Foreign.

And welcome to the Pat Accounting Podcast with me, your host, Vicky Clark.

I'm going to help you get to grips with your finances, save you lots of money and take the stress out of doing your tax return.

So let's get going.

Welcome everyone, to this week's Live on time, on the right day and with the right people.

So we are good for Wednesday.

Lee is back.

I haven't left him.

He's still here.

And it's just been very busy and we've had a lot of guests on, which has been nice.

I spent a week trolling through the reviews to see if my name had been mentioned at all on them.

Do you know what someone did.

Did someone do.

Did someone say your name?

But I don't think it was.

I've had one.

Yeah, she's had one, guys.

So update on Lee.

Lee's had one good review.

To be fair, I've had more than one review.

It's just I haven't been named specifically, so I'm not complaining.

All the reviews had brilliant.

Lee did someone's tax return and Abby and Leighton got the review, which I thought was hilarious.

It happens all the time, ladies and gents.

Even I get reviews and I didn't even do any work.

It wasn't even me.

I.

And I still get the review.

So keep them coming for Vicky.

So by the end of the year we can top them up and see who's had more because it does give us a lot of pleasure when people thank me when I didn't do the tax.

So, yes, we are back today with a more tax related podcast than before.

But, but before I go into that, obviously there's, there's a few things I feel like we need to mention.

So one of the things I wasn't going to talk about, but we have to because it's the elephant in the room, social media, the pros and cons, Lee's neighbors, because he doesn't know what I'm going to say, but the pros and cons of social media, I, when I started the Pet Accountant Back in 2021, the first year I did it on my own, it was built on social media, especially Facebook and it could be a very, very, very good tool to use.

However, it can also be a very, very dangerous tool as a certain individual has found out over the last few days when a very ill thought out post was put on their Facebook and there's been masses of backlash.

It's gone viral on TikTok and I think if the groomers out there will know What I'm talking about, the non groomers won't have a clue.

So apologies but basically in a nutshell it was a grooming post putting down another groomer to maybe enhance their skills better.

But in a nutshell, without going into too much detail, I'm not the best many names but everyone knows who they are in the grooming world and it's just to say, you know, use social media properly and think about what you're doing before you put posts out there.

Because like I said, it can build business very quickly but it can also ruin the business very quickly.

As we have found out over the last few days, it has not gone down well and rightfully so.

It was unnecessary and we just hope that the other person involved maybe hasn't seen it or if has, has got plenty of support around them to get.

I think the support has definitely been there.

I mean the, the community, the, the dog grooming community has all rallied together, pointed out the, the rights and the wrongs of the post and, and as rallied behind the, the original groomers groom that basically said, you know, there's nothing wrong with it.

It's, you know, I think one of the videos that I've seen certainly on TikTok where they've said that you can know you can paint 10 painters to paint a bunch of flowers and every painting will be different and it doesn't mean that they're nicer or right or wrong.

It's just the perceptions that everybody has.

So you know, and I think we've, we've taken something away from that ourselves as well and you just have to be very, very careful and, and the reason behind you making those hosts and we know what the reason was, it was to promote, to promote your own business but probably just done in the wrong way and handled very, very carelessly.

Not done very tastefully.

Not very tastefully, yeah, you know, it.

Doesn'T, it doesn't reflect well.

It has the opposite effect and you know, we're lucky enough and part of the reason why I joined or went into the pet industry is because of the support and how nice everyone is and you know, and that's why posts like that just won't fly.

So I sort of feel sorry for the person that posted it.

But then I think, well you've obviously thought about it so tough tits, you're gonna have to ride the wave now and see what happens.

But yeah, the groomers will know what I'm talking about.

The non groomers.

That's basically in a nutshell which then made me Funny because I was going to mention social media anyway because something is slightly more light hearted.

But the same very annoying is I got a screenshot from a lovely lady.

He was in another grooming group and someone had put a post on this grooming group saying does anyone know a good accountant?

And look for an accountant, blah blah.

And we got a few comments saying, oh yeah, the pet accountant.

Vicky's amazing, obviously.

And then as someone put Vicky's amazing, it's a great account.

Someone put a post underneath saying Vicky is Bill Betts daughter.

And I wouldn't go with them because they're useless at replying.

So I went with someone else.

Go local.

Support local.

So this lovely lady, not a client of ours, but I think is in the group, sent me the screenshot and firstly I was like Bill Betts daughter.

So just for context, I'm 38, Bill's 45, so unless he had me when he was 7, so that's not gonna work.

So I did, I did forward the screenshot to Bill and he was like, what the hell?

I don't know if it insults me or him more, I'm not entirely sure.

But just for clarity, I am not Bill Betts daughter nor my Bill Bett's wife, which was what we got at the beginning.

So we progressed from wife to daughter.

Slightly more creepier on the daughter front.

So just to squash any rumors, I'm not related to Bill Beths, I'm not his daughter nor his wife.

So she's not formally Vicky Betts.

I am not formally Vicky Betts.

I haven't changed my name, but I just thought it was hilarious that someone could quite blazingly, and they were the admin of the group as well, just say that I'm Bill Betts daughter.

Just put it out online like with no factual basis.

And the comment again has since been removed by that person.

Obviously felt like an idiot for saying it.

And then I thought, well, who is this woman?

Because she's not a client.

We have a lot of clients but unlike other accountancy firms, we know who you guys are.

And I thought we don't, we don't have that woman as a client.

And I thought I'm just going to double check just in case they use a different name or whatever.

So we checked on the database.

No, it can't.

And we checked our emails.

No, no emails.

Because when we get these comments we obviously do a bit of research and say, where are we?

So yeah, did we drop the ball?

Yeah, Tegan's looking and I'm looking and I can't really find anything.

And then we did a deep, deep dive into our Facebook message catalog and found this individual.

Again, I'm not going to mention names because we're not like that.

And I don't think she's in the group because I had a look send us a Facebook message back in summer 2022 and it did take a week to reply and we checked.

It's because I was on holiday.

So to be fair, the message as well was, hi, can you help?

Yeah, hi, how can you help?

Yeah, well, that was a bit of a vague message.

Bea did reply, albeit a week, but we were on holiday and it was three years ago.

