Business Archives - Page 8 of 12 - Ihelm Enterprises Limited

Updated Information on how small businesses and the self-employed can weather Covid 19 – June 26th, 2020

26th June 202026th June 2020

Ihelm Enterprises Covid 19 Update June 26

I have been monitoring the information that is being released by the government in regards to guidance to all of the businesses that are allowed to open up from July 4th.

This includes pubs, restaurants, hair salons, tourist attractions, hotels, b&b’s, campsites and caravan parks.

There are still many businesses that cannot open yet, and these include nightclubs, casinos, bowling alleys, indoor play areas, spas, nail bars, beauty salons, tanning salons, massage parlours, tattoo and piercing parlours, indoor fitness and dance studios, indoor gyms and sports facilities, swimming pools and water parks. Hopefully further guidance will be released soon on how these businesses will be able to open safely, and I will share that information as soon as it becomes available.

For all of the businesses that can open, I have had so many updates about the guidance and how these businesses can safely open, that I don’t think I can cover it properly in blog posts or social media posts – the information is changing that fast that I am struggling to keep on top of it.

So instead of me writing a blog post about all of the rules and regulations and such that businesses should follow, I am going to provide a number of links to where you can find the information that the government is producing. That way, you will be able to access the links directly and keep on top of it.

A lot of what the government is saying does revolve around social distancing. They are still saying that everyone must stay 2m apart, but where it is not possible to do that, they should stay 1m apart and take additional precautions to reduce the exposure to Covid-19. They are also encouraging every business to ensure that all staff and customers are using hand sanitiser and hand-washing facilities frequently to help reduce the spread of the virus.

Here are a list of links that you will find very useful to help you to be able to open your business safely:This is the article that discusses which businesses are allowed to open from July 4th and provides a brief overview for what each business should do: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/opening-certain-businesses-and-venues-in-england-from-4-july-2020

This link takes you to the page on the government website that has links to guidance for each individual business sector: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/working-safely-during-coronavirus-covid-19

Each of these links goes into further details about how to safely open the business. It is divided into sections that you can open and read, but you can also download the guidance and a poster to display in your workplace. The downloadable document is very long and lengthy. All of this information is being updated regularly by the government, so it’s worth keeping an eye on it every week to just ensure you are staying on top of all the requirements for opening your business and operating safely.

I am continually monitoring the updates that the government and other business-related departments release and will continue to share that information for as long as I feel that it is beneficial to all businesses in the UK.

The information and policies are continually being updated by the government, so I urge you to keep on top of the information by visiting the relevant website for your area.

UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-to-employers-and-businesses-about-covid-19/covid-19-support-for-businesses
Scotland: https://www.gov.scot/coronavirus-covid-19/
Wales: https://gov.wales/business-and-employers-coronavirus
Northern Ireland: https://www.nibusinessinfo.co.uk/

I will be trying to keep myself as informed as possible and will share relevant information on my fb business page: https://www.facebook.com/ihelmenterprises/

Updated Information on how small businesses and the self-employed can weather Covid 19 – June 15th, 2020

15th June 2020

Ihelm Enterprises Covid 19 Update June 15th

I have been reading through all of the updates from the Government in regards to the SEISS grant and they have released further details about the Self-Employed Income Support Scheme in regards to how it will work for the second payment.

You do not need to have received the first grant in order to take advantage of the second grant, but if you do want to receive the initial grant amount which is based on 80% of your average monthly trading profits (capped at £7,500 in total), you have until 13/07/2020 to do so. The first payment will no longer be available after 13/07/2020.

You will be able to claim for the second amount in August 2020 and you must confirm that your business has been “adversely affected” on or after 14/07/2020. HMRC have provided some examples of what they mean by “adversely affected”:
– you aren’t able to work because you are shielding, self-isolating, are on sick leave due to coronavirus or have caring responsibilities due to coronavirus
– you have had to scale your business down or temporarily stop trading because your supply chain has been interrupted, you have fewer, or no, customers/clients or your staff are unable to come into work.

