TIP the WInk September 2018

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Quarterly snapshot for business owners who want to be in the know September 2018

Can you make your customers feel as special as this?

The thing I miss the most about England is people!! My daughter, parents, my friends, my team in the office and my hair dresser….

Yes my hairdresser! Finding a hairdresser you trust with your unruly hair is extremely difficult and I’d been with my hairdresser for 13 years before moving to Spain.

Now anyone of a certain age knows that leaving your hair colour for 12 weeks (which is the time between my UK visits) constitutes a very bad style known as a “badger stripe” which I have been trying to find a solution for as normal hair dyes don’t cover the grey.

Then a company called e-salon started to stalk me on Facebook. They promised I could have the brightest of reds and that this dye

TI Accountancy: Tip The Wink - Sep 2018

was formulated specially to cover any grey.

They had definitely thought about their target market when doing their Facebook ads. I’m not sure if they were targeting expats or whether it was just aging redheads but I really did feel like their ad was aimed at just me. So I thought I’d give it a go.

And WOW… From the moment I clicked on the advert this company have made me feel unique. You can’t just buy an off the shelf bottle, you get ask about a dozen questions on your hair (natural colour, thickness, colour now, expected colour etc) to ensure they send you the perfect colour for you.

I got email updates on my delivery and I got video tutorials sent while I was waiting so by the time the product came I was very excited www.tiaccountancy.co.uk

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Guide to Tax-Free Childcare Can you make your customers feel as special as this? and they didn’t let me down ….

When the box comes it is stunningly presented. Think about how people feel when they open a new apple product – it was on par with this. Everything had little compartments and the bottle even had “colour mixed especially for Tracy Irwin”.

How to make your customer feel special.

It didn’t just have the dye in it, it also had a dye brush, 2 pairs of gloves, stain guard and stain remover and a free colour wash to keep your colour. Talk about going over and above what is expected to make a customer feel special. So many businesses don’t consider the power of giving something unexpected to make your customers feel loved. It doesn’t have to be something that eats into your profit margin, you can have it already priced in the cost but it comes as a gift and is a surprise.

The hair colour itself was excellent and did everything it said on the tin but it didn’t stop there …

In the background after I had ordered from them they had added me to a club type website and 4 weeks after I’d bought from them I got an email saying “it is a week away from us needing to send out your next hair dye, is there anything you’d like to change before we post it”. I go on and on to so many of my clients about setting up a process in their business like this, they know how often their customers need to come back to them

Vouchers, Tax-Free Childcare doesn’t rely on employers offering the scheme, any working family can use Tax-Free Childcare, provided they meet the eligibility requirements. This means the scheme will also be available for parents who are self-employed.

especially if it is an annual thing like a car MOT. Setting up a reminder like this can dramatically increase your existing clients coming back to you.

Now with the hair dye I’d not used it immediately when I got it so I wasn’t actually ready so when I got the email it had a click though to “manage my profile” to find that they had set me up a profile which had all my details on, I was able to change the length of time between needing dyes and was able to change my next delivery … GENIUS! They just made me feel part of a membership, a club … something special.

And they made it easy for me to change things! So many membership sites make it hard for their members to amend or change things and this can lead to frustration and then they leave.

I have just been so impressed at how a home dye company can get everything in their buying cycle so right that I just needed to share it so you can see how just implementing one or two of their principles could improve your business … I’m definitely going to be thinking how we can implement them into ours!

Tracy x

What are the Qualifying Conditions?

The Adult • Either

In March 2014 the then coalition government first launched the Tax-Free Childcare Scheme with an anticipated rollout date of late 2015, however due to a legal challenge the launch was delayed until April 2017. Tax-Free Childcare gives eligible families up to £2,000 free per child towards childcare costs. Due to the new scheme the existing Employer Supported Childcare Vouchers schemes (ESCV) will close to new applicants from 4th October 2018 (although existing schemes can continue to provide for those within the scheme at that date.)

Tax-Free Childcare Scheme The scheme is an online account which you can pay into to cover the cost of childcare with a registered provider. For every 80p paid into your account the government will top up an extra 20p, this is the equivalent of the tax most people pay - 20% - which is how the scheme gets its name, ‘tax-free’. The government will top up the account with 20% of childcare costs up to a total of £10,000, the equivalent of up to £2,000 support per child per year (or £4,000 for disabled children).

Unlike the Employer Supported Childcare

TI Accountancy: Tip The Wink - Sep 2018

• Be in work and earning at least the minimum/living wage for their age for 16 hours per week or at least £125.28 per week or, • Be self-employed, with the expectation of making a profit • Not have a taxable income of over £100,000 per annum • Not receiving Tax Credits or Universal Credits • Not receiving childcare support from an employer or receiving childcare costs through any other government childcare scheme The Child • The child will be a qualifying child until the end of the week in which the 1st September falls following the child’s 11th birthday (16th birthday if disabled) • Must usually live with the adult, must not be a foster child, must not be in a secure children’s home or young offender’s institution and must not be in the care of a local authority.

Operating the account The first £2000, or £4,000 for a disabled

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A Company Profile Guide to Tax-Free Childcare child, which is paid into each account in an entitlement period will get topped-up by £500, or by £1,000 if the child is disabled. Any further payments made into the account above this amount will be held separately and not get topped-up until the next entitlement period starts. Payments to Childcare providers can be made as regular or one-off payments, however, Childcare providers must be signed up to receive them. Parents will need to reconfirm the account eligibility every 3 months, if the account becomes none eligible it will be classed as ‘pay-only’ and will not be topped up by the government.

So, which is the best option for you?