Three years ago.

And she's still harboring a grudge that we didn't reply instantly on Facebook Messenger.

So again, it's false information saying I'm Bill Betts daughter and then trying to put another business down when there's no real bones to the complaint.

Had it been two weeks ago, fair enough, but it was three years ago.

Get a grip.

That's all I've got to say.

Get a grip.

If you're listening, get a grip.

Right, because I'm not going to have you as a client now anyway.

So is this Vicki's Like Wine podcast?

Yes, I have a little rant every day, Get a grip, stop spiking other businesses off, stop bringing people down and use social media for what it's for.

Positively there's just no need for it.

So there we go, it's my rant over.

So just to clarify, disclaimer, I'm not Bill Best daughter, nor am I Bill Better wife.

And we do reply to messages as a rule of thumb, within 48 hours.

Sometimes it's a bit longer if it's like April or January or if it's payroll related, if it's at month then.

Because we've got a lot of payrolls to run, but generally 48 hours we will reply, just FYI.

But that doesn't there.

And then 2022 is where me and Lee merged as well.

And that was an admin nightmare.

Yeah.

So I'm not surprised we didn't time.

But we actually have another member of staff on our social media site as well now, so we increased the.

The people that are able to answer those messages as well.

So Brian, he's joined us.

She's going to be working alongside Tegan, so you're going to see the two of them a lot more.

They're going to be heavy on the Tik Tok videos, heavy on the Facebook side.

Of things and again being able to answer questions and just really just to boost our, boost our profile best.

But we have so many different platforms, it's so hard like keep track of messages sometimes as, as business owners you'll know that, that you know, you're getting Instagram, Facebook, email, website, phone, text, blah.

And it is quite difficult.

But we do try and be quick.

So apologies circa 2022 when we were a bit slow, slow.

I will tell my 2022 self to.

Hurry up but I think, I think it's important as well because this week we had a business milestone.

We actually hit a thousand clients this, this week as well.

So it's come a long, long way from, from them, from when we merged, you know, and we are trying our damned hardest to be able to be responsive on email, on telephones.

You know, we will still maintain that if you ring and try to speak to one of us, if me and Vicky are available, we'll take the call.

If we're not available we will ring you back.

So and whenever you come through you'll either speak to Emily or Nicola generally and they're the ones that answer the phones for us, deals with any inquiries that they can.

And then like I said, you know, if you're after me or Vicky, this Abby, there's Lindsay and then you've got the bookkeepers as well.

So there's always somebody here that will be able to take that call, answer any questions that you have and then make sure that you know, you understand whatever it is that you need to understand or, or get the information that you need.

So we've come a long way.

I know people might say oh, a thousand clients, like you're going to turn out like one of those corporate firms where we don't talk to you or we ignore you.

And that's not the case, you know, we, we are taking staff on as quickly as we possibly can so that we make sure that we don't lose that reason why we started this in the first place, to be different to the other accountants.

So don't be put off by the fact we've got a thousand clients, we still know you all, we see you all, obviously some more than others because some bug us more than others.

I think from an accountancy perspective, I know that in other accountancy firms they give client reference numbers and those reference numbers are used internally to identify the work and things we don't.

Our clients are our clients names and that helps us get closer to our clients because then when you ring, I'm not having to go and find a reference number, to find the file, if you come in to speak to me, because I've done your account, so I'm your accountant, I know who you are, I know what you do and I know the history.

So it's.

And that's the same for the entire team, it's a little bit different.

If you haven't spoken to a member.

Of staff before and they haven't dealt with you, then I understand.

But your name, that brings up your profile and you, you are not a number to us, you are a genuine.

You know, we got a small number of clients each that we all look after and, and, and that's the way that we want to push that forward as well, so we don't lose that small firm mentality.

And, you know, even at a thousand clients, we are still a small firm.

Yes, there might be more of us and yes, we're growing, but we are still a small firm in the eyes of accountants and other bits and pieces, you know, compared to the bigger players out there.

So, you know, Carile, that's got like 100 staff.

Yeah, we've got 40.

So in relative terms we are quite small.

Yeah.

But, you know, we will still show up.

Even when we have 10,000 clients, we will still be here having my rant about social media and people out, me family members.

So, yeah, we will still be here.

And Lee did mention the TikTok and Tegan has been bugging me for months and months and months to try and get on TikTok.

I've tried to avoid it because I don't want my face on Tick Tock.

To be honest.

I'm not really.

I've not wanted to be in front of the camera.

Tegan has a much more pleasant face to look at.

So her and Brian, you've been all over Tick Tock, so if you are a Tick Tock person, please follow us.

It is literally called the Pet Accountant on Tick Tock and drop us a follow.

It'll make Tegan stay if we can get those followers up.

I think the, the TikTok side, we're just going to try and keep that a little bit light hearted, a little bit informative, but light hearted as well.

So there should be some laughs in there.

Yeah, there's.

There'll be a few outtake videos and a few silly videos.

We did play a trick on Bryony on our first day because there was a TikTok trend where someone says, all right, guys, it's 10:41 and we all stand up and clap so we did that on our first day and she like stood up and looked around, was like, why is everyone clapping?

And then just started clapping.

It was hilarious.

So we'll put that video on as well, just so everyone can have a look.

But yeah, so give us a follow.

Anyway, more to the tax related subject of this podcast after Vicky's rant over, but it'll be interesting to see how everything else follows on social media.

We'll give you an update next week of who my family members are.

Maybe, maybe Lee's my son, who knows?

You're older than me, so I'm not sure how that would work, but there we go.

We're not really.

Just FYI.

Right, just a quick one before Lee goes into his magical world of tax tips because he is the encyclopedia of tax making Tax Digital.

I know I keep going on about it, but it needs to be said, if you have got a turnover of 50k or more this year, you will be getting a letter from HMRC regarding Maker Tax Digital and going on software from April next year.

So if you are a person that has a turnover of 50k and that includes rental income and you don't have an accountant and you haven't got a clue what we're talking about, then please, please, please get in touch because it will affect you from April next year and it is compulsory.

It's not something that you can decide to opt out of.

