Firstly, we hope you all had a good New Year and it starts the year off well.

Our team are busy dealing with all the tax returns and as always, January is a little frantic with all the team working hard.

One of our biggest aims is to ensure that all our clients, both business and individuals do not get to January with any surprises. But more importantly we are here to work with you to make managing your personal finances and the financial side of your business as easy and stress free as possible throughout the year.

Over the past few years, we have been working hard to identify how the latest technology and software can help you reduce the time you need to commit to your finances and in addition help manage the time needed by us in managing your affairs.

Our search for new technology continues continuously, but so does our search for new talent to add to the team. As a specialist firm of accountants we have specific needs from across the board and we are are always looking to add the right people to the team.

As you will be aware we have put a big emphasis on creating the best working environment for our team to ensure that they are happy and able to focus on their work without distraction and this will continue in 2023, supporting the team with their health and wellbeing and giving them the opportunity to give back to the community. Watch this space for our charity updates throughout the year and maybe we will see a return of the Charterhouse gardening team later in the year.

If you have any queries we are always here so please contact us.

As a firm, our aim is to make the lives of our clients easier whilst at the same time maximising the value of their business or personal assets. To do this more and more we now look at technology to assist us and enhance the service we provide.

A perfect example of this approach is with our Payroll services which manages the payroll of our business clients. The team, led by Elaine Lynch provide the service that includes;

• Process data instructions (Employment and Statutory compliant)
• Produce reports to assist with management accounting or analysis of staff costs
• Administration of Pension Schemes
• Manage bespoke service requests
• Submission of Realtime information (RTI) to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC)
• Annual (PAYE) Returns

This is only part of our service offering and now our payroll service will be further enhanced as the team will now be working with Paycircle.

Paycircle is a payroll system that puts user experience at the heart of everything they do. From ensuring that people get paid correctly and on time, every time to pulling out all the stops to ensure that everyone who interacts with Paycircle has the best experience.

Having spent many hours looking at different systems before choosing to go with Paycircle, Elaine highlights the following benefits as the most significant:

1. Real time transparency of data
2. Option to activate automation of the payroll following acceptance of processes
3. Dynamic reporting features
4. Compliance with the latest HMRC regulations

The concept of Paycircle doesn’t just meet with Charterhouse’s high standards, it also meets with the high demands of the ever changing world of payroll production, enabling us to manage larger and more complex payroll set ups. It has the ability to articulate the ever-increasing urgency of data demands which impact PAYE Tax, National Insurance, Pension and other third-party organisations.

As is now becoming essential with the next generation of software tools, Paycircle is an eco-system cloud-based collaborative payroll platform for modern payroll bureaus.

To summarise, Paycircle is fully automated, with manual intervention if needed, and does all the heavy lifting – enabling us to spend more time delivering the best service to our clients.

To find out more about our Payroll services and how we can help your business please contact us.

2022 was another tough year for us all, not just because of COVID, but also due to international issues that are having a huge impact on everyone, especially with the rise in cost of living.

Whilst ESG is now the most common terminology used for social responsibility we have been implementing our own CSR strategy for several years and having achieved CSR Accreditation we have a framework in place to ensure we meet ESG targets in the long term.

With these pressures on us all it is even more important that we all help those around us to get through these tough times. Over the past few years, our CSR strategy has ensured that we support the community and charities around us and 2022 was no different.

We continued to support MIND in Harrow who provide support for those people in the community who need help with mental health issues. But our support of charities has not stopped there and we have continued to support a number of other charities including;

• Wycombe Homeless Connection through David White’s business group and golf day.
• Kids Can Achieve, our previous Charity of the Year who one of our teams helped on our Charity Day
• Lindengate Mental Health Charity who also benefited on our Charity Day with a team helping them out as well as sponsoring Owen Hughes, our Marketing Manager and his wife who rode from London to Paris in June.

Helping out with the community is one area of our CSR strategy but as important if not more so is the support for our team who have continued to benefit from our Super Wellness programme helping them make sure both their physical and mental health are cared for.

We also continue to work on environmental issues, reducing our paper usage and increasing our recycling, working with out landlords to have EV charging points installed and reducing our plastic usage. Like every business we are looking to reduce our carbon footprint and every little helps.

Watch this space for our new CSR initiatives for 2023.