Well, before applying for either the Tax-Free Childcare Scheme or Employer Supported Childcare Vouchers make sure you are getting the benefits you are entitled to! Every parent in England is entitled to 15 hours' free nursery provision per week (your provider will fill in local authority paperwork with you) across 38 weeks a year. In September 2017 this doubled to 30 hours (in England), however, to be eligible for the additional 15 hrs/week you need to work the equivalent of 16 hrs/week at national minimum and living wage (if in a couple both must work) and no one parent can earn £100,000+ in a year.

Employer Supported Childcare Vouchers Childcare vouchers allow you to pay for childcare from your pre-tax salary, therefore reducing the amount of your salary that is taxable. You can take up to £55 a week (depending on your total income) of your wages as childcare vouchers which you do not have to pay tax and NI on, so that’s a saving of:

Also, if you pay for childcare, work 16+ hours a week (couples must both work) and have a family income of less than £46,000 you could be entitled to childcare tax credits.

There is no guarantee, but it would be worth checking to see if you are. If you are entitled they're usually a better option than what's detailed above. Please note, you won't be able to get the childcare tax credit (childcare element of working tax credit) or universal credit if you're signed up to the new Tax-Free Childcare scheme.

• £930 per parent for basic rate tax payers • £624 per parent for higher rate tax payers • £590 per parent for additional rate tax payers What are the Qualifying Conditions?

• Only available if the employer offers them • No minimum earnings requirement, just one parent needs to be in work • The maximum age of a qualifying child is 15 (16 if disabled) • No maximum income limit.

TI Accountancy: Tip The Wink - Sep 2018

As for the schemes, if you’re self-employed or have more than one child and high childcare costs tax-Free Childcare is usually the winner. If you’re a couple where one parent doesn’t work or have fewer kids and low childcare costs Childcare Vouchers are usually the best option.

If you would like any further clarification, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Lucy

I would definitely recommend TI Accountancy, all the staff are friendly, helpful and approachable which is something you don’t always come across in this line of work” Tracey Cuthbertson, Owner, Just 2 Tasty What is your business?

When Tracey Cuthbertson opened the doors of Just Tasty in Ferry Road, Barrow-in-Furness in 2006 she never dreamt that it would be so popular she would have three thriving shops 12 year later.

On Just 2 Tasty’s menu are freshly made sandwiches, hot breakfasts, hot sandwiches, healthy salad boxes and a cheerful smile. They also provide outside catering for all occasions across the Furness area.

Tracey puts the prosperity of the business down to keeping their core values, even throughout hard-economic times. With Quality, value for money and made “just the way you like it!” spread across every butty in each shop.

Offering a high quality of food has always being their first priority, using only local suppliers, home cooked meats and all fresh products has meant that keeping prices down has been the greatest obstacle in their expansion.

She believes that the government could help small businesses more to develop by assisting employers financially when they put the minimum wage up and introduced the auto enrolment pension scheme, however, with her own business going from strength to strength Tracey feels that Barrow is a growing economy and the future looks good for businesses in her local area.

How have TI Accountancy helped?

As an extremely busy business owner Tracey feels that handing over the bookkeeping of the shops to TI Accountancy has taken the pressure off her when it comes to the day to day running of her accounts and given her more time to the things she enjoys to do; which is spending time with her family and pets.

Also, not surprisingly with her career in food she loves to go out to eat savouring other people’s menus.

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Are you insured to rent your home on Airbnb?

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The Pension Regulator...

Getting even tougher on employers You’ve now doubt heard already that The Pension Regulator (TPR) are not only prosecuting employers for non-compliance of Auto-enrolment but they have now started to prosecute employers for giving misleading information too.

After a whistle-blower prompted TPR to investigate into Crest Healthcare they became the first employers to be prosecuted for knowingly providing false information in relation to auto-enrolment in May 2018.

The judge said to was important to show individuals and companies that they would not benefit from avoiding their auto-enrolment responsibilities.

As you probably already know, Airbnb can be a way to make a little extra money by turning your home into a mini hotel by putting up guests for a night or two.

However, you should be aware that in doing so you could actually risk invalidating your home insurance policy or if you haven’t mentioned it to your insurer and something went wrong, you might find they refuse to pay out on the claim.

The majority of standard home insurance policies don’t cover paying guests or lodgers. This is because the insurers take into account how many people live in a property and how it is used when providing you with a policy. The degree of risk is increased by letting out rooms on a short-term basis that standard home insurance policies just aren’t designed for.

Airbnb do provide Host Guarantee to protect your home against accidental damage at no extra cost.

TI Accountancy: Tip The Wink - Sep 2018

However, this guarantee does not cover such things as cash, collectibles, rare artwork, jewellery, pets or personal liability. Also, if someone staying within your home were to injure themselves and you were deemed at fault, the costs could run into the thousands – which would need to come out of your own pocket if the claim were refused by your insurer and Airbnb’s own policies fell short.

Basically, if you are thinking about putting your home up on Airbnb, you should speak to your home insurance provider beforehand. Your insurer may ask you to pay a higher premium to cover the additional risk or they may not be able to provide you with cover at all. If that is the case don’t worry!

As a broker, we have access to insurers who are able to provide you with the cover you would require.

Sarah

Crest Healthcare were fined £13,000 and ordered to pay £3,404 costs and a £120 victim surcharge.

With Auto-enrolment responsibilities becoming more and more consequential it is quite often on us Accountants to ensure our clients are abiding to all their obligations.

By having a payroll company deal with all payroll matters this takes any concern and worried off you, letting you get on with the more important and business growth side of the business.

If you are still doing your own payroll then why not ask how cost efficient it would be to have all the payroll and auto-enrolment worries off you hands.

Kelly

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