So if you have a turnover of 50k or more and you have no idea what we're talking about or you're not on software, please, please, please get in touch and because it will affect you and you need to be on top of that because there's loads of changes going to be coming with that and we'll give you a more thorough update nearer the time because I know we've mentioned it quite a few times, but it's important because it's not really out and about at the minute, apart from the odd let other people have had.

So yes, if you are that person, please let us know if you have got a turnover of 30 grand or more.

You don't really need to about worry, worry until the year after next and again we'll give you more updates next year during that point.

My tax tip for today is get a good accountant.

That is my tax tip because only you laugh but it's true, because there's some rubbish accountants out there, ones that are all right and they'll just take your figures, plunk them in the tax return and off your pop and there's Ones at us that specialize in certain areas and will actually question you to make sure that we have got all of the expenses in there so that your tax bill is lower.

So it does make a difference.

Do your research and make sure they are legit because anyone could call themselves an accountant tomorrow and you wouldn't know be any the wiser.

So just make sure you check.

That is my tax tip for today.

Over to you, Lee.

Brilliant.

Okay, legally patient to get all these tax tips out there.

I was just making some notes as well, just writing them down.

So we're going there.

So, so this is going to be a little bit of a mixture 1.

So I'll talk about limited companies and sole traders as well.

A lot of them can be interchangeable but if, if there is a difference between them I will let you know as well.

So the first one is for a limited company.

It's been talked about a lot in one of the other groups is trivial benefits.

Now a trivial benefit is if you've got any employees that are on the payroll where you report that payroll to hmrc.

So you can't include subcontractors.

You can buy a gift for a member of staff up to the value of 50 pounds including VAT every single month.

There's no limit to the number of them that you can get as long as it's not contractual or linked to a performance based reward system.

And you can't exchange that £50 for a cash voucher.

So I. E. You couldn't buy a voucher that they could then go in the shop and the shop would exchange it for back into cash.

But you could buy for argument's sake like an Amazon voucher where they could buy gifts from it from Amazon.

You could take them out for a meal and you know, as long as it's the meal is less than that £50 including the VAT you can spend those trivial benefits on those members of staff as many as you want throughout the year without a limit on that.

Now if you're a director is a limit on them and you can only have six of them in your, in your financial year.

So that's £300 but again maximum of £50 at a time.

But the rules are still the same for yourself with regards to what it is that you can buy.

So if you are a director and you're not currently using your trivial benefits, why don't you go and get yourself six fifty pound Amazon vouchers and go and splurge three hundred pound or something on Amazon?

I did, I bought Six fifty pound TUI vouchers and spots.

A hundred pound off me holiday.

Yep.

So, you know, there's, there's ways and means there that you can utilize those trivial benefits to save on your tax bill.

From a corporation tax point of view.

Now, unfortunately, that's not available to sole traders, so that's only if you're employees of a limited company.

One good one, or one that I would always say that that's available to both sole traders, unlimited companies, is if you're using your personal vehicle for business purposes, you should be looking at claiming mileage for the business journeys that you do.

Now, I say business journeys.

Going to and from a regular place of work is classed as a commute and commuting isn't allowed as a business expense.

But if you're having to go to the suppliers, you're having to go to the shop to buy stationery, or you go into a trade show like crafts, for argument's sake, you can track that mileage and you can be claiming 45 pence a mile for every business mile that you do there, back or the Expo.

Absolutely.

In Birmingham.

So you can claim 45 pence a mile and for the first 10,000 miles.

After the first 10,000, it drops down to 25 pence a mile.

But if you do quite a few miles, that adds up.

I mean, that's substantial.

You do 10,000 miles, that's four and a half thousand pounds as an allowable expense in your accounts, reducing your tax bill.

So that's.

That really is.

And most people say, oh, well, I just nipped in the car, I didn't keep a log of it.

And, you know, there's no point because it was just here or there.

I picked up a client's dog and dropped it back off.

But I don't use it much.

They add up.

So keep a log of them.

At the end of the year, give that log to your accountant, add up all the miles that you've done and then we can look at how much we can claim for that, that use of your personal vehicle.

Now, if you're putting through the full expenses of your vehicle, you've claimed for the price of the vehicle, you're claiming fuel, and then you top up, you know, from the.

The fuel pump and you put the receipt in.

You can't claim 45 pence a mile.

What you need to make sure you're doing in that instance is every single time that you have work done on the car, every single time that you fill it up with fuel, you keep all of Those receipts, even if there's personal mileage or personal use mixed in with that, because we apportion the total at the end of the year, if you give us only half of the receipts, we're apportioning half of them.

So you need to make sure that you give us absolutely everything for the year in its entirety and let us apportion it so that we claim the right amount, because that means that you'll get more than what you would do if you just give us half the receipts.

Another great one is that you need to make sure that anything that you pay for personally that's not gone through your business account is included with the records that you give to us, or when you do your self assessment, just because you've paid for it through a different business account, and maybe it was through a personal account, if you're a director, maybe you've paid for it personally rather than the business.

All of these things are still allowable expenses.

So anytime that you pay for something that's a.

That's wholly and exclusively for business, you need to be putting that into your account, into your paperwork, so that we can include it in the accounts where it got paid from.

Doesn't matter.

I literally had one of those last week where I said to the client, I said, there's not many expenses here on QuickBooks.

And I said, you must have more.

And she went, oh yeah, I've got a more.

But I paid for my personal card so I can't put them through.

And I was like, no, you can.

I had it and I need them.

So, you know, and some, like I said before, some accountants would have just taken what they found on QuickBooks, whacked it in the tax return, said, here's your bill, when actually there was a few hundred more worth of expenses through.

But because she thought she paid for my personal card, sold trader, I might add, that she couldn't put them through.

And I said, no, you can like send me the details.

And we got those others in.

Yeah, as a general rule of thumb, I will.

Or once I've processed the records that we've had and I've got them into some form of accounts, I can see the categories that we've used.

Yeah.

And I go through those categories thinking, right, hang on, we haven't got anything in for a mobile phone.

So insurance is another one that's always missed.

So we go back.

So there's a couple on there that is generally missing.

It's mobile phones, insurance, business mileage, some meals and accommodation, bank charges.

So What I'll generally do is I'll go back to a client and say, look, I think you've missed some expenses.

Have you spent any money on these?

