The Buzz Blog
Straight talk on running a better business — the numbers, the tax changes and the practical stuff that actually matters.
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Mayors have capped the new tourist tax at 5% — what it costs a small hotel or B&B
Ten Labour mayors have pledged to cap England's new Overnight Visitor Levy at 5%. Worked on a 20-room hotel: £23,579 a year at a £95 average rate, against £4,964 under Manchester's existing flat-fee scheme.
The £100,000 tax trap is about to catch far more parents — and owner-directors face a different number
Centax says nearly 12,000 parents now hide income under £100k for free childcare, up from 1,100 in 2022. Worked: 62% marginal rate on salary against 48.3% on dividends.
NI gas: 19.2% in Greater Belfast and the West, 9% in the Ten Towns, from 1 October
The Utility Regulator has approved both increases, and both tariffs cover small business customers, not just homes. Worked on a café burning 60,000 kWh — £428 a year of pure geography.
Register for Self Assessment by 5 October, or the penalty is a percentage of your tax bill
HMRC rebuilt the registration service today — a UTR in 72 hours instead of 15 days by post. The 5 October deadline did not move, and late registration costs 0% to 30% of your tax. Worked on a £6,611.80 first bill.
NI cattle prices: cut the January payment, then average
The Irish steer price is down 103p/kg on the year and GB is 66p/kg ahead. Why your 31 January payment on account is built on the peak year, and the averaging claim the cash basis removes. Worked on 90 finished steers.
HMRC varied or cancelled 73% of the penalties it reviewed
HMRC’s July performance update: 22,168 of 30,307 automated-penalty reviews went the taxpayer’s way last quarter. The review is free, you don’t pay while it runs — and the tribunal odds are the opposite. Worked on a £3,100 penalty stack.
NI bovine TB: how £54m of compensation is taxed
DAERA’s wildlife consultation closes 9 October. Reactor compensation is a trading receipt — spreading relief, the fresh herd basis election, and why the cash basis loses you both. Worked on 24 reactors.
HMRC's £70 pension letters: what employers should do
Around a million low earners are owed a pension top-up because of the scheme their employer picked. The worked figures, the two-minute payslip test, and what to tell your staff before the letter lands.
Company car tax in 2026/27: what an electric car actually costs
Electric is 4% this year, a 130g/km petrol car is 32%. The full sum for a director and the company — benefit in kind, Class 1A, private fuel and capital allowances, worked.
A new duty on vaping liquid starts on 1 October at £2.20 per 10ml. Northern Ireland businesses that buy stock from the EU have a separate set of rules on top.
Most shops here need no approval and can sell unstamped stock until 31 March 2027. Stock arriving from the EU is the exception — it needs an approved warehouse and an EMCS document raised before the goods cross.
Thirty-six Northern Ireland employers were named this week for underpaying staff. Twenty of them owed under £100 a head.
£147,393 owed to 1,241 NI workers, averaging £118.77 each. The naming threshold is £500. Worked three ways — and why ACAS is the wrong number here.
658 employers named for underpaying the minimum wage. The penalty is 200% of the arrears.
£4m of arrears, £7m of penalties, and a £500 naming threshold. Worked through: what a ten-minute unpaid handover costs a fourteen-person business.
Electronic cattle tags reach Northern Ireland on Monday. The reader costs £600 and nobody is subsidising it.
Voluntary bovine EID starts on 7 September, and NI is first in the UK. £1.50 to £2 more per tag, £600 for a reader — worked through on a 130-calf Co. Antrim herd.
The Bank Rate is 3.75%. Long-term government borrowing just hit 5.89%.
Gilt yields are at a 28-year high before the 28 October Budget. Fixed-rate business lending follows that curve, not the Bank Rate — and HMRC, at 7.75%, is dearer than both.
£36.4m of £100 oil vouchers starts landing on 9 September. None of it is grant income.
Northern Ireland’s home heating oil voucher reaches 340,000 households. For suppliers the £100 is a sale at 5% VAT, not a grant — and the phones get busier.
Selling to your employees used to be tax-free. On a £2m sale it now costs £239,268.
The EOT capital gains relief halved on 26 November 2025. What that costs a Northern Ireland seller, and the DfE-funded feasibility study that models it.
Bank impersonation scams are rising, and the refund rule stops at ten employees
Mandatory scam reimbursement stops at ten employees. What the gap costs a company in £, and the two free controls that close it.
