Having received some criticism for the CBILS scheme the Government have launched the Bounce Back Loan Scheme for small businesses. The BBLS offers a 6 year loan with an interest rate of 2.5% for the term, and importantly, for the first 12 months there are no repayments to be made and the Government are paying…Read More
From Monday 4th May HMRC will be commencing contact of self-employed people who are eligible to make a claim under the SEISS scheme. The claims system will be open for applications from 13th May for those eligible and HMRC are promising a payment by 25th May or within 6 working days for qualifying applicants. Details…Read More
(Updated: Friday 17th April) In the Wednesday briefing the Government announced that the eligible date for an employee to be included in the Job Retention Scheme claim has been moved to 19th March (the day before the scheme was announced). This change means that many employees who previously didn’t qualify to be included in the…Read More
Although there is still no portal via which to make a claim yet, there have been some clarifications issued by HMRC on the details of the Job Retention Scheme, the primary updates are: Company directors can be furloughed and still carry out their ‘statutory duties’. They should not however “do work of a kind they…Read More
All businesses with a UK VAT registration have the option to defer VAT payments due between 20 March and 30 June. You therefore have until 31 March 2021 to pay any VAT deferred as a result of this announcement. You do not need to inform HMRC if you wish to defer payment. You can opt…Read More
The Chancellor has announced a scheme to support the self-employed. The government will pay self-employed people, who have been adversely affected by the coronavirus, a taxable grant worth 80% of their average monthly profits over the last 3 years, up to £2,500 per month. If there are not three years available then they will look…Read More
The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has been explicit that it expects employers to continue contributing. It has, however, stated: “We know this is a challenging time for everyone and we recognise the strain this is putting on employers. We will take a proportionate and risk-based approach towards enforcement decisions, in light of these challenging times, with…Read More
(Added 24/3/20) The Highland Council website now includes the Small Business Grant information page including the application form. The Small Business Grant is for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses with a rateable value between £18,001 and up to and including £51,000 will be able to apply for a one-off grant (external link) of £25,000 if operating in that…Read More
The UK Government have put together a hub for business information giving full links and information on the schemes that are currently available. (Please remember there are other/alternative schemes from the Scottish Governments links on our main Coronavirus Support Page Particularly for the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) it includes links to the British…Read More
On Friday 20th March the UK Government announced it’s next set of support measures for the UK economy. The most significant of these measures was the announcement that businesses would be able to recover 80% of salary of workers who have had to be ‘furloughed’ due to Coronavirus up to a maximum of £2,500 per…Read More
This blog is to try and drag together a few points which have come out of a broadcast FSB business advice webinar. As you can imagine there were lots of questions fired at the panelists, some of the ‘key discussion points’ that came up were: Cash Flow – If you are struggling to get customers…Read More
The UK Goverment has announced that the IR35 reforms to the private sector due to come into force on 6th April 2020 have been delayed by 12 months until 6th April 2021. The reforms have come in for considerable criticism from contractors, client businesses as well as the House of Lords, and while the delay…Read More
Yesterday afternoon the UK Government announced further measures to assist businesses through the current Coronavirus problems. The overall guidance page issued by the UK Government remains at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-to-employers-and-businesses-about-covid-19 The detailed support for business can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-to-employers-and-businesses-about-covid-19/covid-19-support-for-businesses The latest measures from the Scottish Goverment (as of 14th March) are at https://www.gov.scot/news/gbp-320-million-package-of-support-for-businesses/
It’s hard to stay up to date with the rapidly changing situation on Covid-19 which will obviously affect businesses and their employees. We have received inquiries from clients about the business impact. As at today, 17th March 2020 the Government advice pages can be found below: Scottish Government https://www.gov.scot/news/covid-19-helpline-for-scottish-businesses/ UK Government https://www.gov.uk/government/news/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-for-employees-employers-and-businesses From the point…Read More
We know we have been quiet but we have been VERY busy in the background, we have been building a new office! Like many businesses Aird started small without a dedicated office space and for over 2 years although this worked we were always working on a bigger plan! Like all bigger plans however they…Read More