Mercer & Hole’s Business blog - Running the business
Budget 2010 - Geared growth arrangements
Date: 24th March, 2010 | Author: David Mansell | Comments: 0
We have no further detail at the moment but the Government has today announced plans to consult on the use of 'geared growth arrangements' (presumably such as 'flowering' shares and ratchets) to reward employes....
Budget 2010 - Business growth package
Date: 24th March, 2010 | Author: David Mansell | Comments: 0
The Chancellor has just announced a £2.5bn one off growth package for businesses. We await the details with interest and hope to report more within our Budget 2010 blogging....
Shareholder Agreements
Date: 11th February, 2009 | Author: Gary Farnes | Comments: 0
When forming a business most people do not go to the trouble of drawing up a formal shareholder agreement – many thinking that it is not necessary. However, in circumstances where shares are held by different parties we would recommend that clients give this subject some careful thought and consider entering a formal shareholders’ agreement and taking appropriate life insurance – let me briefly explain why: A shareholder agreement, in addition to covering various detailed statutory matters such as voting rights and the decision making process, can cover methods of financing used by the business, the obligations of director /...
Companies Act 2006 - Articles of Association
Date: 4th February, 2009 | Author: Gary Farnes | Comments: 4
We have had several queries from clients who wish to benefit from some of the changes made under the Companies Act 2006 - a common one being the removal of the need to hold an Annual General Meeting. The bad news is that unfortunately the majority of companies are still formed under the 1985 Companies and might not find this to be so simple in practice. This is largely because the Articles of Association of these companies refer to the 1985 'Table A' which sets out how the company should conduct itself. In these cases the company will need to amend their Articles...
Energy saving allowance - corporate landlords
Date: 16th July, 2008 | Author: Cathy Corns | Comments: 0
The Government’s proposal to extend the Landlord’s Energy Saving Allowance to corporate landlords has recently been given formal State Aid approval by the European Commission. The scheme provides incentives for landlords to improve the energy efficiency of their properties. From 8 July 2008 corporate landlords will be able to claim up to £1,500 a year per property against the cost of purchasing and installing energy-saving items such as floor insulation and draught proofing. ...
Are family businesses a high risk for HMRC?
Date: 16th April, 2008 | Author: Cathy Corns | Comments: 0
HMRC has stated that businesses that can demonstrate good management and accounting systems will be viewed as low risk, giving them more time to spend on higher risk businesses. Family businesses are often regarded by HMRC as a higher risk because of the overlap between business and family. So what can you do to reduce the risk of an investigation? Loans to family members constitute a taxable benefit (and can create a charge on the company) and should be declared. Expenses that are not wholly and exclusively for the purposes of the business need to be clearly identified and...
VAT Registrations - a positive note!
Date: 5th November, 2007 | Author: Jane Stacey | Comments: 0
As my colleague reported in August, businesses have been experiencing very lengthy delays in obtaining a VAT number. This was due to a backlog of applications with HMRC, due in part to increased checks to try and eliminate “carousel fraud”....
Changes to Capital Gains Tax - Have Your Say
Date: 19th October, 2007 | Author: Cathy Corns | Comments: 0
If you are concerned about the proposed change to a new flat Capital Gains Tax rate of 18% you may be interested to know that a petition has been opened on the Downing Street website. ...
Further developments on Companies Act 2006 - Implementation Stage 6 April 2008
Date: 18th October, 2007 | Author: Gary Farnes | Comments: 2
The staged introduction of Companies Act 2006, has already made interesting reading. It appears as though the ASB are taking a more ‘practical’ view on company statute and are making some impressive ‘common-sense’ amendments to an outdated CA85. The next stage, is anticipated to be rolled out for implementation from 6th April 2008. The major developments worthy of mention are Private companys are no longer required to have company secretaries. There is a shorter filing period as mentioned in a previous blog (private companies have 9 months). There are no longer any medium sized group exemptions (ie all non-small...
Additional employment cost - one to watch for the future
Date: 8th October, 2007 | Author: Cathy Corns | Comments: 0
In a recent article by Mike O’Brien, the current Minister for Pensions Reform, on the Department for Work and Pensions’ website, some further details on the proposed changes to pensions in 2012 were outlined. Essentially the Government’s view is that people are not saving enough for when they retire. To tackle the problem of under-saving, from 2012, millions of people will be...