Companies House closes web filing in April 2028, and small companies will have to file a profit and loss
From 1 April 2028 the free Companies House web filing route closes and every set of accounts must go through commercial software in iXBRL. Small and micro companies must include a profit and loss — publishing it is a box you tick. And the rule bites on the filing date, so a 31 July 2027 year end is already caught.
Northern Ireland now bans the destruction of unsold clothes and shoes. 360 of our 82,680 businesses are big enough to be caught.
The ESPR ban has applied here since 19 July, and not to a GB-only seller. It bites at 250 staff plus €50m turnover or €43m balance sheet — £42.87m and £36.87m at the ECB’s 27 August rate. Recycling counts as destruction. On £48,000 of end-of-season stock the skip costs £36,675 net; a clearance run costs £9,000.
Selling your business now costs 18%, not 10%. On a £1m gain that is £80,000 more.
Business Asset Disposal Relief went 10% to 14% to 18%. HMRC's new data shows claimants jumped 45% to 61,000 as owners rushed disposals to beat it. On a £1.5m gain the rise costs £80,000 — and who is on the share register is worth another £30,360.
17,600 people declared crypto gains last year. From January 2027 the exchanges report to HMRC directly.
HMRC's first cryptoasset Capital Gains Tax statistics: 17,600 people, £13.8bn of proceeds, £1.38bn of gains, £78,000 average. Worked at 2026-27 rates that average is £16,938 to £18,000 of tax. The Cryptoasset Reporting Framework's first exchange reports land with HMRC by 31 May 2027.
The 5% VAT rate ends on Tuesday. NI hospitality goes back to 20% while the Republic stays on 9%.
HMRC’s temporary 5% rate on children’s meals and family attractions runs out on 1 September. Worked on a Co. Antrim soft play, holding the £8.50 door price costs £911 a week; holding margin means £9.71. The cross-border gap is on food only — NI is 3 points better on drink.
DAERA pays £13 a genotype from 1 September. Whether it costs you tax depends on which accounting basis you are on.
The Bovine Genetics Genotyping Scheme opens 1 September at £13 a genotype from a £16.6m budget. The payment is a taxable trading receipt. Worked on a 198-animal Co. Tyrone herd: £4,524 across both tranches, netting to nil on the accruals basis and to £669 of tax in the wrong year on the cash basis.
An apprentice costs £98,300 over five years. The employer's National Insurance on it is nil.
A Bilston manufacturer told City A.M. an apprenticeship runs close to £100,000. At statutory minimum rates it is £98,300 over five years — and she is right. But employer NI on an under-25 apprentice is 0%, training is now 100% funded for non-levy employers, and £3,000 of cash payments land from 1 October. Worked year by year.
Go Succeed grants: £4,000 for capital costs, and a mentoring rule that decides who can apply
Go Succeed grants open 1 September, closing midday 13 October — up to £4,000 at 50% of eligible capital costs. The 60% mentoring rule decides who can apply, the eligible list is narrower than it sounds, and nothing may be ordered before a Letter of Offer. Worked on an £8,000 machine: £9,600 out before a penny comes back, £3,240 net cost.
Causeway Coast’s £650,000 capital grant: no capital allowances on the grant-funded share
Causeway Coast and Glens has opened a £650,000 capital grant — £5,000 to £30,000 at up to 70%, closing 5 October. It is paid retrospectively, and under CAA 2001 s532 the grant-funded share carries no capital allowances. Worked on a £42,857 machine: net cost £9,643, not the £2,143 the funding rate implies.
The Treasury is reviewing how pubs and hotels are valued for rates. That is a bigger deal than the 20% cut.
The Treasury has launched a review of how pub and hotel rateable values are calculated, led by Jerry Schurder, reporting March 2027 and feeding the 2029 revaluation. Worked on a £600,000 pub: growing trade by £100,000 adds £1,910 to the bill and hands back 83% of the 20% relief.
The writing down allowance drops to 14% on 1 April, so relief arrives more slowly
The main rate writing down allowance falls from 18% to 14% from 1 April 2026, and a new 40% first-year allowance started on 1 January. Worked on a £180,000 main pool: £7,200 less deduction in year one, £3,811 more tax over three years, and nearly four extra years to clear the tail.
Northern Ireland’s spending power grew fastest in the UK. It is still £3,707 a head below the average.
ONS: real household disposable income per head up 4.1% in 2024, best of the twelve UK regions — off a base of £22,258 against a UK average of £25,965. Worked on a Ballymena coffee shop: the April wage rise costs £8,076, a 22p price rise is worth £10,725.
