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Celebrating 150 years of Armstrong Watson

This year sees Armstrong Watson celebrate 150 years of supporting, advising and protecting clients. To commemorate the occasion, we commissioned award-winning artist Helen Perkins to capture the portraits of 10 of our family business leaders, sharing their stories and highlighting their relationship with us.

As a thank you for the support we’ve received over the past 150 years, our ‘Face Forward’ project is now touring all our office locations, with showcase events hosted across the regions and all of our clients invited along to celebrate with us.

Have your say on what the current challenges are for your family business

The year 2017 has been a year of celebration at Armstrong Watson given it has been our 150^th anniversary, which has been marked by several internal and external events.  The most noticeable external event is the Face Forward Portrait project, which following a number of events recently continues its journey around our offices in the coming weeks, to find out more please click here.

Picture Perfect – How we mixed art and business to celebrate our 150th anniversary

Captured on canvas by an award-winning artist, the pioneering Face Forward project portrays family business leaders as never before in a work of celebration.

Professional artist Helen Perkins launched the project last December in association with CN Group's in-cumbria business magazine and Armstrong Watson, the leading independent financial and business advisory company in the north of England and Scotland.

Self Assessment – Are all your tax affairs in order?

Self Assessment deadlines are quickly approaching; here we look at making sure you meet the deadlines and what you may be able to do to reduce any tax payable.

Disbursements VAT case for law firms – Frequently Asked Questions

Following on from our briefing note released in September on the recent ruling issued by the First Tier Tribunal on the Brabners case, we have received various queries on the subject. For reference, a copy of that briefing note can be found here

To ensure that the answers to these queries are available to all, this second briefing note addresses those frequently asked questions.

Xero Cloud Accounting Partner of the Year 2017

We are thrilled to announce that we have been awarded Xero cloud accounting software provider’s ‘UK Accounting Partner of the Year’ at the Xerocon International Conference held in London.

This accolade follows our migration of several thousand clients onto the cloud accounting platform in readiness for the HMRC’s forthcoming ‘Making Tax Digital’ rollout.

Is £11,500 the most tax efficient salary for directors?

One of our most popular articles on our blog is an article on director's remuneration.  You can read the original blog from 2014 here and the updated blog from 2015 here for background information.

The rules around personal taxation have changed so much in recent years that it is worth reviewing the current position for directors.

Is it time to review your Employer Records?

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) can conduct an Employer Compliance Review at any time.  When did you last review your records to ensure you are up to date and following all relevant regulations?

Conducting a review in advance of any notice from HM Revenue & Customs will give you peace of mind and may also highlight opportunities to make changes to the remuneration packages for both directors and employees.

Directors Beware!

We would like take this opportunity to consider the subject of Director’s responsibilities particularly when their company is experiencing financial difficulties.

Probably the most important thing to remember is that when there is a doubt as to a company’s solvency, the directors must act in the interests of the company’s creditors in order to minimise the potential loss to them.

What are the consequences of not acting as a responsible director?

Personal liability arising from wrongful trading

HMRC and Time to Pay Arrangements

As either a company or an Individual it can be worrying when you have built up arrears with HMRC, especially when you receive correspondence that they are going to commence proceedings to wind the company up or petition for your bankruptcy.

The Restructuring team have recently successfully assisted a number of clients in negotiating with HMRC and agreeing Time to Pay (TTP) arrangements to settle the liabilities.

Whilst each Time to Pay arrangement is agreed by HMRC on its own right, it is our experience that HMRC will expect the following to be incorporated within the TTP: