Auto Enrolment Guide for Small Employers
Here’s something nobody tells you when you’re starting out: hiring your first employee transforms you from a business owner into a pension provider overnight. Quite the promotion, isn’t it? I remember chatting with a café owner in Wimbledon last year—brilliant baker, made these ridiculous cinnamon buns that had queues out the door—who’d just taken on […]
Accounting and Bookkeeping for Busy Owners
Here’s the thing nobody tells you when you start a business: accounting and bookkeeping will haunt you at 2 AM. Not in some dramatic, existential way. More like that niggling sensation that you’ve forgotten something crucial whilst lying in bed—except what you’ve forgotten is three months of receipts shoved into a carrier bag under your […]
Tax Accountant Near Me for Hassle-Free Returns
Here’s something nobody tells you about tax returns: the difference between doing them yourself and having a proper tax accountant near me handle them isn’t just convenience. It’s the gap between overpaying HMRC by £2,000 and actually keeping that money in your pocket. I remember chatting with a mate who’d been filing his own returns […]
Succession Tax Explained: What It Means for Your Estate
Right, let’s address the elephant in the room straightaway: there’s technically no such thing as “succession tax” in the UK. Not officially, anyway. What we’re actually talking about when someone mentions succession tax is Inheritance Tax (IHT) – though you’ll occasionally hear old-timers refer to it as “death duty,” which sounds properly Victorian but hasn’t been the […]
What Is Hereditary Tax? Full UK Guide
Here’s something that trips up most people: hereditary tax doesn’t actually exist – at least not in the way you’d think from the name. What we’re really talking about here is inheritance tax, sometimes called death duties by people who remember when that phrase actually meant something official. The confusion? Completely understandable. “Hereditary” sounds like something that passes […]
Inherent Tax vs Inheritance Tax: What’s the Difference?
Here’s a confession: if you’ve been Googling “inherent tax” in a panic at 2am because someone mentioned it at a dinner party and you nodded along knowingly—you’re not alone. Plot twist? There’s no such thing as inherent tax. But there’s absolutely such a thing as inheritance tax, and that’s what people actually mean when they fumble […]
Chartered Professional Accountant vs Regular Accountant: What It Really Means in the UK
Here’s something nobody tells you when you’re desperately Googling “find accountant near me” at 11 PM before your tax deadline: the person who eventually saves your financial bacon might be called exactly the same thing as someone who can’t legally audit your books. Confusing? Absolutely. But that’s the reality of hiring a chartered professional accountant […]
IHT400 Form HMRC: The Truth About Processing Times in 2025
Here’s something they don’t tell you in those neat government guidance notes: submitting an IHT400 form isn’t just paperwork—it’s the bureaucratic equivalent of launching a message in a bottle across the English Channel. You send it off. You wait. Sometimes you wait more. And the question burning in your mind? When on earth will HMRC […]
Avoid Costly HMRC Tax Investigation Mistakes
Here’s something they don’t tell you at dinner parties: HMRC opened over 31,000 tax investigations last year. That’s roughly 85 people waking up every single day to a brown envelope that makes their stomach drop. And here’s the kicker—most of them made the same handful of mistakes that turned a routine enquiry into a financial […]