Now, that's very different to us making those figures up and randomly putting things in your account to reduce your tax bill.

That's completely illegal and if your accountant is doing that, it's fraudulent and you are falsely claiming expenses that you didn't spend any money on, or if you did spend them on, there's no correlation to, to what you actually spent to what's going in your account.

Please, please be very careful.

End up people go to jail.

Yeah, yeah, you're good.

I think HMRC are, are rather than trying to raise taxes, they're going down the route of increasing the number of staffs that they've got to increase the amount of tax avoidance scams and, and, and practices so they getting the money back through people not paying tax legitimately.

I think over the next two years.

I mean, HMRC has already admitted this morning they got a thousand people that look after the, the highest earners in the uk.

They can't tell us how many billionaires there are, which is mindboggling, considering they're meant to be doing all the taxes.

So they don't know whether they're getting the right tax.

They're now benchmarked another 400 members of staff to join that task force to make sure that everybody is paying the right tax.

Now, this filters down and the people that are filling in their tax returns, they're going to be easy pickings because we're not going to have the money to defend ourselves by a HMRC in the event of an inquiry.

And the, the ones that can't defend themselves or have the money to defend themselves are going to get picked off a lot easier and HMRC is going to have quicker wins with that than what they would if they went after somebody that has, you know, lawyers on their payroll and they have millions of pounds of turnover.

So, you know, it is an unfair society in that, in that respect, because if you have the money you can get, you can increase your defense and, and you're more likely to get away with it.

That is just the way the world works, whether it be right or wrong.

So the way that I approach the set of accounts is that we need to do things right for the client.

If that means that they pay more tax because they've accidentally classed their drawings as an expense when they're not and it pushes their tax bill up, then so be it.

You know, but, but what we will do and what we can do is we can look at what allowances are there to save you against tax.

Now that kind of brings me on to the next section, because an allowance is very different to an expense.

So expenses reduce your tax bill by reducing the profit within the business.

An allowance like it is, is something that we can do to that taxable figure after we take away all your expenses and see what we can apply.

What, what schemes are available through HMRC that can legitimately lower that tax bill.

Now, what I say to people is if you're not paying very much tax, and there's not a lot of these schemes that are available to you, but as you start to become higher rate taxpayers or if you have assets and things, this is where you can start to be a little bit more clever and plan for your taxes, saving you more money.

Now, one of the things that we've got launched on our CULPIOR website, which is just being built at the moment, is going to be the new culp, your tax card.

And every year we're going to update the tax card with all of your allowances so that you can see what you need to do within the year to kind of play the system, but basically put you in a stronger tax position and use the allowances that are available to you.

So what do I mean by allowances?

Right, so pensions, as a sole trader, if you pay into a pension, it's not an allowable expense from your business, but when you pay into the pension itself, HMRC will top that little deposit up by 20%.

When you become a higher rate taxpayer, what will then happen is that your lower rate tax band will be extended by the contribution that you make so that you receive an additional 20% tax relief on your pension contributions.

So whilst you're a lower rate taxpayer, it doesn't do anything to your taxes.

But as you become a higher rate taxpayer, you'll pay more tax at 20% than you would at 40% because it extends that, that, that 20% tax ban for yourself.

It's a common mistake as well.

I see a lot of sole traders putting their pension payments as an expense.

Yeah.

Which is just a lack of knowledge.

It's not any one kind of sneaky.

So just be careful when you are doing your own accounts, don't put your pension payments in.

Yeah.

Which is different if you're a limited company, because the limited company can make a pension contribution into a director's pension and that is an allowable expense and you can do up to a maximum of 60,000 pounds a year and that lowers your corporation tax benefits bill.

So you get free money from one that's going into your pension so that it's your retirement pot.

But you're saving that, you know, anywhere between 19 to 25% tax on that pension contribution as well.

What doesn't happen when, when that goes into the pension pot is the government doesn't top that contribution up by 20%.

It's only if you as an individual contribute to that pension.

Now as a director, you can also choose to make a, an optional pension contribution from your own personal money after it's been taxed.

And that too will have the same effect if you're a higher rate taxpayer of extending your lower rate bracket.

So if you're on dividends, you'll have more dividends taxed at the, the lower rates than, than the higher rates.

That's what so yes, I, I, I pay in addition to what the company pays in as well just to help.

I don't so but again like why.

And I'm like well because I might die in five years.

I'd rather have the money now.

Which no some people might think is a ridiculous notion but that's just how I do things.

That's just my personal preference.

So that, so that, so pensions is a, an allowance which is different to an expense.

Now one of the other allowances is that we've got is our, is our capital gains annual allowance.

This is £3,000 of tax free gains that we can make that we don't have to pay money on.

So this, this are the type of things where people start investing in the stock markets.

Maybe you had a hobby of as an art collector and then that hobby kind of turned into will I buy one, I sell one.

And, and because, because anything that is basically classed as a, a, a capital asset which is anything that has a lifespan of longer than six years and is a non wasting chassis, basically it doesn't die.

So racehorses is not a capital asset because it dies.

But art, you know, fancy dresses of designer dresses, they are both last longer than six months.

They're a physical thing that you can touch and feel and therefore they would be capital gains pens.

Yes.

If you, you collect expensive pens when you sell these things, if they appreciate in value, that is they go up in value, you have to pay tax on that appreciation when you sell them.

If you plan ahead, you can sell and gain a profit of £3,000 of these things before you have to pay tax.

If we take shares for argument's sake because Shares follow the stock market.

Stock market goes up and down.

But you could sell however many shares to release the 3,000 pound of profit.

You could then reinvest that into the stock market if you wanted to, or reinvest into something else.

But you don't have to pay tax on that £3,000 and that's separate to your other income that you've got as well.

So that's one way of using the capital gains annual allowance.

The other one that you have is if you're a director or if you're on the stock markets again, because some stocks will pay out dividends.

You can claim 500 pounds a year in tax free dividends.

Now that can be from the, the stock market where you buy stocks and they pay a dividend.

The problem is they're a bit sporadic.

It depends on which ones you've got.

And depending on how much you invest, you might not get that back.

But as a director, you own a share at authors, director, shareholder, you own a share in your company, your company pays you a proportion of the profit, I. E. A dividend.

