Contractors Articles

With the lofty aim of making Britain the best place in the world to start a business, the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act has received Royal Assent. Now enshrined in law, the Act promises, amongst other features, vastly improved access to finance for start-ups and SMEs.

Neil Armitage Operations Director, Umbrella Accountancy Services, commented “In doing so the Act seeks to scratch an itch that has irritated many of Britain’s budding entrepreneurs: the banking and finance industries have recovered their solidity without stretching their books sufficiently to support Start-Up UK.

Umbrella Accountants are pleased to announce they have now achieved the status of FreeAgent Premium Partner.

Having moved over from their existing software supplier in mid-2014 Umbrella Accountants have migrated over 1,000 clients onto the system and have a training program in place that means 100% of their accountancy staff are FreeAgent accredited.

Operations Director Neil Armitage said “I have passed the accreditation myself as FreeAgent is now at the core of our clients’ experience so we need to reflect that across the board. Using FreeAgent has meant that we can concentrate on providing first class accounting advice and tax planning while the clients have up to date information wherever they are. By signing up with FreeAgent we have 70 plus experts working on the accountancy software for our clients and updating constantly”

Kilian Fitzsimmons-Wilson from FreeAgent added “We’re delighted to welcome Umbrella Accountants as Premium Partners. Since they joined we have seen the numbers and usage rise considerably as the company grows and it’s pleasing to know FreeAgent has been a big part of that growth.”

All Umbrella Companies are Equal (AUCAE) have launched a survey so that contractors can have their say on any concerns they may have about the Government’s proposed changes to tax relief on travel and subsistence that were announced in Budget 2015.

The Government has announced it may restrict tax relief on travel and expenses for some contractors where they cannot demonstrate they have control, supervision or direction of their own work. 

Yesterday we highlighted the key changes to the amounts of personal taxation and national insurance contractors will pay due to changes that come into force for the new tax year (started 6^th April 2015).

One of the changes that dictates how much many contractors will pay themselves as wages when working through their own Personal Service Company (PSC) is that employees national insurance now starts at a lower amount than employers national insurance (but up from the £153 in the prior tax year).