As a business we have developed a high level of expertise around R&D Tax relief over the past few years, working with our clients to ensure they are getting the full level of relief and in some circumstances, this has been a significant amount of money.

R&D tax relief can be claimed for work that is part of a specific project to make an advance in science or technology. It cannot be an advance within a social science, like economics, however, with effect from April 2023, R&D in pure mathematics will qualify for relief. Your project may research or develop a new process, product or service or improve on an existing one. To find out full details of what qualifies read the Government website.

During the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement last week, he made significant changes to the scheme citing abuse and fraud in the SME scheme. As a result, he has announced a cut in the enhancement rate to 86% (from 130%) and the tax credit rate to 10% (from 14.5%). For the RDEC (Research and Development Expenditure Credit) scheme, the rate will increase from 13% to 20%.

In addition, restrictions will apply on the costs of EPWs (Externally Provided Workers) that can qualify for R&D tax relief.  The costs of EPWs will only qualify for tax relief where the EPWs are taxed through PAYE.

In addition to the above, R&D tax relief could be restricted to activities which are only undertaken in the UK.

He commented “Despite raising revenue, the OBR have confirmed that these measures have no detrimental impact on the level of R&D investment in the economy. Ahead of the next Budget, we will work with industry to understand what further support R&D intensive SMEs may require.”

But what does this mean for our clients and their businesses. There are a number of good points;

• Firstly, Government reaffirms its commitment to R&D and acknowledges a wider need to change how it funds innovation.
• The R&D tax will be simplified in the longer term and is likely to move on from SME and have a single scheme similar to RDEC.
• This would provide the foundations to better target the relief to certain sectors and projects and avoid the scheme being abused.
• For larger businesses, or some smaller businesses which do not qualify under the SME scheme, it is good to see the RDEC rate up to 20%.

However, as always there is also some bad news;

• The SME scheme has effectively had a cut of a third through the reduction to the enhanced rate moving from 130% to 86% and the tax credit reduction to 10% (from 14.5%). This means those companies who do qualify will get less cash back.
• This is a blanket cut and businesses who legitimately claim and rely on it will find this a brutal attack.
• The changes seem to impact SME’s the most and seems to be heading toward larger and London-centred businesses.
• This shift in strategy could damage the government’s levelling up agenda.

If you are already claiming relief, there is time to plan and make contingencies for the changes as these do not come into effect until April 2023.

If you are an SME and are currently claiming a tax credit the reduction could be up to 54%. However, if you are profitable the reduction should be circa 17%.

To find out how these changes will impact you please contact us and our team will help you plan for the changes and the impact on your business.

Business Support Unit Manager

Rob took the position of Accounts Junior at a local firm of accountants in September 2003 and spent the next couple of years learning the ropes of accounts, tax and VAT preparation, whilst also completing his AAT qualification. In November 2005, Charterhouse took over the practice, and Rob built strong and enduring relationships with clients and outsourcing partners as a member of the accounts department. As his client portfolio and responsibilities grew, Rob maintained the reliability, efficiency and keen eye for detail that he was known for.

In 2019 he was promoted to the role of Client Manager, which gave him his first taste of staff management duties. A year later, he moved up to manage a newly formed Small Business Unit – whose remit included managing bookkeeping and VAT work and continuing the rollout of the firm’s advisory services, as well as promoting cloud accounting offerings, which he is a strong advocate of. In 2021 the team was rebranded to the Business Support Unit, which he continues to manage today.

Away from work, many of Rob’s interests are linked to his passion for music, from playing the guitar to travelling the globe to watch his favourite bands in concert. Over the last decade or so, he has taken multiple trips to various countries to follow Metallica and Iron Maiden on tour. Amongst his many highlights is attending a special 30th anniversary event in California for Metallica. Tickets to this event could only be won and not bought, and the event took place on his birthday. The celebratory night included special guests, live debuts, and many other magical moments.

When he is not working or listening to music, he can be found taking part in quizzes, keeping in touch with friends from around the world, and watching a variety of documentaries, movies, and sports. He loves NFL, where his team is the Pittsburgh Steelers, and supports Tottenham Hotspur, who he has followed since the early nineties.

Small Business Owners can now pay themselves more as the National Insurance threshold change came into effect from 6 July 2022

As of the 6 July this year there has been an increase to the primary threshold (PT) from £9,880 to £12,570.

