Accountancy & Tax In Orkney Islands

Having a good firm of accountants on your side will ensure that you have all the information and support that you need to help your business grow and flourish.

They can offer advice and help you comply with accounting and tax requirements.

If you are self employed or run a small enterprise in Orkney Islands, it makes sense to use an Accountant or Bookkeeper who is keen to help small business and new business start ups rather than struggle with the task yourself.

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If you would like some free friendly advice from a trusted local partner relating to any accountancy or tax matter, please complete and submit this form. There will not be any pressure nor will you be under any obligation to buy paid services.

Accountancy & Tax in Orkney Islands

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Your Accountancy Questions Answered

If you run your own business in Orkney Islands and would like to learn more about accounts, bookkeeping, National Insurance, or VAT, we have compiled a library of useful resources and frequently asked questions which we hope that you will find both interesting and useful.

See Full List of Accountancy Articles

Tips to Keep Your Business Healthy

A healthy business results in happy teams which means increased revenue and loyal customers. It is important to keep a financial and non-financial checks on your business to sustain growth. The following advice can help keep your business healthy.

Bookkeeping tips for start-ups and self employed

When you are new to self-employment, you have a million and one things to do and normally bookkeeping isn't at the top of the list. Most new business owners are spending hours and hours of their time growing their new start-up and have little time to spare to keep up to date with all of the receipts and invoices.

Free Cashflow Template and Instructions

Download our free cashflow forecast template together with the instructions required to help you create and update an accurate guide to your business finances.

How to stay on top of late payments

Completed a job and invoiced your client but haven't been paid? Sadly for many small businesses, this is a common occurrence.

How an accountant can help your business

Firstly, ask yourself, why do I need an accountant?

Free Accounting Resources

The following items are in our FREE start-up pack and can be download individually or as part of the whole pack.

Personal Survival Budget

This template will help you to identify how much profit your business needs to make to cover your own personal outgoings.

Download

Cashflow Forecast

An easy to use template. Instructions are included - just input your figures and the spreadsheet will perform all of the calculations for you.

Download

Business Plan Template

One of the most important steps but is often ignored. This document will provide you with a clear road-map for your business.

Download

Please note that one-time registration is required to unlock all of the free items on this site.

Main Accounting Considerations

One of the first decisions you will need to make is which legal structure is likely to suit your new business and this will affect your accountancy obligations.

You can read a detailed article about your various options at: Sole Trader or Limited Company?

The information below primarily relates to self-employment but if you decide to trade as a limited company, you can read more here: Running a Limited Company.

Becoming Self-Employed

You should tell HMRC as soon as you start self-employment, otherwise you may face a penalty. You are considered to have started self-employment when you have something to sell and either have a customer for your goods or services, or you are actively marketing your business.

You can let HMRC know about your self-employment by registering online for business taxes. A Self-Assessment Online account will automatically be set up at the same time. This allows you to send your Self-Assessment tax returns online. You will receive an Activation Code. You need to activate the service within 28 days. If you don’t, you will have to ask for a new Activation Code.

You can register online at www.hmrc.gov.uk/online/new.htm

National Insurance

As a self-employed person, you pay a fixed amount of Class 2 National Insurance contributions (NIC). If your profits are above a certain limit, you may also have to pay Class 4 National Insurance contributions.

See Self-employed National Insurance rates for full details.

Statutory Records

It is very important that you set up a record keeping system and keep all records and supporting documents. Records for the current tax year must be retained until 31 January 2022.

You must keep records of all money coming into and going out of your business. This includes all cash, cheques and credit card transactions.

Your records should be adequate to allow you to complete an accurate Self Assessment return. You will be expected to keep a full record of:

All sales made and other business income, as it is earned.
The cost of all business expenses and purchases as you pay them, no matter how little they cost.
All purchases of business stock, goods and raw materials.
Mileage records.
Capital expenditure; keep a separate record of all purchases and sales of business equipment, machinery and vehicles, together with the receipts.
Keep a record of the market value of equipment or vehicles introduced into the business that you owned before starting your business.

See Business records if you're self-employed for full details.

Key Dates

There are key dates that you need to be aware of during the financial year. These relate to reporting and payment of any monies due. A list of dates and full explanation can be found here.

Value Added Tax (VAT)

You must register for VAT if:

Your taxable turnover exceeds the VAT threshold in any 12 month period
you expect your taxable turnover to exceed the VAT threshold within the next 30 days
you take over an existing VAT registered business as a going concern

You have 30 days from the date you meet any of these criteria to register.

Usually, VAT registration can be completed online and if you apply online, you will be enrolled automatically so that you can submit your VAT return online (there is no longer a paper version).

The current VAT threshold is £85,000; if your turnover is below the registration limit, you can choose whether to apply for voluntary registration. The standard rate of VAT currently is 20%.

See the official VAT website for full up to date details.

Further Advice and Help

HMRC website GOV.UK website Tax Help Factsheets Webinars, e-learning, emails and video for self-employed Contact HMRC Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy

Accountants in Orkney Islands

If you can help new business start ups or existing small businesses in Orkney Islands , we would love to promote you here free of charge (add free listing).

The Long Partnership

The best time to talk to an accountant is when you first think about starting or buying your own business. The next best time is now. A little bit of time and money invested in timely advice could save you thousands of pounds and make the difference between success and failure, particularly if start-up funds are limited. We’d love to get to know you better & take some of the work off your plate. Call to book a FREE consultation or request a call back today!

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