Finance Box

Finance Box You didn't start your business to do paperwork, receipt filing and number crunching - no one does (o

Your superhero power is specific to your industry and what you do best. This means it will be challenging for you to interpret a sheet full of numbers and make sure you're on top of all the compliance issues to make the best decisions. We live in a digital age and there’s an app or bot (or even a side-kick) for almost anything. There is tech that reads bills, banks connect to your accounting platforms, bots that chase your customers for cash. With our purple capes and hero attitude, we have the experience to automate processes, digitise accounts and show you what’s coming next. Paperwork is a thing of the past, your decision-making process is easier - and your valuable time is back in your hands.

Do you give staff a company car, a van or private medical cover?From 6 April 2027, the tax and Class 1A National Insuran...
09/10/2026

Do you give staff a company car, a van or private medical cover?

From 6 April 2027, the tax and Class 1A National Insurance on company cars, car fuel, vans, van fuel and employer-provided medical benefits moves onto your payroll, instead of the year-end P11D. There's nothing to register for these. Most other benefits follow in April 2028.

There's time to get ready, and the steps are simple. List the benefits you give and who gets them, ask your payroll provider when its software will handle them, and agree how changes like a new car or someone leaving will reach payroll in time.

It's also worth planning your cashflow for July 2027. That's when last year's Class 1A is still due through the P11D(b), while you're already paying the new year's through payroll. HMRC calls it a one-off overlap, so put both in your budget now. And give your staff a heads-up that their tax codes and payslips will change.

Have you checked whether your payroll software can handle company cars and medical cover yet?

If you'd like a hand getting ready, book a free discovery call:
https://financebox.co.uk/contact-us

Still filing your company accounts yourself on the Companies House website?Software-only accounts filing starts on 1 Apr...
08/10/2026

Still filing your company accounts yourself on the Companies House website?

Software-only accounts filing starts on 1 April 2028. From that date, Companies House will only accept company accounts filed through commercial software, whether you file your own or an accountant does it for you. It's the date you file that counts, not your year end, so any accounts filed on or after 1 April 2028 must go through software. You'll still be able to use the website for other things, like your confirmation statement.

Small companies and micro-entities will also have to file a profit and loss account from April 2028, with the option to keep it off the public register, and abridged accounts are going. Companies House hasn't yet confirmed which accounting periods those two changes first apply to. The changes were moved back from April 2027 to give companies more time to prepare.

There's no need to rush accounts in early just to keep using the website. Companies House's advice is to switch to software as soon as possible, and most companies can do that now. Find software that files your type of accounts, or ask an accountant to file for you, and have it settled well before 2028.

Do you file your own accounts at the moment, or does an accountant do it?

If you'd like a hand getting ready, book a free discovery call:
https://financebox.co.uk/contact-us

Shout out to our newest followers! Excited to have you onboard!M Latif Rajput Garop, Victor Chumba, Ahad Raza, Saliha Sa...
07/10/2026

Shout out to our newest followers! Excited to have you onboard!

M Latif Rajput Garop, Victor Chumba, Ahad Raza, Saliha Sassi, Faith Aselemi, Prabina Magar, Jennifer Weese, Amal Salah, Anthony Rodriguez

Planning your first R&D claim for the year to 30 April? Have you told HMRC yet?If your company's year ended on 30 April ...
07/10/2026

Planning your first R&D claim for the year to 30 April? Have you told HMRC yet?

If your company's year ended on 30 April 2026 and you're claiming R&D tax relief for the first time, you need to send HMRC a claim notification form by 31 October 2026. The same applies if your last R&D claim was made before 31 October 2023. If it's missed, the R&D claim isn't valid.

It's a short online form, not the claim itself. You'll need the company's UTR, the accounting period and accounts dates, contact details for the person responsible for the claim and any agent helping, and a high-level summary of the planned R&D. No evidence is needed at this stage.

The company or its agent can send it, and you don't have to wait for your accounts to be finished. Send it now and keep HMRC's reference number. The claim itself follows later with your tax return and the separate additional information form.

Would this be your company's first R&D claim?

Book a free discovery call and we'll help you check whether you need to notify and get it in on time:
https://financebox.co.uk/contact-us

Do your self-employment and property income add up to more than £30,000? Is your record-keeping ready for April 2027?Fro...
06/10/2026

Do your self-employment and property income add up to more than £30,000? Is your record-keeping ready for April 2027?

From 6 April 2027, Making Tax Digital for Income Tax applies to sole traders and landlords with qualifying income over £30,000. That's six months away.

It means keeping your income and expense records in compatible software, sending HMRC a short summary each quarter (not an extra tax return), and filing your tax return through the same software.

To check if it applies to you, add up your gross self-employment and property income for the 2025/26 tax year, before expenses. That's the return HMRC uses for April 2027. Salary, dividends and pensions don't count.

If you're over, there's no need to wait until April. Move your bookkeeping into software now, then try a practice quarter so the routine feels familiar before it's compulsory.

Are you already keeping digital records, or still on spreadsheets?

Book a free discovery call and we'll help you check your figures and get set up:
https://financebox.co.uk/contact-us

Are you holding off any big decisions until after the Budget on 28 October?That makes sense. The Budget is on Wednesday ...
05/10/2026

Are you holding off any big decisions until after the Budget on 28 October?