This change aligns the NI rate with the income tax personal allowance and means that many small business owners will now be able to pay themselves more without having an increased employees NI burden.

The HMRC NI Calculator provides the ability to see what your employee and employer contributions will be.

The increased National Insurance Primary thresholds for tax year 2022/2023 are as follows:-

Effective from 6 July 2022

HMRC require that National Insurance (NI) is calculated period by period rather than as a year to date basis. This means the NI amounts calculated using the new rates are not affected by any NI calculated prior to 6 July 2022.

Directors

The new NI thresholds are applied differently for Directors and will be calculated at the end of each tax year or if the director leaves.

The HMRC Link provides guidance on the rate and thresholds effective from 6 July 2022

To find out how this will affect you and your business contacts us and speak to one of our Tax Advisors.

Over the past few years, CSR (Social Responsibility) has been at the heart of out business, focusing us to ensure that the people arounds us are supported and that we make a positive contribution to society. The focus helps us to ensure that our staff, the community around us and the wider community have the best support we can offer and part of this approach is supporting a number of charities and community projects.

Because of the impact of COVID on charities we decided that this year we would hold our first charity day, during which all of our team would volunteers for their chosen charity to help them with much needed resource.

The three charities we chose to work with on the day were:

• MIND in Harrow (our charity of the year)
• Lindengate Mental Health Charity
• Kids Can Achieve

Our team split up into three groups and spent the day working with the charities to help them. The work was very different to our normal work but, as they say, a change is as good as a holiday. Whilst the work was more manual than we are used to it gave our team an amazing sense of purpose and achievement and when we got everyone together in the evening for something to eat the atmosphere was buzzing.

With the team at MIND having collected a huge pile of clothes to donate, they then helped out in the shop for the day, getting the store ready for the new season. Cem Soydaner our team lead for the day commented “who knew that such a different form of work could be so rewarding, the team were fantastic and hopefully we have helped MIND in Harrow get ready for the new season and give them more clothes to help their fundraising.”

Meanwhile in Wendover, Bucks, the team at Lindengate were helping the charity prepare their conservation area. As a mental health charity they provide those with mental health challenges the change to experience and work in a beautiful, calming space and are a leading conservation organisation in the local area. Krisztina Simko said “the charity is an amazing secret garden and whilst we were there to help, the calming impact on the team that were there helping was amazing. There might be some sore bones though as we had to put some hard work in for the day.”

The last team were heling at Kids Can Achieve, working with them to clear their outside space which is essential to give children and their families much needed outdoor space. Like the team at Lindengate, the KCA team got their hands dirty clearing and weeding but left the space set up for the colder months so the children can enjoy some fresh air space. Shelley Vincett, our team lead there summed the day up “KCA are a charity that help disable children and their families bring some normality and fun to their lives, so being able to help them in any way was a superb opportunity. Taking us out of the office to do some hard manual work was a shock to us all and the aching limbs the next day proved it. The smile it brought to all of us though was worth it. Thank you to KCA for giving us this opportunity and hopefully we can do the same again next year.”

The day has proved to be a huge success, giving our team something to be proud of whilst at the same time helping out charities in great need.

Watch this space next year for our next event.

If you want to find out more about our support for the charities visit our website or contact us.

Welcome to the latest edition of The View, our quarterly update on the key issues both internally and externally that we think will be of interest.

In each edition we feature one of the team and in this edition it is Head of Accounts Audit and Tax, Jigna Shah

Staff Focus

Jigna Shah

Jigna was born in Kenya and moved to the UK to study Accounting & Finance at Nottingham Trent University. She subsequently qualified as a Chartered Certified Accountant and for the last 10 years has been qualified as a Chartered Tax Advisor. Having worked in an accounting practice in Central London for almost 8 years she then joined Charterhouse.

In September 2012, Jigna joined the Charterhouse team as a Tax Senior, overseeing a large portfolio of self-assessment and corporation tax clients, as well as dealing with other compliance and complex enquiry matters.

Since joining Charterhouse as a tax senior, Jigna has developed the team as well as working on complex enquiries and large restructures and was promoted to Assistant Tax Manager in June 2014.

