Understand Tax for Small Businesses: Teach Yourself

• Written by one of the UK's top tax writers.
• Fully updated and building on the established success of previous editions.
• Written in a no-nonsense style, it follows the business lifecycle, providing information and advice on the real events that business people experience.
• Aimed at both the self-employed and those running a company.
• Filling a longstanding gap in the market, with no real competition for the lay market.
• Constructed to avoid the need for annual editions.

Table of Contents:
1. Introduction:What the book does and doesn’t do How to handle tax matters (self or accountant), distinction between routine compliance and planning (part of proactive business management).
2.Which taxes do businesses pay? All the different taxes - direct, indirect, National Insurance, local government. Checklist setting out the taxes which apply to each type of business. Summary of key taxes affecting businesses, what is exempt, when and ho
3.How the tax system works: The role of the Chancellor, annual Budgets, tax years, dates, how tax is charged and collected, self-assessment, role of HMRC, tax returns, interest, sanctions, enquiries, avoidance and evasion, overseas matters.
What tax action do you need to take at the outset, choice between being self-employed or having a company table of tax pros and cons of trading as a company, tax consequences of financing the start-up (loans, business angels), notifying HMRC (income tax a
5.Profits: Choice of year end, working out trading income, losses, tax deductions. Includes simple calculations and charts.
6. Losses: Different types, using them to save tax.
7. Equipment: Capital allowances - what they are, how they are calculated, all the different types.
8. Employees: Who is an employee, running a PAYE scheme, income tax, National Insurance (employees and employers),minimum wage, student loans, sick pay, maternity, paternity and adoption pay, benefits in kind, special situations (building sub-contractors)
9.Premises: Buying, stamp duty land tax, financing, business rates, selling (cross-reference to selling the business).
What it is, different rates on different items, how it is calculated, records, VAT returns, schemes,inspections.
11. Pensions and insurance: Providing your own pension, outline of the rules for tax relief, payments and contributions.
Changing from being self-employed to a limited company and company director.
Tax consequences of stopping trading, income tax VAT de-registration, notifying HMRC re employees, consequences for employees such as termination payments and redundancy.
14. Selling a business: Selling business assets and the business. 15: Capital gains tax: what it is charged on, exemptions, taper relief, how to defer capital gains tax (rollover relief), simple case study and computation.
15. Passing on a business: What happens to your business if you die? Outline of inheritance tax and consequences for businesses.
16. Putting it all together: Detailed case study and tax computations, which forms need to be completed.
17. Appendices
Tax rates and allowances: Summary in table format with blank columns for the next 2-3 years so that the reader can update. Information on where and when to find the updated figures.
Key dates
Glossary
Quick definitions of the key phrases.
Further information

About the Author(s):
Sarah Deeks LLB FCA is a chartered accountant and a member of the Faculty of Taxation. An experienced  tax practitioner, she has been one of the UK's leading tax writers since 1988.

Readership:
People setting up a small business or contemplating doing so. Small business people who want to understand more about the tax system – usually as the result of a problem arising with the tax authoriti

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