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HMRC Making Tax Digital

MyAccountantOnline
Freakzilla said:
I've just been reading about Three-Line Accounts. It states if your turnover is under £90K you can simply have to provide:

1) Total Turnover
2) Total Allowable Expenses
3) Net Profit

mtd.digital

Three-Line Accounts Under MTD - MTD.digital

How three-line accounts work under Making Tax Digital: eligibility, simplified quarterly reporting with just total income and expenses, and who benefits most.
mtd.digital mtd.digital
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How do you feel you'd gain from that?

You still have to keep fully digital records of all transactions, income and expenses.

If you use accounting software which is MTD for Income tax compliant it'll produce the full reports automatically. That aspect of MTD isn't going to create additional work for you.

I think its also worth considering that proper categorisation of income and expenses throughout the year will improve accuracy and reduce year-end adjustments.
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Tech stack for booking customer appointments

Ahmed Afzal
Stuart_Walker said:
Hi All,
I've been struggling with sorting out a tech stack to solve a process we use in the business so thought I'd ask the hive mind.

We have companies that we contract to.
Every six months they will send through a list of properties we need to inspect. The properties have tenants in them.
At the moment, we email the tenants and tell them we wish to visit on say the 20th of the following month. We ask them to indicate an AM or PM preference.
They then email back, and my Ops team complete a job sheet with timed visits for an inspector on that day. In general, we'll visit 20 properties a day and try to group them relatively close together so there is sort of a route.

If they don't email back we email again and finally call.
This feels like it 'should' be easy to automate but all the solutions I come up with either don't have the functionality I need so I need more than one app or they cost a fortune.

Has anybody used anything successfully that looks like it might help me?
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Hi Stuart,That process is a classic case where off-the-shelf tools often don’t fit because of the mix of: tenant comms, slot choice (AM/PM), job sheet creation, and route grouping. A lot of people end up thinking “this should be easy to automate” and then hit the same wall you’re describing.In practice, this usually needs either a few tools wired together (e.g. a simple booking form → spreadsheet/CRM → job sheet and maybe a route optimiser) or one small custom flow that does: tenant link → pick slot → auto job sheet + suggested route for the day.I help UK businesses automate exactly this kind of process—often where the gap is between “what we do manually” and “what existing software does.” I’m happy to do a short free audit of your flow and sketch what a minimal tech stack (or one custom bit) could look like and roughly what it might cost. No obligation. If you’d like that, drop me a DM or reply here and we can take it from there.
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Redeeming from SIPP

MikeJ
This is worth a watch...


Also, assuming you're somewhere between 57 (the point at which you can access a pension) and 66 (current age for government pension) you should look at drawing it down now. Once you get your old age pension, that effectively wipes out your tax free allowance so your pension will be taxable (other than the first 25%, as above). Get it out before you access your OAP, and it's more tax efficient.

(see above disclaimer about rules and advice)
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Local bookstore owner looking to modernize: Need advice on an AI customer support

Ozzy
The short answer is treat using AI like hiring a new trainee member of staff.
Before you hire a trainee you need to have an expert at the role working for you already, and have the process the trainee will follow fully documentated and easy to understand. Then tested thoroughly. Then, and only then, do you hire your new trainee and start training them.
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Are there any lead generation companies you’d actually recommend?

Mark T Jones
It seems that lead generation companies are now targeting finance brokers.

I noticed an amusing flood of untargeted emails promising targeted leads.

Then, I flagged on LinkedIn a massively unprofessional- borderline illegal - ad for business loans, and was informed it is a lead generation company hiding behind the fact that they aren't actually offering or arranging any loans.

It's fair to say that the quality of leads will be pretty poor!
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What is your experience with exhibitions?

Mark T Jones
Nick43 said:
Exhibitions can work, but only if you go in with a clear objective. The stands that pull people in usually aren’t the flashiest — they’re the ones that know exactly who they want to talk to and what conversation they want to start.


For smaller businesses, I’ve noticed it works best when the event is treated as the first touch, not the closing moment. A simple way to capture details, a clear follow-up plan, and messaging tailored to your niche (especially in areas like lead gen for manufacturing or SaaS) can make a big difference.


I’ve heard similar reflections from people around Salesar — they often stress that events aren’t about collecting the most leads, but the right ones. If you leave with a handful of solid conversations and a structured follow-up plan, it’s usually worth the sore feet.
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2 posts, both mentioning the same company

Which probably sums up the quality of their leads
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'In Post' adverts

Ozzy
ctrlbrk said:
By that I mean, I don't want to know if you're making more money, but I'd be interested to know
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If I enable really aggressive ads, yes it actually does make quite a significant impact on the revenue - but I believe that it will come more from misclicks / fat fingers than actual genuine interest. It also has such a negative impact on user experience; it just isn't worth it for me.
As I mentioned on another post, I purchased UKBF back personally to keep it online rather than shut down - so only need enough income to keep the lights on. I don't draw any income from it, so no need for any aggressive ads.