In July 2017, she was again promoted to tax Department manager, managing a team of 9 and a portfolio of high net worth clients. Jigna has continued to develop and manage the team, at the same time factoring in the constant changes in legislation and ensuring the team is delivering well and on a timely basis on all Tax related areas.

In September 2020, Jigna was promoted to Head of Tax and a further promotion followed in April 2022 to Head of Accounts, Audit and Tax, where she now heads three departments of the firm, in addition to heading all projects, such as property planning, company restructurings and liquidations amongst various other planning opportunities that Charterhouse offers.

Outside of work, Jigna spends her time baking and enjoys Zumba classes. She enjoys travelling the world and is a great scuba diver and has swam with Blacktip sharks and Stingrays during her trip to Bora Bora and Fiji. Jigna can fluently speak 4 languages.

HMRC Scam Alert

Almost every day we hear of another scam campaign, either sent via email or on social media, all asking for money. Be it a Nigerian Prince who has £50m to invest or someone claiming that you have gone into debt and owe them money, they are all trying to take advantage of the vulnerable.

Now there is a new scam that is claiming to be from HMRC offering support in paying bills due to COVID. This campaign is via letter and gives you a phone number to call and they will help you with payment options. This number is fake and the letter is not from HMRC.

If you receive a letter from HMRC go to their website and get the contact number from there and call them direct to confirm if the letter and request is genuine or not.

A copy of the type of letter is shown in the image but if you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact us and we will be able to help.

Owen and Charlie have completed their ride.

The peloton sped up the Champs-Elysees, heart rates were increasing, the nerves were jangling and the focus was on the finish line. This could have been the finish to the Tour de France, but in reality, it was the finish to the recent challenge that Owen and Charlie Hughes took on to raise money for Lindengate Mental Health Charity.

Following months of training in cold wet weather, not to mention hours of work raising money for the challenge, it is now done.

Unlike the Tour de France, the challenge finished under the Arc de Triomphe in spectacular surroundings, with other cyclists, all raising money for various charities close to their hearts.  With a well-earned cold beer, Owen and Charlie reflected on what they had achieved.

“From the start in a quiet London at 6.30am on 8th June, through the Garden of England in Kent, the World War 1 battle fields in France and the approach and ride through Paris, the whole challenge has been incredible. It was not without the downsides, the inevitable saddle sores, very tired legs coping with the changing weather but the end result far outweighs the pain.”

To help raise the much needed funds please click here.

Just over a year ago, we were all still in the depths of Covid and restrictions across every aspect of our lives. One aspect that we had already been looking at prior to the pandemic and one that became more prominent in the last two years was the support to the people who work with us and our suppliers.

Key to any job and career is the amount you earn and whilst it is not the only consideration when looking for work it is one of the most important. As an employer, our responsibility is to ensure that anyone who is working with Charterhouse Accountants earns not just the minimum wage, but a wage that ensures they can live properly. Within Charterhouse itself we pride ourselves on paying very competitive salaries, but we also wanted to ensure that anyone working for our 3rd party contractors was also treated fairly and received at least the real living wage as well.

In 2021 we decided to sign up to the “Real Living Wage” and in doing this we committed to ensure that anyone working with Charterhouse and its 3rd party contractors receives a wage which meets everyday needs – like the weekly shop, or a surprise trip to the dentist. We are now celebrating the anniversary of becoming a Real Living Wage employer.

The real Living Wage is the only UK wage rate that is voluntarily paid by almost 10,000 UK businesses who believe in the rights of their staff.

The real living wage is always under review and will help to ensure that more people in the UK are not struggling, especially in these times of high energy costs and inflation.

As a business we are always reviewing the support we give our staff and looking at new ways to ensure they are looked after both at work and at home. To find out more about the benefits of working for Charterhouse have a look at the About Us section on our website.

If you would like to know more about working for us please contact us.

Welcome to the latest edition of The View, our quarterly update on the key issues both internally and externally that we think will be of interest. In each edition we feature one of the team and in this edition it is Associate Director Chris James.

Staff Focus

Chris James

Chris joined Charterhouse as an accounts senior and soon after ran the audit and accounts department as manager before being promoted to Associate Director. In addition to his role as Associate Director, Chris assists the Accounts and Audit department and supports the department managers with technical input. He also undertakes valuations for a whole host of different clients and businesses and is involved in due diligence work on business acquisitions. As an Associate Director his expertise includes:

• Giving strong advice on any financial and accounting related issues you and your business may face.
• Advice on tax planning, particularly in respect of properties.
• Skilled in HMRC enquiries, Tax Preparation, Income Tax, Partnership Tax Returns, and Payroll.
• Able to prepare business valuations.
• Undertake due diligence on the sale and purchase of businesses,
• Able to prepare business plans, forecasts and projections.