July's borrowing overshot by £2.3bn. On a 12-person payroll, the Budget risk isn't the rate — it's the threshold.
The ONS says the UK borrowed £1.8bn in July against a forecast £500m surplus, and the Budget is now dated 28 October. Worked on a 12-person payroll: a penny on employer NI costs £3,076 — the threshold costs £3,900, and the Employment Allowance £10,500.
Northern Ireland farm profits passed £1bn. The bill for that lands on 31 January.
DAERA's first estimate puts 2025 farm profits at £1.03bn, up 36% in real terms. Worked: a Co Tyrone beef farm facing £17,561 on 31 January — and £2,815 less if it averages.
HMRC sent 81,000 crypto warning letters last year. The tax lands on the swap, not the cash-out.
81,172 letters in 2025-26, nearly triple 2024. Worked: a £7,000 bitcoin stake swapped in October 2025 leaves an £8,400 bill on a holding now worth £24,000 — and the loss cannot go backwards.
The Treasury has started handing out rates relief by sector, and some trades are left out
234 booksellers say they were left out of the 20% rates cut given to pubs and clubs from April 2027. Cebr puts their average rise at £4,563 — worked into what that costs a shop, a cafe and a salon.
Your accountant has until 18 November to register with HMRC — or they cannot act for you
HMRC's second tax adviser registration window closes 18 November 2026. What it means if your accountant is in the Republic, and the Northern Ireland carve-out nobody is covering.
Water bills are going up again. It's the one utility nobody manages — and there's £822.77 sitting in a form.
Ofwat has provisionally approved £3.4bn more spending, and NI non-domestic charges already rose 7.9% in April. Three allowances most small businesses never claim.
UK payrolls shrank. Northern Ireland's grew — and paid 5.4% more to do it.
NISRA's August report: NI payrolled employees up 1.1% while the UK fell 0.3%, and NI pay up 5.4% against the UK's 4.2%. What that does to your wage bill.
India halved the whiskey tariff. If you never registered with HMRC, your customer still pays 150%.
The UK-India deal has been live since 15 July, but the cut only reaches your customer if you registered first — and NI exporters hold two EORI numbers.
House prices fell 2% this month. What that actually does to a landlord's numbers.
Rightmove reports the biggest August fall since 2018 — worked through on one rental: tax absorbs a quarter of a price fall, and £5,475 comes off what you can borrow.
The P11D is being switched off. Your company car moves onto the payroll in April 2027.
Mandatory payrolling starts 6 April 2027 for cars, fuel, vans and medical cover — worked on one director, one EV and three medical policies, plus the 50% trap.
Your packaging is now governed by EU law. Your competitor in Carlisle's is not.
PPWR applied in NI on 12 August and not in GB. NI producers now sit in two packaging regimes at once — worked on a 180-tonne Mid-Ulster food producer.
When your adviser gets it wrong, who actually pays?
Brompton is suing its former tax advisers. HMRC bills you first — worked: a £144,000 duty error costs £187,920 to £209,520, about 18 months of profit.
175 jobs in Ballykelly, 60 at risk in Belfast: what NI's AI split means for your cost base
TES is at 175 staff from a team of two; Rapid7 is cutting 12% globally. For most NI owners AI arrives as a variable cost, not a hiring decision — worked.
NI output grew in July. New orders didn't. And our costs are the worst in the UK.
Activity back to 51.4, but new business is 47.8 and backlogs 45.4 — NI is burning its order book. Plus the fastest cost inflation of 12 UK regions, worked.
436,000 filed. From September, HMRC signs up the rest itself.
864,000 were in scope for the first MTD quarterly update and 436,000 filed. From September HMRC signs up the gap itself — worked, why waiting doubles the November job.
Stormont just split £39m. A grant-funded machine gets no capital allowances.
£27.4m of the Local Growth Fund is capital, and capital grants are taxed by the opposite mechanism to resource ones. Worked: why a 40% grant is worth 30%.
HMRC petitioned to wind up a Mayfair hotel. The legal threshold is £750.
A £30.5m hotel and a two-van plumbing company reach a winding-up petition through the identical section of the identical Act. Priced: what a £48,000 VAT bill costs if you sit on it.
A million people came to Belfast. Some traders just crossed the VAT line.
The Fleadh brought over a million people through the city centre and an estimated £53m. The VAT threshold is a rolling twelve-month test — here’s the arithmetic, and the 30 September deadline it may have just started.