This 'tweaks' as Google has automatically done only make nominal difference, but as mentioned above that isn't happening right now and in the previews that I watched those injected ads shown above were not live - hence I don't think in this instance it is the UKBF account on Google doing it (words chosen carefully).
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Letters After A Name

Newchodge
Paul DF said:
In education, it's imperative that you'd have your credentials on your CV. If they take the form of letters after your name, then fine. You would, for instance put Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) to prove you'd taken a post-graduate course and enhanced your skills as an education professional. Many schools and colleges will look more favourably on any candidate who has a PGCE. However, you wouldn't add it to your email signature when working at a school or college because everyone around you probably has one and it would simply be superfluous. However, let's say you left education and wanted to work for a theatre company doing outreach work in schools/colleges, etc and other workshop settings with children and young people. A PGCE on your CV is going to look better than even a BA (Hons) on its own (which many candidates will probably have in the same interview room). It's not a professional body membership acronym or even a qualification (though it is) in many ways - for certain contents it is not just a badge that says you learned about Shakespeare in your BA (Hons), but that you understand how to teach Shakespeare within a formal pedagogical framework. Those with a PGCE are prized, so you'd be remiss to exclude it when applying for certain jobs.

I've never once thought anyone with letters after their name is a prat. If you're proud of things you've achieved then great. Especially where the thing you've achieved moves you to a new stepping stone in your career, rather than just means you've kept your membership of something up to date.

I do have a problem with titles given by royalty as these are applied for, not necessarily earned directly. This is open to abuse ... Titles for Cash....just nominate someone for an award and get cash in your pocket in return.
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The thread is 6 years old. It is now closed
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which PR to choose the best?

L
I went through something similar when I launched my online business. Traffic was tiny at first, and I wasn’t sure where to focus. I ended up hiring PR Superstar to help with media coverage and strategic PR, and it really helped get my brand noticed even before running ads. For social, I’d pick the platform where your audience already hangs out the most rather than trying to do both. And yes, the holiday season can be great for B2C, but only if you plan early and make your promotions clear.
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Commercial Energy Procurement - Energy Reduction - Solar

alamest
If the site really is only around 100kW as you mentioned, that’s not huge in commercial terms, so I’d be looking very closely at load profile before jumping into solar + PPA. In my experience, it’s not just total usage but when you’re using it that makes or breaks the numbers. If most of the demand is during working hours, great, solar will offset nicely. If a big chunk is evenings or overnight, the savings can look very different.

I also noticed someone suggested outright purchase or finance instead of a PPA. For smaller sites, I’ve found the returns can actually stack up better that way, especially with current kit prices. PPAs tend to shine on larger, multi-site portfolios.

Have you already had half-hourly data analysed to see what your daytime consumption actually looks like?
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Travel

tony84
The market is too diluted.
Has she thought about specialising?

We used one for a stag do. But you could also look at golf holidays or sports teams etc?

Realistically I reckon most of the market just goes online.

I have only booked holidays using price comparison sites. I say this as someone who also takes a hit from price comparison sites... She either needs a local base, somewhere people can come in and promote herself as a local agent where people can come in and get help etc. Ideally a town/village where there is a big "shop local" theme or what I did... Specialise.

Get in with some golf pros for example. Buy some golf balls from the golf pro for the people going - this will help the golf pro (as they can struggle with online competition too) and its a freebie for the customers.

Maybe sports teams?
Stag do's
I would say cruises but I think thats probably a bit too diluted too.
Singles? Might be a hard sell though.
Or maybe a little morbid but I read there is a growing demand for older people to go to places like thailand for care. They get nicer accommodation, warmer climate, better care for a fraction of the price - maybe touring tris to visit 2-3 care homes? You might then be able to get repeat custom from the families when they go to visit?

Just off the top of my head.
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Directors Loan Account

StrategyDoctor
You may also need to consider HMRC (see the links below), I am not an expert but one of my clients had a similar situation recently. You should talk to your accountant for professional advice if you are unsure.

Many sets of accounts explicitly state the director’s loan is “repayable on demand” (in which case, yes — the company (i.e. the board) can require repayment).
www.gov.uk

Director's loans

Your and your company's responsibilities - repaying director's loans, interest, tax on loans, reporting to HM Revenue and Customs.
www.gov.uk www.gov.uk
www.gov.uk

Director's loans

Your and your company's responsibilities - repaying director's loans, interest, tax on loans, reporting to HM Revenue and Customs.
www.gov.uk www.gov.uk

The company should have an agreement with you on the mechanism for repaying back any loan. However, in my experience with small companies this can often be informal and the pressure comes for immediate payment when cash gets tight. If you are unsure check the articles, any director/shareholder loan agreement, board minutes, etc.

The HMRC angle - even if the company or other directors are not asking for repayment timing, there are HMRC consequences if it stays overdrawn, some things to check with your accountant:

  • If it’s not repaid within 9 months and 1 day after HMRC can impose a levy (33.75% of loan value?) on GOV.UK for loans made after 6 April 2022). Once the loan is settled I understand the levy is paid back?

  • If the loan is over £10,000 at any point, it’s usually treated as a benefit in kind and there can be personal tax / employer NIC implications.

  • If the company charges interest below HMRC’s official rate, the “discount” can also create a benefit in kind.
If this is a concern for you, a quick email or call to your accountant and they should easily guide you through your specific situation and timings.
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