You will also still need to meet the criteria for the first grant:
– traded in 2018/2019 tax year and submitted your self-assessment tax return on or before 23/04/2020
– traded in the 2019/2020 tax year
– intend to continue to trade in the 2020/2021 tax year

The second payment will be 70% of your average monthly trading profits and will be paid out in a single instalment covering a further 3 months’ worth of profits. It will be capped at £6,570 in total.

At this point in time, HMRC have not given any indication that they will be using a different time period to calculate the amount you are entitled to. It is my understanding that they will still only be looking at the tax returns for 2018/2019, 2017/2018 and 2016/2017 and will calculate the average monthly amount using the exact same method as the first grant – the only difference being it will only be for 70% this time. If HMRC indicate differently, I will update the information and post about it.

The portal for checking eligibility for the second grant doesn’t exist yet as the first grant hasn’t closed. As soon as it is open for people to check their eligibility I will share the link to do so.

HMRC have been updating the various articles they have on SEISS to include information about the second grant and you can read those pages here:
Check if you can claim: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-a-grant-through-the-coronavirus-covid-19-self-employment-income-support-scheme
How different circumstances affect the grant: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/how-different-circumstances-affect-the-self-employment-income-support-scheme

I will be trying to keep myself as informed as possible and will share relevant information on my fb business page: https://www.facebook.com/ihelmenterprises/

Updated Information on how small businesses and the self-employed can weather Covid 19 – June 3rd, 2020

3rd June 2020

Ihelm Enterprises Covid 19 Update June 3rd

On May 29th, the Chancellor announced the details about the extension to the Job Retention Scheme. The extension won’t work the same as the scheme does now as employers will be able to bring staff back part-time and furlough them the rest of the time and employers will have to start making some contributions as well.

The scheme will close to new entrants on June 30th, which means that if employers want to take advantage of being able to furlough staff part-time, they need to make a claim by June 10th, 2020 on the current scheme (this allows staff to be furloughed for the minimum 3-week period). From July 1st, 2020, only employees who have been furloughed for a full 3-week period prior to June 30th, 2020 will be able to be furloughed part-time. However, employers will have until July 31st, 2020 to make any claims relating to the time period ending June 30th, 2020. All other existing criteria will still be in place.

From July 1st, 2020, employers will be able to bring staff back into the workplace on a part-time basis. Employers will be able to set the hours and shift patterns of those staff members, but employers will be responsible for paying all of the payroll costs towards those hours/days that staff work, and the government will pay for the remaining hours/days in the month that the staff have been furloughed.

In respect of the changes to the funding of the scheme, this is how the division will be from July 1st, 2020:

July 2020: The government will continue to pay 80% of wages up to £2,500 plus Employer NI contributions and pension contributions for staff who are furloughed. Employers will be responsible for ONLY paying payroll costs for the time an employee has worked.

August 2020: The government will pay 80% of wages up to £2,500 for staff who are furloughed. Employers will be responsible for paying Employer NI contributions, pension contributions, and all payroll costs for the time an employee worked.

September 2020: The government will pay 70% of wages up to £2,187.50 for staff who are furloughed. Employers will be responsible for paying Employer NI contributions, pension contributions, all payroll costs for the time an employee worked AND 10% of the furloughed wages which will ensure staff are still receiving 80% of their wages when furloughed.

October 2020: The government will pay 60% of wages up to £1,875 for staff who are furloughed. Employers will be responsible for paying Employer NI contributions, pension contributions, all payroll costs for the time an employee worked AND 20% of the furloughed wages which will ensure staff are still receiving 80% of their wages when furloughed.

Employers will need to submit the usual hours an employee would be expected to work in a claim period and the actual hours they have worked.

At present, the information on how to submit a claim through the Job Retention Scheme hasn’t been changed, but I will be continuing to monitor the situation and will share further information as it is released.

The government have stated that after October 31st, 2020, the Job Retention Scheme will be stopped and from November 1st, 2020 employers will be responsible for ALL of the payroll costs associated with having employees.