And the first 500 pound of that is tax free.

And we would make sure that that goes on the tax return so that you don't get taxed on that first 500.

What used to be thousands used to be 5,000 down, 3,000 down the day you'd be back.

Yeah.

Then down to 5, down to 1, down to 500.

Then it'll probably be none.

None.

Yeah.

So, but there's no, there's no talk of that yet.

But obviously the Chancellor is looking at ways to claim back tax.

That could be one of them.

The other one that you've got is savings income.

So whenever you place money into a savings account, you will get interest back on it.

Now anything that is in a, an sni, so National Savings and Investment Account or an ISA can be ignored.

There's no tax on those savings.

But there will be accounts out there that you might get a higher return at if you, if you put your money in and you tie it away.

But that, that income is taxable.

Now, depending on whether or not you are a lower rate taxpayer or a higher rate taxpayer, you can have anywhere between a thousand or five hundred pound of interest that you receive tax free.

So if you can get a higher rate somewhere else than your isa, put it in there.

You know, if you're a low rate taxpayer, you get 1,000 pound in interest before you have to start paying tax on it.

So you could put something that account to get that thousand pound Put the rest of it in an ISA and then get that interest tax free.

Don't pay any tax on the lump sum that you've got in a standard account and get that thousand pound again out to yourself every single year that you can reinvest in another savings account.

But saving yourself that thousand pound in, in tax on that, you know, it's 200 quid on that, on that thousand pound, so it's well worth it.

So that's how a lot of clients.

Come to us and go, well, you.

Know, how do all these rich people do it?

It's because they start they tax plan like we're talking about now, they utilize these allowances that, that are there for them.

Which is different to me saying, right, we're going to put in 20,000 miles in your accounts because we'll pretend that you've gone backwards and forwards to work a few times.

That is totally illegal and not how you play the system.

So, you know, there's legitimate ways that.

We can lower your tax bills.

We can, you know, there's loophole and that's the perk of having an accountant, is that we know these little loopholes and perks that you can do that wouldn't necessarily be like ordinary things that the general member of public would think about.

So again, that's a perk of having someone that knows their stuff so that you can say to them, right, this is what I've got, you know, what can I do?

And a perk of having a good financial advisor as well.

If you do have some spare cash, what's the best place to do it?

Like Romney, for example, who is one of our trusted partners who's going to be at the Expo, she's been a financial advisor since she was 18.

She was the youngest one in the UK to qualify and she's going to be at the Expo if anyone has any questions for her.

But again, a good person to have in your corner if you do have disposable cash.

One of my other favorite ones to look at is if you got a family member within the, that works for you within the business.

I do, I do and I think it's because it's one that gets overlooked by a lot of accountants because they just don't think outside the box when.

It comes to it.

And this can work for a sole trader and a limited company.

So basically if you've got a family member, you know, a child for argument's sake, that's over the age of 13, that's younger than 60, that you pay Pocket money to that helps out within the business.

Then as a sole trader you can pay them out of the business money and claim that as a business expense.

As long as the money that they're receiving is proportionate to the job that they've done for you within the business, that's an allowable expense.

That will reduce your, your, your tax and because it will generally be low, be less than 12 and a half thousand pound, which is what their tax free allowance would be.

They don't pay taxes anyway and they don't need to declare it.

That's as long as, like I said, between the ages of 13 and 16 and they don't have any other employment.

With a limited company you can do exactly the same thing but you get them on the payroll and you can pay that family member whatever value that you want as long as it is comparable to the role that they've done and as long as it's reported on the payroll.

Again, if they don't have any income elsewhere, their first twelve and a half thousand pounds is tax free.

If you're a sole director on that payroll by having somebody else come onto it, that's paid above a certain limit, that opens up another allowance that you can have which is the employer's allowance where you won't pay any employers national insurance contributions on just over 10,000 pounds a year, saving you even more money again.

So by introducing a family member onto the payroll, yes you may have to pay payroll fees but the savings that it will, will, will, will generate will offset any fees that you'd have to pay on payroll.

So that's a, that's a really, really good way as a director.

Certainly if it's husband and wife, you can extract nearly £100,000 of tax, sorry from a business and pay just over 6,500 pound in taxation with a, with a combination of payroll dividends.

But you do.

I think this is one of the things that frustrates me with the TikTok side that we see with accountants giving advice is they state that comment but they don't mention about the corporation tax that the company has to pay.

You still have to pay between 19 to 25% of the profits in the corporation before you are able to take dividends.

However, if there's two of you on in that business, two shareholders, you're only paying one lot of 19 to 25%.

You're not paying two lots of 20% income tax and then national insurance on top like you would as a sole trader.

There's no magic figure.

These Days where it's worth swapping from a sole trade to a limited.

We get this question a lot on social media.

Should I be, should I be a sole trader?

It's impossible because everyone's situation is different.

It could be previously and no to another.

Yeah and previous years we would have said definitely 100 go limited company because we can save you money.

Because of the tax changes that have come in for sole single shareholder director companies, that tax has become so, so much closer now to what you'd pay as a sole trader.

It really now comes down to whether or not you want the protection the limited company offers.

But the, the more complex accounting needs and the different ways that you have to run the money or whether you'd prefer it as your do it yourself.

Don't worry about the accounts have to be put in a set way and a little bit more freedom when it becomes more than one person.

That's where limited companies can come into their own and we can be a little bit more tax efficient.

But again tax efficiency means that you have to have profits and, and usually profits that are disposable.

So for argument's sake, can you afford to pay money into a pension or do you need that money at the of the business to live if you've got extra funds in there, extra money that you can spend on other things.

For argument's sake, you could get yourself an electric vehicle.

It will help reduce the first of all the vax.

If you, if you, if you hire and if you lease a vehicle as a, as a director in a limited company and the lease is done through the business, you can claim half of the VAT back and you can offset the cost of the lease as a business expense and save the tax.

In the limited company you do have to pay a benefit in kind.

So there's a small tax charge to the individual involved.

But again the tax savings of a car.

France sake.

We've done four.

Yeah, okay, we, so about 100 grand car will cost a business about £1,500amonth.