Chris loves golf but does not play as much as he would like to because of family commitments, so when he recently advised a client on a new golfing entertainment business which has now successfully launched and is up and running, work and personal interests came together. Also known as the Quizmaster, he is keen on Quizzes and usually forms part of a Charterhouse team with other members of the firm. He has organised a number of quizzes for Charterhouse itself, the local church and other charity events, where he sets all the questions.

MIND in Harrow

As a business, we have always put the health and wellbeing of our staff at the forefront of everything we do and this, to a large extent was behind our decision to adopt MIND in Harrow as our Charity of the Year. Here are 5 highlights of how we are helping them make a difference – so that Harrow is the best place to talk about and take care of mental health and wellbeing;

1. This winter, 6 new volunteers have been recruited and trained for our Mental Health Helpline and Information Service
2. 2500 people have used our Talking Therapies Service in the last 9 months alone
3. 5 new mental health and wellbeing courses have just begun – including Yoga, Bollywood Dance and Writing for Wellbeing
4. They have expanded our Winter Wellbeing Befriending Project – offering short term support for people self-isolating because of covid
5. They are launching a pilot project supporting parents of teens struggling with their mental health

If you want to talk to someone or know someone who needs support find key numbers and information here. For more information on our support of MIND in Harrow and our other community work please contact us. With the easing of restrictions, yet rising rates in covid infections, Mind in Harrow is now pulling out all the stops to support local people struggling with their mental health – as some want to return to face to face support and some want telephone or journey to better mental wellbeing.

Spotlight on Befriending

Mind in Harrow’s Befriending Service provides a mix of one to one and telephone/zoom support for around 55 people each year most vulnerable and isolated because of their mental health. Service users are matched with a befriender for up to two hours a week to share a walk in the park, a cuppa in a café or trip to a garden centre, cinema or perhaps a game of cards to reduce their isolation, to find out more have a look at their website.

Kinja – The season so far

Kinja FC have enjoyed a positive start to the new year within their girls programme, with all teams showing fantastic signs of progress and development, as we kick on with the second half of the 2021/22 season. Our Wildcats Centre for our youngest girls [aged from 4-7 years old] has seen a growth in numbers, with now 6 players within that age group, as well as a number of other girls who are keen to join later in the year… Our U10 Girls have sadly had a couple of departures in the side, with COVID having an impact on a few of the girls not being able to return just yet. Therefore, a decision was made to combine the U9 Girls with the U10 Girls for the remainder of the season. This exciting opportunity will allow the U9 Girls to experience a lot of game time at a strong level, and will allow our U10 Girls to develop their leadership skills, alongside their game development skills, by being role models for our younger girls within the group… The U13 Girls have had a fantastic start to the new year, having come up against Ickenham U14 Girls [an older girls team] in the County Cup… The fantastic performances and growth within our Girls teams has meant the demand for us to create a new U15 Girls side is higher than ever. We have brought in a fantastic new coach in Ashwin, who is helping to build a new U15 Girls side, with great success so far… Finally, our U18 Girls have enjoyed a fantastic start to 2022. After a difficult first-half to the season, the girls managed to beat a strong Watford Ladies side to progress to the Semi Finals of the County Cup.. Read more about these stories and other updates from Kinja here.

With Christmas fast approaching again, it seems as though the last two years have blurred into one and it is only when we look at how far different activities have progressed that we realise the hard work that has gone into supporting our staff, our clients and our communities over the past two years. As we start the countdown to the festive period, you can read about the latest work we have been doing both with the team and the community. This edition includes our work with the staff on SuperWellness as well as the latest update from MIND in Harrow, our Charity of the Year.