I will be trying to keep myself as informed as possible and will share relevant information on my fb business page: https://www.facebook.com/ihelmenterprises/

Updated Information on how small businesses and the self-employed can weather Covid 19 – May 29th, 2020

29th May 202029th May 2020

Ihelm Enterprises Covid 19 Update May 29

Many people have been waiting anxiously for further information on the Job Retention Scheme and to see if the Chancellor was going to extend the Self-employed Income Support Scheme. Today the Chancellor has made the following announcements.

1) Job Retention Scheme

In June and July 2020, the JRS will stay as it is – there will be no changes in how much the government contributes and how much the employer contributes.

In August 2020 the government will continue to pay the 80% of wages, but employers will be asked to pay the NI contributions and the Pension Contributions.

In September 2020 the government will pay 70% of the wages up to a maximum of £2,190 and employers will be asked to contribute 10% of the wages to ensure that employees are still receiving 80% of their wages, as well as the NI Contributions and Pension Contributions.

In October 2020 the government will pay 60% of the wages up to a maximum of £1,875 and employers will be asked to contribute 20% of the wages to ensure that employees are still receiving 80% of their wages, as well as the NI Contributions and Pension Contributions.

After October 2020, there will be no more JRS and employers will need to pay all of the payroll costs associated with having staff.

There will be a change to the scheme from July 1st, which will allow employers to bring staff back into the workplace on a parttime basis. Employers will be able to set the hours and shift patterns of those staff, but employers will pay all of the payroll costs towards those hours/days that staff work and the government will pay for the remaining hours/days in the month that the staff have been furloughed.

In order to allow the change from the current set up to the flexible scheme, employers will need to make their final JRS claim in its current format by 10/06/2020, to allow the employees to be furloughed for the minimum 3 week period, so that from July 1st, 2020 they can start to work in the business parttime.

2) Self-employed Income Support Scheme

The government will be opening up the scheme to applications in August for one final payment. To bring it in line with the JRS scheme, the government will only be paying 70% of the turnover for the three month period, up to a maximum of £6,570 (£2,190/month).

This will be the final extension to the SEISS grant – and there will not be any further payments made to self-employed businesses after August, in regards to this scheme.

As more information is released on either of these schemes, I will write further blog posts and share that information across social media and with my clients.

I will be trying to keep myself as informed as possible and will share relevant information on my fb business page: https://www.facebook.com/ihelmenterprises/

What expenses can I claim as self-employed?

25th May 2020

Now that you have registered as self-employed and your business is up and running, it is very important that you ensure you are keeping track of your sales and expenses. However, it isn’t as straight forward as keeping track of all the money coming in and going out of the business. You need to make sure that you are only claiming for those expenses that HMRC recognise as allowable expenses, as otherwise, you could end up with unexpected fines.

There is a lot of information out there about what expenses a self-employed person can claim through the business and the HMRC website does have a pretty comprehensive set of articles on this topic. I wanted to be able to give business owners an overview of what can be claimed to get them started. If you are unsure as to whether something can be claimed as an allowable business expense or not, contact HMRC or your accountant or bookkeeper.

For the most part, the majority of business expenses can be claimed on your self-assessment. There may be some expenses that you enter into the accounts for accounting purposes but then need to discount for tax purposes – ie. Depreciation of assets, entertainment costs relating to clients/suppliers/customers or charitable donations. The main thing you need to keep in mind is that the expense is “wholly and exclusively” for business use.

Some of the expenses are straightforward to deal with. You simply enter them straight into your accounts as long as they are for the business. They include:

Stationery
Printing costs
Postage
Advertising
Computer software
Business premises expenses: rent, utility bills, insurance
Staff costs: salaries, NI contributions, PAYE, pension contributions
Legal and professional costs: accountants, solicitors
Purchase of stock or raw materials and other associated costs
Business insurance
Membership to trade/professional bodies relevant to your business

There are then some types of expenses that aren’t as straight forward.

