the right ACCOUNTANT for my needs. I need not have worried though because I soon found a SMALL BUSINESS ACCOUNTANT that was both highly professional and extremely friendly. They prepared my financial statements, guided me through tax returns, GST and cash flow issues – in fact they handled everything for me, leaving me to concentrate on the day to day running of my business. If you are looking for an accountancy firm to give your business a valuable helping hand, I recommend you visit accountingnow.co.nz to find out about their expert, professional service at very competitive rates.