Staff Focus

Rut Stefansdottir

Rut Stefansdottir

Born in Iceland, Rut completed her BSc in Business Administration before taking on a role in an international pharmaceutical company for 3 years. She then followed her dream of living abroad and completed a master’s degree in International Human Resource Management and Employment Relations from Middlesex University in London. Having planned on returning to Iceland following her Master’s degree, Rut instead joined Charterhouse in 2012 as an HR Assistant and is still here in London with no intention of moving back to Iceland. Having worked her way up the business, she is now Head of HR and heads up the Charterhouse Administration Department, responsible for enabling continuous organisational productivity improvements in line with Charterhouse’s business strategy. She sits on Charterhouse’s Senior Managers Group whose role is to assist the Joint Managing Director in developing the direction of the firm and safeguarding Charterhouse’s Vision and Values. Since her promotion to Head of HR in September 2020, Rut has focussed on creating and enabling an autonomous and collaborative working environment, delivering the HR strategy in line with the business strategy and based on detailed research and data. Charterhouse always put their employees first and has a big focus on work life balance, creating healthy boundaries as well as helping support employees’ mental and physical health and wellbeing. All these initiatives are driven by Charterhouse’s HR department and are amongst other’s that led to Charterhouse being listed as Finalists in the Accounting Excellence awards in 2021 in the category of Investing in People. Some of the initiatives Rut has led, you can read about on our blog such as: the SuperWellness challenge, Return to the office, Mayor of London Good Work Standard accreditation and CSRA accreditation. Rut has a keen interest in wellbeing, nature and travelling which she tries to combine in her holidays. Her focus is currently on yoga, meditation and hiking.

CSR Update

Health and Wellbeing

SuperWellness is back!

At the beginning of 2020, just as the COVID pandemic struck, we began working with SuperWellness to help improve the health and wellbeing of our employees. Whilst we had already planned the programme before the pandemic hit, the timings were perfect and helped us provide an additional layer of support for our staff. The year-round programme was designed to educate staff about nutrition, create healthy habits related to diet, exercise, sleep, mindfulness, setting individual objectives for each of them. The programme then encouraged team to meet their objectives through a series of challenges. The engagement from the staff was fantastic as demonstrated in the results. Following the success of last year’s programme, we have now decided to re-engage with SuperWellness and design a second programme that will keep all our team motivated throughout the year. This will now include quarterly seminars and full body composition testing followed by practical nutrition and lifestyle tips. The first session around body composition was run in November, with the main topic “Eco-friendly Eating” to keep in line with our drive to become more environmentally focused as a business and as individuals. In line with our work on Corporate Social Responsibility and in order to fight against climate change, every small steps matters. Our food choices determine how food is produced, processed and transported and we can all help by making conscious decisions about how to minimize food waste. During the programme all the team will have the opportunity to discuss their own experiences and set their personal goals for a more sustainable eating in the future.

MIND in Harrow

Christmas Message from Mind in Harrow – Charterhouse Charity of the Year First of all a big hats off to Charterhouse…… who since June, have donated over £2800 helping us to make Harrow the best place to talk about and take care of mental health. And a BIG congratulations to Raj, Michael and Usman – the first three to take up the Charterhouse Charity Challenge with his spectacular skydive fundraising a hair-raising £560! With 60% of local people experiencing deteriorating mental health since the pandemic – Mind in Harrow is facing unprecedented demand – so Charterhouse’s support could not have come at a better time…  We have doubled the number of volunteers on our Mental Health Helpline, run 8 Mental Health Recovery Courses, supported over 400 young people in schools and more people through befriending than ever before. Your support has helped make all of this possible – thank you. We wish everyone at Charterhouse a happy and healthy festive season and 2022 and look forward to being your charity of the year right through to next summer!

Charterhouse Challenge Update

The Charterhouse Challenge is our annual challenge to allow all our staff to challenge themselves to help raise fund for our charity of the year, MIND in Harrow. There are no rules as to what events this can include so anything goes. We have already had three of the team jump out of planes, Raj, Michael and Usman and in doing so they have raised over £560 and counting.   We are now looking to the New Year and numerous challenges are in the pipeline including London to Brighton bike ride, The London Marathon and many others. Every little bit extra we can raise is vital so watch this space for the next update.