Travel:

While you can claim for business-related car/van costs like insurance, fuel and repairs – you would only be able to claim for the business portion and no personal use at all, so you would need to work out exactly what your business use is, which can be difficult to calculate.

Instead, you can use the simplified vehicle expenses from HMRC which is a flat rate per mile. This would cover your costs for your vehicle. If you use this method, you do need to keep using it until you have stopped using the vehicle. In order to claim the fate rate, you will need to track your business mileage and have a record of it.

The current rates are (as of 06/04/2020):
Cars and Goods Vehicles (first 10,000 miles) £0.45p/mile
Cars and Goods Vehicles (over 10,000 miles) £0.25p/mile
Motorcycles £0.24p/mile

You can claim for all public transport costs – but only for the business portion, so if you take a journey that is not “wholly and exclusively” for business, you will need to separate out the business portion.

The same applies to hotels and meals.

It is very important to note that you cannot claim for travel between home and your main place of work.

Clothing:

There are very strict rules when it comes to claiming for clothing and this is down to the “wholly and exclusively” rule. You can claim for uniforms, protective clothing needed for work, and costumes for actors or entertainers. If the clothes are not branded with your logo or they could be worn outside of work, you cannot claim these costs on your self-assessment.

Use of Home:

The majority of sole traders work from home and therefore will want to be able to claim for a portion of the household bills. The easiest way to do this is to use the simplified expenses that HMRC have set-up. This method can only be used for those who work at least 25 hours or more a month from home.

Hours of business use/month	Rate/month
25-50	£10
51-100	£18
101 and up	£26

*these are the current rates provided by HMRC

The other method is more complicated and you would need to calculate out the proportion of business use for your home.

These methods only cover things like gas, electricity, mortgage and council tax.

Telephone and Internet:

There are quite strict rules when it comes to claiming for the telephone and internet use when you are self-employed and work from home.

If the telephone/mobile is used for both personal and business purposes, you can’t claim for line rental and can only claim for business calls if they are identifiable on the bill. With the way phone packages work nowadays it can be quite difficult to prove what is a legitimate business expense. A way around it would be to get a completely separate phone line for the business so you are able to claim 100% of the costs.

The same applies to the internet – you need to work out the proportion of the business use and only claim that percentage of the bill. One way is to work out how many hours per month you work from home. Ie. Monday to Friday 9 am to 5 pm – so 8 hours a day, 5 days a week which is 40 hours/week and 160 hours/month (in a 4-week month). There are 672 hours in a month, so the percentage of the internet bill you could claim would be 23.81%.

This is only a brief guide to help get you on-track. If you are unsure about whether an expense is tax allowable, I would encourage you to speak to HMRC or your accountant/bookkeeper.

Updated Information on how small businesses and the self-employed can weather Covid 19 – May 23rd, 2020

23rd May 2020

Ihelm Enterprises Covid 19 Update May 23

The government has provided further clarification on a couple of different items over the last couple of days.

1) Job Retention Scheme

The government has updated the guidance in regards to who is eligible for the Job Retention Scheme in regards to the date an employee was with their employer. There is now a chart on the guidance: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/check-which-employees-you-can-put-on-furlough-to-use-the-coronavirus-job-retention-scheme that shows the date an employee was on an employer’s payroll, when the date of the RTI submission was, and whether they are eligible or not. The table is under the section “Employees you can claim for”.

They have also updated this guidance: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/work-out-80-of-your-employees-wages-to-claim-through-the-coronavirus-job-retention-scheme to explain what functions can be tested on the calculator when trying to check the amount you can claim. Employers are now able to claim for employees who have received top-ups or discretionary payments while they have been furloughed. The government has also made it clear that the amount claimed for NICs cannot be more than 13.8% of the grant claimed for wages.