But by the time that you take the tax saving, the VAT saving and the benefiting kind of that you've got to pay, you will be getting that car for about £800amonth which is phenomenal when you think about what you'd have to be paying personally if you went and tried to finance something of that size.

And electric cars are anything from sort of 30 odd thousand pounds to 300,000 pounds and you can have anything in between.

I did look at a G wagon by the Way I just didn't realize there was an electric one and there is an electric T wagon if you'd like to spend 154, 000.

Just ridiculous.

Yeah, like you said, you know, if you've got the funds there and you be without them, it's a great way of reducing all the different kinds of tax and that and things.

So it is good.

But just make sure you do your research.

Just make sure don't go out and buy it outright because what you can claim back is very different to what I just explained.

This is why having an accountant is so, so important because if you make the mistake of buying a car outright, you can't claim the VAT back.

So there's things then that you then lose that it's no longer a business expense.

So, so get an accountant if you are looking to do tax saving, things like that.

If you are looking to get an electric car.

We inquired about it last year and we went through a leasing company and the figures that they were coming out with were just, they were just ridiculous.

And we thought we're gonna just have to wait because this is like insane figures.

And then we thought about it again just off the cuff like recently and I thought, well, why don't we just go to the garages direct?

And I wonder if we could do it that way.

So we both picked different cars because we have different tastes and it was a lot, lot cheaper like you said, than what we thought it was going to be.

We were like, what the hell?

And actually for the car that you've got, you can repair like Lee says, you know, 1300 quid for 100 grand car, it's ridiculous.

But then again, once you take all the bits and bobs off, it's less.

So just make sure if you are going to go down that route that you do seek help and advice before because if we hadn't done it, we might have gone through that leasing company and paid their prices would come that ridiculous, like three grand a month.

And we were like, oh no.

But then we went direct to the garages.

There's a lot less.

Yeah.

So definitely ways and means out there to reduce that taxable profit and to benefit it at the same time.

But me and Vicky will always be advocates for doing things properly, reporting the correct tax and paying the correct tax.

As Tegan says on her sales calls, we will toe the line but we will not cross it.

That is Tegan's favorite phrase.

And sometimes we do get people ring up the go, oh, I've got these Two businesses, I've separated them because I don't want to be back registered.

And we go, but you have to be in that.

Well, no, we're not doing that.

Well, okay, the buy.

Because we just, we can't.

It's not worth, it's not worth our license.

It's just not worth doing it.

You know, you spend a lot of blood, sweat and tears building a business up.

We ain't going to ruin it because someone can't be asked to pay tax.

So that's as Tegan's quote where she should get tattooed.

We will tour the line between.

I went to see a client of mine this week, a non pet related client that's been with me for years and he's quite eccentric in the way that he's adamant that there must be ways that you can get around paying, paying tax with this government.

And we will sit there for hours and hours on end as we discuss can he get paid in gold bullion?

Because, you know, and he wants the face value of a sovereign coin because the coin is classed as legal tender.

It was only worth whatever it was when it was first minted back in.

Back in whatever.

And you shouldn't have to pay tax on it because it's, it's legal tender, you know.

And, and now he's, he's encouraging me to read a book about an American CPA that talks about the, the tax savings in the system, how the world works.

And I have to keep on trying to explain to him that it's a different taxation system, it works differently, it, it's not the same as the UK one.

If there was legal loopholes, everyone would do it and then everyone would know about it.

What was I going to say?

Oh, well, we had a weird question which I haven't actually told you about.

Not pet related, but someone said, can I get away with not paying HMRC fat by saying that they don't agree with going to war or some, some shit.

So I'm going to put it in.

A war fund, in a trust.

In a trust fund.

In a trust fund so that I don't pay hmrc.

But then you won't be able to pay me that because you might say, I'll pay it direct HMRC if you're not going to pay it.

But yes, something about putting money in a trust because they don't agree with the war and that way you don't have to HMRC the bat bill.

Best of luck with that one.

And we'll see what happens when HMRC can knock in for their money.

Oh no.

I was like, what?

No, because I said, because if there was legal loopholes out there, everyone would do them.

The same as you see on TikTok and online that, oh, I can make 5,000 pound a month by doing this.

And I'll tell you on my TikTok video, if it was that easy, everyone would do it.

So there's obviously going to be a catch because it was that easy to sell product on Amazon and make 10 grand a month, everyone would do.

I think one of the things for me is that I know that what HMRC says isn't law and isn't gospel and you know, what they have on their website is guidance and is led by case law.

Now what you have to juggle is whether or not you want to be one of those case laws where it goes to trial and you go up against HMRC and whether or not you're going to win or not.

So when you do these schemes and, and they're not based on any case law, you just simply don't know what that outcome is going to be.

And most likely you're in the wrong and you owe that money and HMRC is going to come after you.

You'll have the court cases to pay for, you'll have your own legal costs, you'll have the fines from hmrc, the, the interest, the backdated interest.

You've got to be pretty certain.

Yeah, and, and look HMRC do get.

It wrong at times but there are.

Instances where people to go to court and HMRC are overturned on certain things.

And one of those overturns was, was the double cab was the multi vehicle person pickup with Coca Cola where Coca Cola argued that the, the, the truck or the van that they were using was, there was a van and they wanted to claim the van as an expense and the, the fact that it had seats in the back of it was just to help ferry the staff around.

But ultimately it was used to put some Coke in the back and deliver the cans and the bottles.

Etc they went to court and HMRC won and basically saying that the van, because it had rear seats, its purpose was changed and so its purpose was no longer no longer a primary delivery of goods vehicle, it was now a multi purpose vehicle where it had seats for the crew to go in.

So they successfully argued that that was not a van and it was a car.

And therefore the employees that had that as a company vehicle had to go back and back pay company taxes or benefit in kind, taxes that were based on it being a car.

And not tax free as the van that was originally.

Yeah, I was little older, Stone, but they asked, I would love to take hmrc.

I would have to speak to someone at HMRC who makes these rules about what isn't allowable and have a discussion with them about the pet industry and say, well, you know, you need to be a bit more specific because there's.

These clarity on rules.

Yeah, these things, these, these things that are different about what a plumber, you know, and it doesn't make sense.

That is unfair and we do agree with you.