HMRC says sign up for Tax-Free Childcare. Two lines stop most directors.
Dividends don’t count towards the earnings test, and £100,000 is a cliff not a taper. Priced: what the classic £5,000 director’s salary really costs you.
The 26.5% marginal corporation tax rate
Between £50,000 and £250,000 of profit, every extra pound costs 26.5p — not 19% and not 25%. The maths, the associated company trap that quietly costs £1,875 a year, and what to do before your year end.
Invest NI’s £20,000 innovation grant opens Monday. It is not 70% off.
£5,000 to £20,000 at a 70% rate, applications 10 August to 4 September. But it’s paid in arrears, the costs are ex VAT, and you cannot spend a penny before the Letter of Offer.
HMRC told the software firms what's going wrong with MTD
HMRC's July note to software vendors lists exactly how a first quarterly update fails — including one that goes through and leaves the obligation open. Today is the deadline.
An NI tribunal just priced a verbal rota agreement at £20,500
A Fermanagh hotel changed a receptionist's agreed three-day week in the interests of "fairness". The tribunal found the verbal arrangement was contractual — and the change was indirect sex discrimination.
HMRC wants a legal duty to correct old errors. Read the small print
Draft legislation would make failing to correct an error you already know about count as deliberate behaviour — a six-year exposure becomes twenty. The worked numbers, and the window that's still open.
Palantir paid 8% UK corporation tax. One half of how it did that is legally available to you.
Palantir paid £2.1m of UK corporation tax on over £25m of profit. Of the two mechanisms behind that, one is closed to you — and one had its eligibility limits raised on 6 April this year.
Mayors get a share of income tax from 2028. Your rate doesn't change — your local footprint does.
Regional mayors get a share of income tax from April 2028 and business rates from April 2027. Rates don't change — but a ten-person business with premises sits on about £50,000 of tax its council is about to have a stake in.
The Budget is on 28 October. Here's what to do with the 12 weeks before it.
What is already law for 2026-27, what a £990 rate change has already cost the average owner-director, and the five things worth doing before Budget day.
HMRC is posting 1.8 million Simple Assessment letters. If you take dividends, expect one.
HMRC is sending 1.8 million Simple Assessment (PA302) letters for 2025-26.
Scotland's 48p top rate may be raising nothing. The reason is a lever you already have.
New HMRC outturn data suggests the 48p rate is costing about £22m. The mechanism — dividends and pensions sit outside Holyrood's reach — is worth four figures to owner-directors anywhere in the UK.
Your accountant now has to register with HMRC. Here's what to check.
HMRC's mandatory tax adviser registration is live, rolling out in windows to 31 March 2027. What it is, when your accountant's deadline falls, and three questions to ask.
A 20% rates cut for pubs — and a definition problem for everyone else
Pubs, social clubs and live music venues in England get 20% off business rates from next April. The eligibility rules don't land until autumn. What to do now.
Half a million sole traders aren't ready for the MTD deadline. Are you?
New research says most sole traders don't even know the 7 August Making Tax Digital deadline exists, let alone have software in place. Here's what actually needs doing.
Businesses have hit pause on hiring. Here's the small-business read
New research says firms are delaying recruitment amid political and tax uncertainty. For a small employer, the answer is knowing your numbers.
What a new hire actually costs (it's more than the salary)
Salary is only the starting point. Employer NI, pension, holiday, kit and ramp-up time all land on top — how to budget for a hire properly.
Management accounts: the reports that actually run a business
Regular, forward-looking financial reports that help you run the business now — what they show and when you need them.
How to price for profit (without just guessing)
A small pricing change flows almost straight to profit. How to price on cost, margin and value — and the mistakes to avoid.
Working on your business, not just in it
The oldest business advice there is, and the hardest to follow. Why owners get stuck in the work — and how to get out.
Performance on Purpose: the thinking behind Buzz coaching
Andy Jackson's coaching approach: build the person, develop the leader, improve the business — so performance serves a purpose.
The three freedoms: financial, time and mind
Owners don't really chase revenue — they chase freedom. The three freedoms of financial, time and mind, and how to build toward them.
How to build a business that doesn't depend on you
If the business can't run without you, you own a job, not a business. How to reduce owner-dependency through systems, people and letting go.
How to register as self-employed
Earning money working for yourself? A step-by-step guide to registering as a sole trader with HMRC, the deadline and the £1,000 allowance.
How to set up a limited company
Incorporating is quick and cheap — the real questions are whether you should, and what being a director involves. A plain-English guide.