2) The new Discretionary Fund Grant that Local Authorities are able to issue

It has also been announced that the new Discretionary Fund Grant that recently went live, is now able to be claimed by those who were eligible for the Self-Employed Income Scheme payment. Up until today, those who had received the SEISS grant were not eligible, but that information has now been changed to state that anyone who has received the SEISS grant, is eligible to receive assistance through the Discretionary Fund Grant. This has been clarified in Section 29 and 31 of Version 2: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/887239/Local_Authority_Discretionary_Grants_Fund_-_guidance_for_local_authorities_-_version_2.pdf

I will be trying to keep myself as informed as possible and will share relevant information on my fb business page: https://www.facebook.com/ihelmenterprises/

Updated Information on how small businesses and the self-employed can weather Covid 19 – May 19th, 2020

19th May 2020

Ihelm Enterprises Limited Covid 19 Update May 19

The Coronavirus Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme is finally set to be open from May 26th, 2020!

This scheme allows small- and medium-sized businesses, with fewer than 250 employees, to be able to recover the costs of paying statutory sick pay for coronavirus-related illnesses. They will be able to claim for the funding for eligible periods of sickness from 13/03/2020.

There are guidelines about what you need to keep in order to make this claim – dates when the employee was sick, which dates are qualifying days, the reason they were off work and the employees NI number. You must keep all of these records for 3 years after you receive the payment for your claim. You can read more about how to check whether you are eligible here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-back-statutory-sick-pay-paid-to-employees-due-to-coronavirus-covid-19

The scheme will cover 2 weeks of SSP at a rate of £95.85/week and it covers all types of employment contracts: full-time, part-time, agency contracts, flexible and zero-hour contracts.

There is more information in the news briefing here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/coronavirus-statutory-sick-pay-rebate-scheme-set-to-launch

I will be trying to keep myself as informed as possible and will share relevant information on my fb business page: https://www.facebook.com/ihelmenterprises/

Updated Information on how small businesses and the self-employed can weather Covid 19 – May 14th, 2020

14th May 2020

Ihelm Enterprises Covid 19 Update May 14

Yesterday, the government published the guidance for the Local Authority Discretionary Grant Fund – this is the information the government provided to LAs. This funding is for those businesses who do not meet the criteria for other grants that have been provided like: Self Employment Income Support Scheme, Small Business Rate Relief Grant, Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant – there are further grants listed within the document. Local Authorities will be able to issue grants for £10,000, £25,000 or any value under £10,000 and it will be up to the LA to decide how much they give to a business.

Businesses that this grant is designed to help are those small and micro businesses (as defined in Section 33 Part 2 of the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 and Companies Act 2006), those with relatively high ongoing fixed property-related costs, businesses that are able to demonstrate they have suffered a significant fall in income due to Covid-19, and businesses which occupy property, or part of a property, with a rateable value/annual rent or annual mortgage payments below £51,000. The government has asked Local Authorities to prioritise businesses in shared offices or flexible working spaces, regular market traders with fixed building costs, bed and breakfasts that pay Council Tax instead of business rates, and charity properties that receive charitable business rates relief. The business must have been trading on 11/03/2020 in order to be eligible.

This is a taxable grant, the money does not need to be paid back but it does need to be declared on your accounts and your tax return as income.

It doesn’t state how you apply for this grant, but as it is provided through the Local Authorities, I expect you need to contact your LA and ask them how you apply.

The full document can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/885011/local-authority-discretionary-grants-fund-guidance-local-government.pdf

It was also announced yesterday by John Glenn (the Economic Secretary to the Treasury) that businesses with supply chains which rely on Trade Credit Insurance and are struggling to ensure they are able to maintain their insurance cover, will get help from the government. The government will temporarily guarantee business-to-business transactions currently supported by Trade Credit Insurance which will help businesses to keep their supply chains moving. The full article can be read here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-to-support-businesses-through-trade-credit-insurance-guarantee

I will be trying to keep myself as informed as possible and will share relevant information on my fb business page: https://www.facebook.com/ihelmenterprises/

Updated Information on how small businesses and the self-employed can weather Covid 19 – May 13th, 2020

13th May 2020

Ihelm Enterprises Covid 19 Update May 13

Yesterday, the Chancellor announced that the Job Retention Scheme was being extended until the end of October. They didn’t give many details, and have said that further details on changes to the scheme and such will be made available at the end of May. What they did say was that the scheme wouldn’t work in the same way it does now from August. There will be more flexibility introduced which will allow employees to return to work part-time and employers will be asked to help contribute to the costs of the furlough scheme. The chancellor has said that staff will still be eligible for 80% of their salary, up to a maximum of £2,500, while furloughed. Until the end of July, the JRS will operate exactly how it does right now.