It's just, there's nothing we can do about it.

I think it really is unfair when we talk about an actual actress or a dancer that is able to claim for their clothes because it's classed as a costume.

When we have dog walkers that are unable to claim for their boots because they're general day to day wares that can be used outside of the business.

So that falls foul of the HMRC rules around claiming boots and clothes for waterproof protection.

Can we make dog walk as a costume so that everyone wears the same thing and make it.

But remember, there is a way around it.

It's the logo.

I know, that's what I say to people.

Just buy T shirts with logos on.

And you know, all of these embroidery companies sell like regatta coats and waterproof coats and trousers that they sell so much stuff that actually is quite decent that all you have to do is put your logo on and you can claim all of that clothing.

We only should bring the boots, but.

Again, you can get iron transfers.

The thing with it is it just needs to be a transfer, a permanent transfer.

You can't use a sticker, the stickers can be peeled off.

So, so by, by labeling something up or branding something, as long as it's with a permanent logo, by a heat transfer or embroidered, you've turned it into allowable uniform as an allowable expense.

So again, we can claim for that in your, your, your, your books.

We have had clients that says that I don't want to advertise that I'm walking other people's dogs, which is.

Fair points, fair point.

But that means you cannot claim for the jacket, the clothes or anything you're wearing.

And just because you don't want to advertise the fact that you're doing it, you don't meet the rules.

So you can't, you can't bend them to your will.

You either fall in line with them and that's how you a make it an allowable expense or it doesn't meet the criteria and therefore it's disallowed and you don't get the tax relief on that.

So pros and cons said, could he.

Get his underpants and socks embroidered?

Do you remember?

I did, yeah.

A bit far, yeah.

You have to be advertising your service.

Who's going to be seeing your underwear?

Yeah, he's going to be seeing your pants.

And I would query, is it dog walking services that you offering or not?

Yeah, because.

Yeah, who's seeing the pants?

The socks might, people might see socks.

If you're wearing shorts and the.

So when you have like, you know, the socks, possibly, but underpants, I even, I would struggle with that one.

But then let's suppose if you got the socks embroidered and again going out on a whim here, if you got them embroidered with your logo on and you were had set color scheme for argument's sake and they formed part of your distinctive uniform, you could potentially claim them.

But you have to be prepared, if HMRC comes to question it, that you'll stand up there and you will say, I believe that they are genuine, I believe they meet the criteria and I want to claim them.

Because remember, wherever we put in is on the.

An account socks.

But again, you've got to be able to justify if HMRC come knocking and we are going to see more and.

More of that listening, people think, oh, it'll not happen to me, it'll not happen to me.

And if you'd said that five years ago, yeah, probably not.

The likelihood of that happening to a sole trader that sends 30 grand just randomly being selected would be pretty slim.

But now, because they are tightening down on things and they want to clear that money back like the horse steel stitches get money.

Now, if you're snitching on people who don't pay their VAT or the tax and then you get some money back off it, they're obviously going down that route rather than, like Lee said, taxing more.

They're just finding the people who are diddling and not doing it properly.

And you don't want to be in that situation.

Here's one for you as, as all of you that are listening out there, because we, we, we know that people do listen because we've passed the 20, 000 download mark on the, on the podcasts, which is phenomenal.

But for all that you are listening, that are sold out, sorry, are directors of a limited company.

Are you aware that if you don't pay your tax to hmrc, even though you think, well, it's a Limited company as a separate legal entity, HMRC can come to you as the director and shareholder and ask you to pay it personally and take the money off you and they'll put that in a holding account whilst until the limited company pays that back over.

So they can actually put a charge on you as an individual to pay the debts owed to them by your limited company.

So even though it is a separate legal entity and it has its own debts, as a director you have certain obligations and HMRC can come for you for that money.

And which is why we say, you know, generally speaking, on broad terms, if you're just starting out in the industry, whether a dog walk, the groom or trainer, it is easier just to start as a sole trader because you've only got one tax return to worry about.

It's not as strict.

4.

Shortly.

Well, yeah, well, shortly, but many ones.

You know, it's so much easier than going down the limited company route, but it's so more complex and if you don't know what you're doing, you can get yourself into a massive pickle, which we've seen, unfortunately, because it is bloody complicated.

I don't even get involved with limited companies.

I do the sole traders and the partnerships like it blows my mind sometimes.

But luckily I have.

The Oracle is lean, he's like a text encyclopedia.

So there we go, it's a perfect match.

But yeah, just be careful when you are starting out that you don't go down the limited company route by accident because again we see, oh, do I need to register business with company's house?

That's where you register your limited company, not your sole trader.

You do it on the phone, online or via an accountant as a sole trader.

So don't get those mixed up if you are a new business.

We do have the Pet Business Basics course available on our website, which will cover all of the basics of running a business, including all the tax side advertising, record keeping, software, all sorts, hmrc.

So if you are new and you don't have a clue, then please, please, please get that Pet Business Basics course.

It's only 49 quid.

We did have a question which I don't know if you've even seen or whether you were just on a roll and didn't want to read it.

So Roll, Yeah, I thought that.

Can I put.

I know the answer.

Is it.

Can I put my driving license renewal as part of my expenses?

Driving license renewal, I'm guessing maybe.

I can't remember.

Dog walker, potentially, if we got a van.

Right, okay.

I'm Going to say driving license renewal.

The problem is the driver's license is personal.

Yeah, it's not.

And it wouldn't be wholly exclusive because you need your driving lice drive to.

The shop and it.

And it's not linked to your van because if you're running a business and you have somebody else within the business, they can drive that van for the purpose of the business.

So your, your driver's license is to you personally.

So if, if you are asking about your specifically your driving license, my gut feeling would be a no at this stage because it's personal.

Not, not solely, exclusively for the use of business.

But thank you very much for the question.

We do love questions.

So, yeah, I've had a mixed bag today, a bit about social media.

And just to re.

Clarify, I am not Bill Betts's daughter.

And yeah, just be nice to everybody.

Just, it's absolutely free to be nice to everybody.

So just look after each other.

That's what would the theme of today be?

Nice.

Look after each other and support each other like we always do.

And it happens in our group as well.

