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Frank the Insurance guy · Mar 16, 2026

Hi @LeeUK2025,

There have been quite a few threads on this topic over the years - you can view these using the search function.

From memory, most of the threads turn to the issue of regulations and licences - you can't just start a competition, without doing the necessary due diligence and making sure you have the appropriate licences etc.

Karimbo · Mar 14, 2026

Thank you.

I am still within the tax year I might just take it off the company accounts and post the transaction as a drawing (reducing the directors loan)

The business has been going strong for 10+ years so I dont forsee any difficulties. Maybe just keep it as CA for now and dispose of the drive if the business comes close to financial difficulties.

Hard drives keep their value, I got the hard drives very cheaply from amazon as a pre-order for 2 x £233 (12TB). I'm see used drives go for £300+ on ebay - these are like 4-5 years old.

Lucan Unlordly · Mar 13, 2026

Mark T Jones said:
Although the notion of 'good salesman' is highly subjective.

Devious f**ker who always smashes target vs honest guy who hits target and doesn't leave a trail of destruction?

From observation, personally Id far rather the latter, but I guess if you're in a certain environments, integrity and empathy are a disadvantage

I worked for the MIRROR newspaper on a section who's aim was to sell ad space irrespective of whether it worked or not. The idea that selling ads that work brings repeat business was lost, as long as revenue targets were hit. I didn't last long but having threatened to throw a colleague (Devious F as above) through the 9th floor windows of 1 Canary Wharf - the tower- the writing was on the cards

Data Swami · Mar 13, 2026

Honestly i see you pain with practically all the email marketing tools. Tried active campaign, tried mail chimp and many more and i couldnt get past the 90s layout and clunky nature of them. I dont do much with a list i know i should but i have heard good things about SendFox and its got a deal on appsumo at the moment too for lifetime membership https://appsumo.com/products/sendfox/

Deliverability i believe from what i have read is on par with other platforms that charge per contact

dangrosso · Mar 13, 2026

We've made a few of these types of sites, they're not too difficult to make in terms of the basic funtionality of the ticket system, it's important to stay legal and also get a good payment gateway as you cannot use a standard one like Stripe or Paypal. Happy to discuss this with anyone who wants more info

lmkeller14 · Mar 13, 2026

paulears said:
This is a serious post. Trouble is you will all s******, but it's really unpleasant.
My office and video studio is on the ground floor. Above me, accessed from stairs that go up from the lobby from the external door is a salon. You walk through the outside door and the door on the left is my office - the stairs straight ahead through another door and to the right two loos. One is mine, the other is the salons, and recently renovated and quite posh.

The snag is that one of the two people upstairs clearly has some kind of dietary, or metabolic condition that means the smell leaks under my door, wrinkles the carpet and stains the paint. Well, not quite, but it is disgusting. I tend to leave the outside door open - to get the foul air out, but it's also making the office cold.

In their loo there is a 13A power point, oddly on my distribution board. I have put one of those air freshener gizmos but despite this going full tilt, the lady upstairs (I initially assumed it was the fella) frightens the scent from coming out.

There's not really an option for extraction, so I'm looking for something that can cancel the smell rather than overpower it with scent. Has anyone found any sort of 'cancellation' device that works. I've looked at the type that has a small can of pressurised scent but these things always smell like lavatories. My options at the moment are God awful 'natural' smells or the scorch you throat chemical masking solutions. There must be something better? I guess opening the outside door might just be simplest - but maybe there is some better kind of smell reducer.

Zinc ricinoleate based products are worth looking into for this specific situation because they actually trap and neutralize odor molecules chemically rather than masking them with fragrance, and there are commercial odor neutralizer sprays built around this ingredient that genuinely cancel the smell rather than just adding another layer on top of it which sounds exactly like what you need here.

ThatDevAaron · Mar 12, 2026

MyAccountantOnline · Mar 12, 2026

digimars said:
I agree.

But have been quoted unreasonable amounts and on top of that, I don't need anybody to go through my bank statements. I have all the numbers in my spreadsheets. I don't need anybody to act as my agent. I basically need someone to help me out as an internal accountant and submit the accounts under my company's name.

Possible?

Cheers

I do understand and appreciate the need to keep costs down but an accountant who prepares accounts solely from a spreadsheet isn't doing the job properly.

Preparing company accounts is way more than just “typing the numbers into accounts from a spreadsheet.” A UK accountant is usually taking on professional responsibility for the final accounts, making sure they comply with Companies House and HMRC requirements, checking that the figures are treated correctly and that you are claiming all tax relief possible as well as carrying the liability if something is wrong. That professional oversight is part of what you’re paying for.

Peter Morris · Mar 11, 2026

fisicx said:
That’s not basics!

There used to be a websites for dummies book. Not sure if it still exists.

True! That’s definitely not “basics.” I remember those Websites for Dummies books too—they were everywhere back in the day. Not sure if they’re still around, but the idea of breaking things down simply is timeless. These days it feels like tutorials and YouTube channels have kind of taken over that role.

Sometimes I miss those straightforward guides, you’d just grab a book, follow step‑by‑step, and feel like you were leveling up without drowning in endless tabs.

JEREMY HAWKE · Mar 10, 2026

Newchodge said:
There are different rules for overnight absences and daily absences.

It looks that way

MyAccountantOnline · Mar 10, 2026

MichelleO said:
Hello everyone
We purchased a laptop for use soley in our new rental business (limited company). Everything to do with the company goes on it (tenant managment, accounts etc) Cost = £399. We do the book keeping and accountants do the year end and filing etc. Do we record the laptop as a capital expense/purchase and depreciate over 3 years or does it go onto expenses. also does depreciation cost need to be apportioned since the laptop was purchased in the middle of the company's financial year. Thank you for your help in advance.