Wycombe Homeless Connection (WHC)

The winter appeal is the charity’s big focus at the moment and will help to provide the emergency winter shelter opening from early December until the end of March. Wycombe Homeless Connection (WHC) work throughout the year to support the homeless in and around High Wycombe, but at this time of the year their work takes on a new sense of urgency with the winter setting in. There are a number of key events that, as a business, we support and promote to help out, specifically: The Big Sleepout 2021: At Home and the Big Quiz took place on Friday 19^th November and raised  £27,000. This money will help provide shelter to people who would otherwise be sleeping rough this winter. There is still time to donate and if you don’t know someone who took part you can give to the overall effort here:  https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/BigSleepout2021AtHome

Winter Appeal: Keeping everyone safe in the coldest months

On 1^st December they opened their winter emergency accommodation to make sure hope and help is available to anyone who would otherwise be facing sleeping on the street. While they are working to make sure as few people as possible return to the streets, WHC would always ask that you please consider donating to their appeal throughout the year; this winter is going to be very tough for some of the most vulnerable people in our community and we all need help where possible.  Click here to find out more and to donate to our winter appeal

Kinja – The season so far

As we begin the run in to Christmas, it seems strange that we are already talking about reviewing the  first half of the season. Having had a superb start to the season, Kinja Girls have since had a more varied set of results, but at this age, the results are not the only focus of the club and its work with the girls. As with all sports teams, there are always ups and downs and you can see a full report of all the matches and latest updates here. As with all teams it is important to learn the lessons when things don’t go as well as you would like and we have no doubt the Kinja Girls teams will come out even stronger in the second half of the season. Our support of Kinja as well as our other charity work is not just about the good times, it is about working with the community to ensure that where possible, everyone has access to the support and opportunities no matter what their circumstances are. Read more about the club and their latest news here. As a business our values aim to ensure we put people at the heart of our business and especially being “Dependable” and “Diverse” mean we are there for all. To read more about our values click here. To find out more about how we support Kinja and our other community projects please contact us.

Corporate Services

MTD update – property

The combination of Making Tax Digital (MTD) and Income Tax Self Assessment (ITSA) and the requirements it places on Landlords has once again brought the subject of incorporating your property portfolio to the fore. With the introduction of MTD for ITSA from April 2024, the impact on everyone is going to be significant but many Landlords in particular will be impacted. MTD for ITSA is sure to come as a shock to many individuals that privately own rental property as income from furnished holiday lettings, commercial property and non-UK properties is included too. People who have inherited a single property they offer for rent may not even be aware that, in the eyes of HMRC, they’re running a business—and that MTD for ITSA may apply to them. Many smaller landlords tend to keep basic accounting records, if they keep any at all. Some may not even declare their income, while others may not correctly understand how property rental income is taxed. Whilst there will be many changes taking place, a recent report from SAGE explained all the changes and summarised them well. Read more here. 

Free Ports – what are they and how can they benefit your business?

According to Wikipedia Free Ports in the United Kingdom are a series of government assigned special economic zones where customs rules such as taxes do not apply until goods leave the specified zone. The theoretical purpose of such free ports is to encourage economic activity in the surrounding area and increase manufacturing. As part of the 2021 United Kingdom budget, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak announced that eight new free ports would be created. They are East Midlands Airport, Felixstowe and Harwich, Humber region, Liverpool City Region, Plymouth, Solent, Thames and Teesside. The Thames Freeport is an economic zone connecting Ford’s world-class Dagenham engine plant to the global ports at London Gateway and Tilbury, to build on introducing the electric and autonomous vehicle technology along the A13 corridor into London. With the Thames Freeport area so close, there may be potential tax benefits to your business, find out more here.

Awards Update

In October the glitz and glamour returned to the accountancy profession after a year out due to the pandemic. The occasion was the annual Accounting Excellence awards, once again held at The Brewery in The City. The excitement had been building at Charterhouse having been shortlisted for two awards, we were all hoping that we would come away with a trophy. So it was that ten of us from the office dusted down the black ties and dresses and headed off to town. The event was hosted by Marcus Brigstocke and Rachel Pariss who were very entertaining and took us all through the awards, almost seamlessly. Unfortunately, we didn’t come away with a trophy in either category, but to be shortlisted from such a high-quality list of entries was an honour in itself and is testament to our team, their hard work, and support given to staff and clients alike over the last two years. A big thank you to all involved in our teams as well as those who organised the evening and congratulations to all the winners, your awards were well deserved.   This year for us at Charterhouse it really was a case of “so near so far” but have no fear we will be back next year, when hopefully we will make it to the top step.