I, you know, if we see any, you know, horrible comments, sarcastic comments, unnecessary comments, we will just kick you out of the group, which I did a few months ago.

Someone said a very snotty reply to one of my things and I went, do you know what?

It's unnecessary.

And I pinged him out of the group.

So there we go.

No haters.

I'm not in there anymore.

Yeah, I kicked you out years ago.

I'll get put Facebook jail again.

I did actually get put in Facebook jail a couple of years ago because I swore too much on the podcast and they basically banned me for 30 days.

We're going live because I swore too much.

Apologies, I didn't mean that.

Slipped out by accident.

But yes, thank you for the podcast listeners.

Please subscribe and follow on Spotify or the normal platforms because we have surpassed the 20,000 download mark, which is amazing.

You know, we do try and keep these podcasts light, funny and informative.

So it isn't dull just talking about tax all of the time.

But we do want to give you information that will help you ultimately.

So.

And we know you like them because we get a lot of people come to us at Crufts to say, I'm not a client of yours, but I do love your podcast.

It does make me laugh.

We try our best.

They started off, if you go right back to the beginning, they were really dull.

I think when I did them on my own, it was it was quite hard.

And then when you started, you were proper wooden.

He was like, yeah, and what we're going to do, and I was like, lighten up, it's fine.

And now look at him, he's fine.

But yeah, 20,000 downloads is amazing.

So please keep watching and following.

And the same on the TikTok.

Let's see if we can get like 10,000 followers on TikTok.

Hopefully we'll go viral for the right reasons.

Yes, we'll put some funny videos on there.

There's going to be a lot more coming through the social media, a lot more behind the scenes as well for you guys.

And we just haven't had the time to do it in the past.

But now we've got someone else joining the.

The media team.

You will see a lot more of mainly and a lot more funnier videos.

The one thing that we've never done.

And I'm just gonna just jump in there, is, you know, we are recruiting, but we've never once said on the podcast that if you are a bookkeeper or an accountant and you are listening to these podcasts and, and you're looking for a job, reach out to us.

We are always looking for decent talent and, you know.

If, you know, if anyone's got kids that are listening who are local to Carlisle or Northumberland, who kid wants to be go down the route of accounting and they want an apprenticeship.

Again, we're always looking for good people, for apprentices and.

Yeah, and if you are a bookkeeper and accountant, why are you listening?

Get off.

No, I'm only joking.

If you want to join us again, it doesn't matter where you are.

In the uk, we do do remote jobs.

So, yeah, if you do know anyone, if you've got an accountant that's looking for a job, then please let us know because like I say, we're always on the hunt for good talent and nice people.

We are very lucky that we have got a lovely team around us at the minute and hopefully we're gonna expand that soon.

So, yes, if you are, because there's plenty of accountants who come.

Stalkers of Crofts.

Oh, loads.

Do you.

What do you do?

Says the pet accountant.

I'll give you a clue.

I did.

Just baffle me.

We don't get it as much now, but when.

When I first started, I'm going off on a tangent, but someone did ring me up and ask if I did worming tablets for the dogs.

Yeah.

And then someone else rang up even though they'd gone on the website, which I don't makes me think the website was crap.

They'd gone on our website and then still rang me thinking.

I did software for groomers and I spent half an hour talking about QuickBooks and free agent stuff.

This is the time when we did do QuickBooks and he was like, no, no, I want like software for my daughter, she's a groomer.

I was like, oh, no, that's not what we do.

And he went, well, what do you do?

And I went, I'm an accountant.

It says the pet accountant, so that's my favorite to do.

So I was like, yeah, but there we go, you never know.

No, that's it, that's it.

Thanks.

Shouldn't assume, but yes, before we go, there's a few tickets left for the expo in person ones online ones will be getting released soon, but there is a couple left for the in person in Birmingham on the 15th of November.

I don't think there's very many of those left at all, in all honesty.

And we will be closing the the doors to it because obviously there's a lot of plan that goes in, we've got to order stuff and I can't just keep the door open forever because I need to know numbers.

So they will be closing at the end of September, which seems ages away, but they probably won't last that long anyway.

And.

But if you do want one of you procrastinating about it and you're humming and hiring, please, please, please, there's a pet Pro Expo 2025 Facebook page.

You can get them in our group.

There's loads of links in there.

You can email us direct if you're a client.

If you're not a client, you can spread the cost over four months.

Now if your clients, we do allow a little bit longer to help you out because we know the history there.

So if your clients find we can do it a little bit longer, if you're not a client, then four months is the cut off.

But you need to messages direct or if you go online using the link, you can do over three months but don't procrastinate.

But it's going to be the biggest event in the uk.

It's going to be the best event.

It's got amazing speakers there.

Honestly, I can't wait.

So.

And it's on the liable expense.

Get your business to pay for it, get your business to pay for the hotel, get your business to pay for the travel.

So it's a win win and it's.

Going to be classed as cpd.

So it is building on your knowledge and allowing you to expand your business.

So every speaker that we have, it's not there, just designed for walkers or groomers.

It is business focused but all focusing on different areas and elements of your business.

So it's going to be a really, really good lineup.

A great day, foods included and yeah, was a winner.

Lunch, breakfast and we will be getting drunk on Saturday so if you want to come and see Drunk Lee and Vicky, that's worth the 170.

Before we speak.

Before.

Yeah, before we speak.

I'll probably have a sneaky shot in the morning to calm it.

I'm not very good at public speaking.

I'm fine doing this but when I've got like 200 faces staring at me, I'll crumble.

But yes, please grab your ticket.

I was gonna say something, I can't remember what it was now.

Various speakers have codes and stuff out there, you know.

So just keep your eyes peeled.

I know Bill's released one yesterday so just have a look, grab it before and hopefully we'll see you all in November for look next.

The best event in the uk.

We'll see.

No, Ryan, this is an extra long one.

Have a good one, be nice to each other and we will see you next week.

Take care.

Bye bye.

Thanks for listening.

If you've enjoyed my podcast, don't forget to subscribe for me.

And if you want to speak to me, please visit my website@www.petaccountant.co.uk.

and if you'd like to join my Facebook group which is full of like minded pet professionals, then search account accounting for pet professionals in Facebook and I will see you there.