You can do either - for tax it wont make any difference you'll get 100% tax relief on the cost of the laptop.

You can decide on the depreciation if you do capitalise it. Bear in mind depreciation is disregarded for tax.

Karimbo · Mar 10, 2026

freeagent looks and feels incomplete, like you dont have full features. But actually everything is there, just hidden away in various places. I often have to click around the various pages to find specific settings I need.

I have done SMP in freeagent. claimed employment allowance, started people middle of financial year etc.

The only question I would have for you how do you do the transition from your exisiting payroll onto freeagent.

Middle of financial year might be difficult with IT calculations, so started from April might be a good shout.

Edit: I use freeagent.

Nico Albrecht · Mar 9, 2026

ctrlbrk said:
Hi Nico - interested in the security aspect: what can 365 or google do that Zoho can't

The difference is that Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace operate as full security ecosystems, not just email platforms. They integrate identity security, advanced phishing and malware protection, attachment sandboxing, real-time link analysis, threat intelligence, behavioural detection, incident investigation tools, and broader security monitoring across accounts, devices, and services.
In simple terms:
Zoho provides mail security features.
Microsoft and Google provide integrated security platforms.

Zoho provides mail security features.
Microsoft and Google provide integrated security platforms designed to detect and respond to modern threats much earlier.

Karimbo · Mar 9, 2026

Essentially setting up as a local trade printers. I would forget trying to get local. And become a national trade printer.

Perhaps look into becoming a white label dropshipper for influencers. Youll need serious money to set up things in place to streamline this stuff. Essentially you'd want a website that allows customers to upload their design, get mockups to view abd approve for print.

Its a big step up from selling your own designs from etsy though.

I think your idea of supplying small batch runs of custom merch to businesses is slightly easier to achieve. Because in the short run you can produce mockups manually to clients if theyre ordering say 50 itens

KVExp · Mar 9, 2026

I believe the documentation requirements also change significantly depending on who is declared as Importer of Record (someone correct me if I'm wrong?).

If the UK exporter takes on that role (via an EU EORI or indirect representative as mentioned), they'll also need to ensure their commercial invoice, packing list, and any product-specific certifications reflect that arrangement correctly. Essentially the paperwork trail needs to match the customs declaration exactly or it can cause clearance delays.

Gyumri · Mar 6, 2026

eteb3 said:
There you go!

Section 6 LGFA (2)(a)-(e) says the person liable is the resident, if any.

S 6(2)(f) says it’s the owner if there is no one resident.

S 6(5) says “owner” means the person entitled to possession.

So the only two factors for liability are
(A) residence and
(B) entitlement to possession.

Actual possession, legal possession, keys or not, is irrelevant.

Tax provisions are construed strictly in favour of the taxpayer, so there is zero chance that factual possession will be implied into the provision.

QED?

I agree but I didn't think that was the point of our debate, which was whether the TIB was in possession by merely being the beneficiary. So we are singing from the same hymn book even if we are not singing the same hymn.

Data Swami · Mar 6, 2026

i have seen someone has vibecoded something that has done something like this for flights so depending on what apis etc there are out there for shipping cant see why this cant be done

Data Swami · Mar 5, 2026

One thing i have found for AEO/SEO is that if you are answering the questions people are asking it starts getting scored better in LLMs and the Search engine optimisation.

Mind you there is a bit of a kerfuffle around Google AI summaries at the moment and how their reference who actually gave the answer.

Also checkout indexnowplease github for a solution that can help keep your site uptodate on search console and bing so you dont have to manually reindex stuff all the time

Data Swami · Mar 5, 2026

50/50 equity for what exactly?

Ive had alot of these and alot of them turn out to be I have an idea build it for me.

What exactly do you bring to the table in terms of distributing it? How does it fit into its own niche? What else is out there that could be used as you intend? What do you expect demand to be?

Data Swami · Mar 5, 2026

I would say there are only really a few use cases where "AI Receptionists" would be a viable option. Having gone through all the different AI Voice agent solutions they are just not robust enough to deal with a meandering conversation. Sure you could use it for a simple booking call but what if they start asking about the menu etc it just ruins the whole experience for them and unless you have an easy route to a human its gonna be even worse. I am unsure of many business who get too many revenue generating calls. Sure there are umpteen youtube videos of people creating these voice agents to do outbound calls etc but for me its too much of a reputation risk for me to apply that to an established business. I would rather utilise AI AUtomation in the rest of their processes so their people can deal with more calls or not have as many calls due to other areas being resolved

Paul Kelly ICHYB · Mar 5, 2026

prime payment solutions - are they a payment company or an agent/recommender for merchant providers?

What deal did you get?

Keynote Speech · Mar 5, 2026

Lisa Thomas said:
You are replying to a 2 year old post. suggest this is locked off @Ozzy

Fair point, I hadn’t noticed the age of the thread when replying. Still an interesting topic though, stress management never really goes out of date.

Mark T Jones · Mar 5, 2026

2 big points I'd make:

1. Due diligence - it works for both parties, and I'd be wary of any buyer who didn't insist on it.

2. Shareholders' agreement, and not just a boilerplate one!

You are going onto trick turf. Not only will it attract scammers, but even a legitimate partnership needs to be thrashed out in detail

Lucan Unlordly · Mar 4, 2026

JEREMY HAWKE said:
My God WTF are we going to do
I had all that botox yesterday and non of you can see it

Send a pic in messages and I'll return one of the full English breakfast I had this morning

I spend a bit of money promoting Facebook posts for two reasons. No point in moaning if not enough people read it ............and it does actually generate some leads.

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