A funny old time...

It's a funny old time in business at the moment...

What with the Brexit* vote and the potential for (yet another) referendum, this time for Scottish Independence, there's quite a lot going on.

And, it seems to me, there are a lot of people, mostly politicians - all of whom are an awful lot smarter than me, talking about uncertain times ahead.

But I don't see it.

This is my philosophy on things:

No matter what happens the sun will come up tomorrow (although it might be behind some cloud) and it will go down again at the end of the day.  That's certain.

And, do you know what?: people are still going to need their haircut and to have a cup of coffee on their way to work.  They need their front rooms decorated and their showers fixed.  They need new carpets and their cars still need an MoT.

Who knows what will happen in the political world tomorrow?  I for one have decided not to worry about it and I'm not going to think about what might happen if this or that occurs because that way will only lead to more uncertainty.  And my uncertainty won't help anyone I know.

I truly believe that how these days pan out is down to us - us who work in small businesses delivering service, building things and doing things for customers day in day out.

Why do I think like this?

Well, I'm lucky enough to meet lots of people doing lots of things in business.  We have every business you could think of as clients from scientists to builders and singers to tailors.  And there's business out there for everyone.  I've heard 'experts' predict that there might be 15% fall in business (whatever that means).

I don't believe that but even if there was, it means 85% of business is still being done.

So, let's just stop talking about uncertainty and get on with doing business and it will be better for everyone.

I've got another idea.  Let's build a big wall (at least a metaphorical one) around politics and let them think the big thoughts, talk about things endlessly and worry about uncertainty whilst we just crack on with things.

But then, I guess that's we always do isn't it?

As a final point, I would say that I know my view is overly simplistic but simple is good sometimes.

*I've been trying to find relevant and useful information on Brexit and what it means definitively...   And I can't find anything.  That's because it doesn't exist.  No-one knows what it means so I can't help thinking we can create anything we want out of this situation.

Time

I live in Edinburgh...

And life is pretty fast paced.

I get into work about 9 in the morning.  I look at my watch and it's 5 to 1 - lunch time.  I look again and its quarter past 5.  I look for a final time and it's 7.30.

Every day is like that, without fail.  Even the weekends go by in a flash and I certainly can't believe that it's the middle of June - the year only just seems to have got going and I'm thinking about booking the team's Christmas dinner!

Has anyone else noticed how life seems to be going by faster and faster?  I've worked out exactly why this happens.

Think about this.

When you are 10 years old - 1 year of your life equals 10% of the time you've been alive - a big proportion.

But when you're 50 (which I virtually am) 1 year of your life represents only 2% of the total - hence it goes by a lot quicker.

I said to Renee last year (2015) 'time is flashing by so quickly - 2014 went by in a blur.  We really need to slow 2015 down.'

She just looked at me with a withering stare, shook her head and said, 'You idiot... it's November!'

Fair point.

Anyway, to the point of this blog.

Last week Renee and I went to visit my Mum and Dad who live in a little place called Oulton Broad in Suffolk... Oulton Broad is the only Norfolk Broad that's not actually in Norfolk.

We arrived Monday evening and by Tuesday afternoon we'd noticed something very strange.

Time was moving much slower.

I got up about 8 and a bit later I looked at my watch.  It was only half past 9.  In Edinburgh it would have been 1pm.

We went walking, walked for hours along the banks of the River Waveney and still arrived in Beccles before lunch.

I looked at my watch later in the evening: 9pm!

How could this be?  Is there some time shift somewhere around King's Lynn?  After all, it can't be anything to do with having time off because Saturdays in Edinburgh flash by just as fast as a week day!

So what is it?

And can it be bottled for later?

Because I sure as eggs are eggs know that I need to slow down time some how.

Any suggestions?

Let Property Campaign

Whatever we think of HMRC, bless them, I have to say I believe they are entirely fair.

At least they have been in my dealings with them.

A little black and white, maybe, but entirely fair nonetheless.

A little bit difficult to deal with, sometimes, but entirely fair.

A little intransigent, I grant you, but entirely fair.

