Tax Tips for start-up business

If you fail to plan your planning to fail, this approach will help when it comes to tax planning without doubt.

1) PLAN YOUR TAX FROM THE BEGINNING
One of the reasons many small businesses fail is cashflow or the lack of it, if you put aside a provision for tax from the start, its easy to estimate your profits and transfer your tax provision on a monthly basis into a separate bank account, at the end of the year once your actual liability is calculated you may even have some funds left over!

2) KEEP AN EYE ON YOUR TURNOVER
The current VAT registration threshold is £73,000 based on a rolling 12 months, you need to register if you exceed this or expect to exceed it in the next 30 days, however, if you can demonstrate to HMRC your turnover in the following year will be below this amount you may be able to apply for exemption from registering.

3) PLAN AHEAD
The decisions you make at the beginning and during the year can have tax implications, you need to be thinking about the structure of the share ownership, remuneration, entity i.e sole trader, limited company or LLP

Its important to discuss your business discussions with your accountant as he/she may be able to advise you in the right direction or point out something you may not have considered.