That makes sense. The Budget is on Wednesday 28 October 2026, and until the details are out, anything you read about it is guesswork. A big move made on a rumour can be hard to undo.

Use the next few weeks to get ready instead. Pull together your year-to-date profit, the salary and dividends you have already taken, what you and the company have paid into pensions this year, and any big purchases you have pencilled in, with rough amounts and dates.

Then, once the Budget is published, you can look at what actually applies to you and act quickly, without hunting for figures.

Which one are you waiting on: dividends, a pension payment or a big purchase?

Book a free discovery call for a post-Budget review:
https://financebox.co.uk/contact-us

Still paying car mileage at 45p a mile?From 6 April 2026 the approved rate for a car or van is 55p for the first 10,000 ...
02/10/2026

Still paying car mileage at 45p a mile?

From 6 April 2026 the approved rate for a car or van is 55p for the first 10,000 business miles in the tax year, then 25p. Before that date the first 10,000 were 45p. The 25p after 10,000 did not change. Motorcycles stay at 24p, and bicycles at 20p. Electric and hybrid cars and vans use the car and van rate.

Pay up to the approved amount for business miles in their own vehicle and you do not report it. Home to a permanent workplace is not business mileage, unless that workplace is temporary. Pay less, and they can claim Mileage Allowance Relief on the difference. That is tax relief at the Income Tax rate they pay, not the full unpaid amount back in cash. A Self Assessment return is where it goes if they file one. If they do not, form P87 can be used when the total expenses claim for the year is £2,500 or less. Over that, it is Self Assessment. The log needs the reason for each journey and the start and end postcode. Anything above the approved amount is taxable and has to be reported.

We can check the payroll rate against the miles since 6 April.

Are those first 10,000 miles still on 45p?

Book a free discovery call:
https://financebox.co.uk/contact-us

VAT period ended 31 August, and the return is due next Wednesday?A final-week reminder, with six days to go. If the peri...
01/10/2026

VAT period ended 31 August, and the return is due next Wednesday?

A final-week reminder, with six days to go. If the period ended on 31 August, the usual online return and payment date is Wednesday 7 October 2026. The usual rule is one calendar month and 7 days after the period end, which is 30 September plus 7 days. It is the stagger whose quarters end in May, August, November and February, not the March, June, September and December stagger, and not April, July, October and January. Use the date on your return if yours is different.

File the return this week, even if you have nothing to pay or reclaim. The payment has to reach HMRC's bank account by Wednesday, not just leave yours. Your VAT online account shows when it must clear. Faster Payments are usually the same day or the next day, including the weekend. CHAPS is usually the same working day if you pay inside your bank's times. Bacs usually needs 3 working days, so do not leave that until next week. A card payment is accepted on the day you make it. Annual Accounting is due 2 months after the period end. Payments on account do not get the extra 7 days on their instalments.

We can check the period on the return, and whether the way you pay needs extra days.

Is the return sent, and does the payment still need time to clear?

Book a free discovery call:
https://financebox.co.uk/contact-us

Planning the work Christmas do, and not sure how the £150 exemption actually works?It is an exemption, not an allowance....
30/09/2026

Planning the work Christmas do, and not sure how the £150 exemption actually works?

It is an exemption, not an allowance. In 2026/27 the cost per head must be £150 or less, including VAT. December 2026 is in that tax year, 6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027. If you go over £150, the whole cost is taxable, not just the extra.

The party must be an annual function, not a one-off, and open to all your employees, or to all staff at one location if you have more than one site. A directors-only event does not qualify. The full cost is then a benefit for the directors who attend.

Include VAT, and any transport or overnight accommodation for people attending. Divide by everyone who actually attends, including partners and other guests. If the exemption fails, the employee is also taxed on the cost per head for a family or household guest.

More than one annual function can be exempt if the combined cost per head stays within £150. If the total goes over, the functions that best use the £150 can stay exempt. The rest are taxable in full.

If it is not exempt, report it on each employee's P11D and pay Class 1A National Insurance on the full cost. Non-exempt staff entertainment can go into a PAYE Settlement Agreement instead, so it stays off the P11D and the employer pays the tax and National Insurance through that agreement.

We can check the per-head figure before you book.

Is this the only annual function in 2026/27, or have you already held one?

Book a free discovery call:
https://financebox.co.uk/contact-us

Had untaxed income in 2025/26 — do you still need to tell HMRC by Monday?If you need a Self Assessment return for 2025/2...
29/09/2026

Had untaxed income in 2025/26 — do you still need to tell HMRC by Monday?

If you need a Self Assessment return for 2025/26 and you have never filed, or you did not need a return for 2024/25, tell HMRC by 5 October 2026. New filers register. If you already have an account, you may need to reactivate it instead.

Not every extra pound needs a return. Sole traders are in once income is more than £1,000 before expenses. The first £1,000 of rental income is covered by the property allowance. Higher rental income, and other untaxed income, can mean a return. Use HMRC’s checker if you are unsure.

Late notice can lead to a penalty. It is not automatic. If you register after 5 October and still owe tax on 31 January 2027, you may get a failure to notify penalty based on what is left to pay. The payment date stays 31 January even if registration is late.

A UTR by post usually takes around 15 days. HMRC’s newer personal online registration can show it within 72 hours. You need it before you can file.

We can register or reactivate and keep the January return on track.

Are you filing for the first time, or coming back after a year off?

Book a free discovery call: https://financebox.co.uk/contact-us

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