When should you register for VAT? (and the Flat Rate Scheme)
The £90,000 threshold, when it's worth registering early, and whether the Flat Rate Scheme suits you — VAT registration in plain English.
Section 24: what the mortgage interest changes mean for landlords
Section 24 changed how landlords get relief on mortgage interest — and why some now pay tax on properties that barely break even.
VAT for online sellers: Amazon, Shopify, OSS and IOSS
Marketplaces, selling to the EU, OSS and IOSS, and stock held abroad — the VAT complexity online sellers need to get right.
How to pay yourself from a limited company: salary vs dividends
Salary or dividends? How to pay yourself tax-efficiently, with the new 2026/27 dividend rates and where directors get it wrong.
Allowable business expenses: what you can actually claim
What you can claim, what you can't, home office, mileage and the wholly-and-exclusively rule — for sole traders and companies.
Self Assessment: the complete guide
Who needs to file, how to register, the key deadlines, payments on account and penalties — the whole thing, start to finish.
The 31 July Self Assessment deadline is closer than it feels
HMRC is reminding Self Assessment taxpayers that the second payment on account is due 31 July. Here's what that deadline actually means.
What the Battersea Power Station accounting probe is a reminder of
The FRC is looking into claims that undeveloped land at Battersea Power Station was overvalued by hundreds of millions of pounds.
The economy is stalling — here's why cashflow visibility matters more now
UK growth is expected to flatline again as the Iran conflict pushes up fuel and food costs. Here's why this is exactly the wrong time to be flying blind on cashflow.
Director's loan accounts, explained
Taken money out of your limited company that wasn't salary or a dividend? Here's what a director's loan account is, and why documentation matters.
Payroll for your first hire: what changes
Taking on your first employee changes what's expected of you as a business. Here's what payroll actually involves once you make that first hire.
What actually happens on a discovery call
Booked a discovery call and not sure what to expect? Here's exactly what we cover, what we'll ask, and what you'll walk away with.
Freelancer invoicing: getting paid on time
Late payment is one of the biggest stresses of freelance life. Here's how to invoice in a way that actually gets you paid on time, without awkward chasing.
The real cost of late VAT returns
A late VAT return costs more than a single penalty. Here's what actually adds up when VAT slips, and how Making Tax Digital changes the picture.
How to read a cashflow forecast (without glazing over)
Cashflow forecasts don't have to be intimidating. Here's what actually matters when you're reading one, and how to use it to make real decisions.
IR35: inside or outside — what it actually means
IR35 explained in plain English for PSC contractors: what inside and outside status actually means, who decides it, and why it matters for take-home pay.
Landlord tax: what you can (and can't) claim
A plain-English rundown of what landlords can and can't claim against rental income, and why the answer changes depending on how the property is owned.
What a “dedicated accountant” should actually mean
Every firm says you'll get a dedicated accountant. Here's what that phrase should actually mean in practice, and how to tell if you're not getting it.
Sole trader or limited company: when should you switch?
Not sure whether to stay a sole trader or move to a limited company? Here's how to actually think about the switch, and what changes when you do.
What the OBR's "most alarming yet" report means for your planning
The OBR's latest fiscal risks report makes grim reading for the public finances. Here's what a 50-year forecast should actually mean for your business planning today.
Government targets VAT-dodging online sellers to back the high street
New reforms accelerate the end of cheap-import duty relief and put more scrutiny on online sellers' VAT. Here's what it means if you sell online or run a shop.
5.6 million people now check their tax on an app. Why is your bookkeeping still on paper?
HMRC says 7.6 million people used its app last year. The direction of travel for tax admin is digital — here's what that means if your business isn't there yet.
The tax gap is 6.4% — and small businesses are the biggest slice
HMRC's 2024-25 tax gap figures put small business non-compliance at the top of the list. Most of it isn't fraud — it's bad bookkeeping.
Five numbers every business owner should know
Profit doesn't tell you the whole story. Here are the five numbers worth checking regularly — and why once a year isn't often enough.
Making Tax Digital: what's changing, and when
MTD is rolling out further over the next two years. Here's exactly who it affects, when it lands, and what you need to have in place.
Switching accountants without the hassle
Worried a switch means weeks of chasing and admin? Here's what actually happens when you change accountants — and why it's simpler than you think.
The Value Gap: what it is, and why it matters
Most businesses are leaving money on the table without realising it. Here's how to find out how much — and what to do about it.