That's why I'm a bit surprised at the HMRC Let Property Campaign (LPC).  A whole unit has been set up within HMRC to make the campaign run smoothly and in my dealings with them they have been excellent.

Just to recap what the LPC is all about.

Some people own a second property which they let out to tenants.  They receive rent from their tenant and if the income received is more than the allowable expenses they make a profit.  This profit is taxed... as long as HMRC knows about it.

That's why, with a very few exceptions, everyone who rents out a property needs to fill in a self assessment tax return every year to declare this profit.

However, for whatever reason, some people don't do this.  They've forgotten they have the property, they don't think they need to fill in a tax return, the dog ate it and so on...

And once a tax return is missed one year and the world doesn't come to an end, the following year it's just a little easier not to complete a return and the next year is easier still.  

All of a sudden 10 years have been missed and now the weight of guilt begins to build up.  The person in question is just waiting for the letter, the 'phone call or even the visit (very unlikely) from HMRC to say 'you're nicked, mate'.

But all HMRC wants, being entirely fair, is everyone to pay the tax they are due and so the Let Property Campaign was born to make it easy for landlords to bring their affairs up to date (to quote the website).

There are two ways the campaign works.  A landlord can 'fess up' and get in touch with the campaign to say they have a property and they want to take part in the campaign.

Or...

HMRC gets wind of the property and writes to the landlord with a reference number and inviting them to come clean.  And, by the way, if you have a property you haven't declared this is getting more and more likely as the landlord registration scheme really kicks in.

Option 1 (fessing up voluntarily) is preferable from a fines point of view but in either case the process is simple enough: work out what level of profit you made by renting out the property over however many years you've had it, select the level of penalty you believe you should pay, work out the interest that's due and make an offer to HMRC.

They'll check your figures and either say 'yes' or 'no' depending on whether they believe you.

Once they agree and you pay everything becomes formal and that's it.

You get to sleep easy again.

We've completed quite a few of these now for a customers and we do all the negotiation with HMRC and even fill in the forms.

If you need any help or even just want to talk through your options, get in touch: 0131 202 9888 or via Facebook:

facebook.com/accountantsedinburgh

Techno Wizard...

... I ain't.

But techophobe neither.

I sit somewhere slap bang in the middle.  I like technology for what it can do but not for technology's sake if you see what I mean.  I need someone to tell me what's possible...

Let me give you an example.

I was at a networking event several years ago and I was talking to an IT guy.  Unfortunately I'd exhausted the subjects of weather, football, politics and quantum physics so I thought I'd better ask him something about IT.

As I said this was a few years back so the I-Pad had been about for a while but wasn't very widespread yet.  This is what I heard myself saying:

'I can't really see the point of an I-Pad, can you?'

This was the response I got:

'Your I-Pad will occupy the space between your I-Phone and your laptop.'

'Uh-huh?  Really?'  Says I nodding wisely and wondering what possible response to give because I wasn't actually aware of the space between my I-Phone and my laptop.  'Is there a space between..?'

'Oh, yes,' says the IT guy before wandering off, clearly bored with my conversation.

The next week I was away working.  And, along with many sad gits I was having breakfast on my own in the hotel restaurant.  I didn't want to just stare into space whilst waiting for my eggs so I was watching the news on my I-Phone when I looked around at my fellow saddos.

And lo and behold they were watching the news, too... but on their I-Pads.  There was a space between I-Phone and laptop after all!

Up to date now - well, a few months ago...

I had the thought that we need to move with the times and have our own app...

And I was asked the inevitable question by my co-directors: 'Why?'

Errmmm... to improve client engagement and facilitate the transfer of information (I seemed to remember from the blurb the app development company sent to me.)

There was a sad shaking of the heads and a very quiet moment...

But after a while as we started thinking about what our own app would look like we found the reason to have one and started the ball rolling.

I am delighted to tell you that our very own app is going to be launched in a few weeks.

It will allow us to chase people for records, send information that will be useful and relevant, tell people about us... but it will also keep track of mileage claims and expenses, sending the info to us at regular intervals.

More details to follow - but we're excited about this one!