The government also released a step-by-step guide on how to make a claim through the Job Retention Scheme. You can access that document here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/884664/Coronavirus_Job_Retention_Scheme_step_by_step_guide_for_employers.pdf

I will be trying to keep myself as informed as possible and will share relevant information on my fb business page: https://www.facebook.com/ihelmenterprises/

Updated Information on how small businesses and the self-employed can weather Covid 19 – May 12th, 2020

12th May 2020

Ihelm Enterprises Covid 19 Update May 12

Last night the government released guidance on how business owners can make their workplace safe for staff and customers which consisted of 5 key points:

Work from home if you can:
The message is still that if at all possible, people should continue to work from home.
Carry out a Covid-19 risk assessment, in consultation with workers or trade unions:
Employers will need to carry out covid-19 risk assessments to establish what guidelines need to be put into place. The government is asking that owners publish their results on their websites, and all businesses with over 50 employees must do so.
Maintain 2 metres social distancing where possible:
Employers are being asked to re-design their workspace so that it’s possible for everyone to have 2 metres between them – this could be done by staggering start times, having one-way walkthroughs, or changing seating layouts.
Where you cannot maintain 2 metres social distancing, manage transmission risk:
If the workspace cannot be redesigned to ensure a 2 metres social distancing, then employers should look at putting actual barriers in place to help this – shift patterns, less staff in the building, making it so staff aren’t facing each other.
Reinforcing cleaning processes:
Owners will need to ensure that their workplaces are cleaned more frequently and provide handwashing facilities or hand sanitiser at entry and exit points. A downloadable notice has been included in the guidance documents for employers to display in their workplace.

The whole article can be read here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-guidance-launched-to-help-get-brits-safely-back-to-work?utm_source=9b81f82c-c1c9-4121-9d1b-3456ead7138c&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=govuk-notifications&utm_content=immediate

The government has also then published 8 documents (one for each sector) on specific guidance that those types of businesses must follow. If your business falls under more than one category, you will need to ensure you follow all of the guidance in all of the guides:

Construction and other outdoor work: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/working-safely-during-coronavirus-covid-19/construction-and-other-outdoor-work

Factories, plants and warehouses: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/working-safely-during-coronavirus-covid-19/factories-plants-and-warehouses

Labs and Research Facilities: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/working-safely-during-coronavirus-covid-19/labs-and-research-facilities

Offices and contact centres: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/working-safely-during-coronavirus-covid-19/offices-and-contact-centres

Other people’s homes: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/working-safely-during-coronavirus-covid-19/homes

Restaurants offering takeaway or delivery: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/working-safely-during-coronavirus-covid-19/restaurants-offering-takeaway-or-delivery

Shops and branches: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/working-safely-during-coronavirus-covid-19/shops-and-branches

Vehicles: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/working-safely-during-coronavirus-covid-19/vehicles

Each of the documents covers things like how to use the guidance, what do they mean by that category, thinking about the risk, who should go to work, social distancing, managing customers, visitors, staff, cleaning, PPE, managing your workforce, inbound and outbound goods and where to obtain further guidance.

It is important that you make sure that you are following the latest guidance in regards to keeping staff and customers safe. Spot checks will be made on businesses that open to ensure they are following the guidance.

It is important to note that the businesses that can open from May 13th are still limited to only those in essential retail, this does not include pubs, cinemas or hairdressers.

It is really important that everyone understands that at any point in time, the restrictions can be brought into force again with very little notice.

I will be trying to keep myself as informed as possible and will share relevant information on my fb business page: https://www.facebook.com/ihelmenterprises/

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