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!

Buy1Give1

I guess very few experiences are genuinely life changing.

Sometimes we go through an event and it changes our attitude to something, or we enjoy (or hate) something so much we decide to do more (or less) of it in the future...

But rarely does something affect us so profoundly that everything changes.

I actually had one of those experiences in April at the ActionCOACH Business Excellence Forum conference.

Generally speaking the conference was great with lots of inspirational and motivational speakers with brilliant business ideas.  I came back with a notebook full of them and some of them I've even acted upon.

But there was one speaker, called Paul Dunn, who talked about things guys at these conferences tend to talk about.  Things like making lots of small changes instead of trying to make whacking great big ones and so on...

But then he started talking about a... I hardly know how to describe it... a movement he's involved with called Buy1Give1.  Sometimes shortened to B - 1 - G -1.  Not Bigi as someone once said!.

Buy1Give1 struck a chord with all three of us directors and I think it made an impact for different reasons.

For me giving to charity is a complicated thing (in my mind).  After all, who do you give to, how much and how do you know it gets to the right place?  I occasionally will text in a donation in response to a TV advert but I'm put off doing this by the telephone calls that inevitably follow and I usually give something at Children In Need time.

For me, though, B1G1 gives us as a business a fantastic opportunity to make impacts which we control.  We control how much we spend and it's amazing how a few dollars can make huge impacts on peoples' lives when given in the right way.

For Renee, I think it was to do with the fact that B1G1 gives us a reason to create impacts and as we create more impacts we build stories that we can share... (and please note the language - it's not about giving to charity, it's about impacting someone's life).

For Rowena it was more about the opportunity to include the team, to provide them with budgets and opportunities to make impacts by contributing to one of many, many projects there are available.

B1G1 makes it very easy for me to have an impact on someone's life who hasn't been as fortunate as I have.  It also gives me a reason and a way of doing it regularly, quietly and in a small way without the need or requirement for a grand gesture.

And I like that.

It's not for everyone but if you'd like to see how it works visit www.b1g1.com

Thank you.

Corporate Difficulties

I try not to rant too much in these blogs but my unwritten rule is about to be broken.

I shan't name names unless you force me to but you won't be able to get anyO2thing from me.

Whatever you say won't make me Talk Talk, it doesn't matter how Hot your Point is you just won't be able to make me Volvo.  Did I say Volvo?  I meant talk.

So, we got new 'phones recently and as part of the deal I had to send the old 'phones back... which I did in the bags provided.

I then got a letter saying that if I didn't send the 'phones back my account would be debited with £661.  Of course, I rang to complain and the guy at the nameless 'phone company said 'nope, the 'phones had arrived and all was okay.'

The next letter to arrive said they had our 'phones and would be charging me £52.50 for damage to a case.  Fair enough - there was a dent and a chip.

Then I checked my bank account and £661 had been debited.

So, of course, I called.  There was a profuse apology and a promise to refund me £661.  Immediately?  No.  In 10 to 15 days.  Working days!

How is that fair?

But then I suddenly thought to myself 10 days later that I hadn't had the refund... except I had - my O2 (ooops - there, I've spilled the beans) account had been credited but I should have been told that I had to call again to get my bank account refunded.

I asked for the refund - guess how long before I'll get it.

Yep... you're quite right.  Another 10 to 15 days!  O2 could have my money - more than £600 - for nearly a month... and they took it incorrectly.  Some would say 'stole'... but not me of course.  Just some.

Talk about incensed.

And talk about Talk Talk.

I got an email that said I was moving out of my house and other people were moving in and didn't want Talk Talk anymore.

First I'd heard of it - I ain't moving and I hadn't been in touch with said company.  Could it be anything to do with data being stolen and other companies taking advantage?

Just asking.

So, I called.  The first two people clearly didn't understand:

'So, you wanted to leave Talk Talk and now you've changed your mind..?'

'No, I never wanted to leave in the first place.'

'But it says on our system that we have a termination request.'

'Well it didn't come from me.'

'Who did it come from then?'

'How the bloody hell should I know?'

'Please don't use offensive language...'

The third person said they'd sort it, which I didn't believe and lo and behold a letter turned up on Saturday saying our service would be terminated on 29th January.

So, another 'phone call which, to be fair, seemed to sort things.

I just wouldn't try to call me at home on the 29th January - just to be on the safe side, you understand!

Feeling Good

I've never found someone's wallet lying on the pavement... until today, that is.

I was walking Barney down to the office about lunchtime (and I know what you're thinking when I say that - but I wasn't skiving) and there it was.

Just laying in the middle of the pavement, with plastic cards scattered about it.

The mix of emotions I felt when I saw took me completely by surprise.

My first thought was: what a pain, I need to do something about this.

My second thought was guilt as I picked up the wallet... in case someone thought I was half inching it and my third thought, when I saw the family photographs was 'poor bloke'.

But once you've picked up a wallet, what do you do with it?  It felt wrong to put it in my pocket but what else was I supposed to do?

I looked round in vain for someone to hand  the problem off to... if only there was a passing police officer I could give it to.  But there was no-one.  Government cuts you see; there just aren't the same number of Bobbies on the beat as there used to be.

So I tried the shop outside which I found the wallet.

Nope, they didn't know who it was either.

There was only one thing for it; I was going to have to go through the wallet to look for some kind of contact details (more guilt at doing that) and lo and behold there was a business card for a local car dealership.

So I rang it on the off chance and got a lucky break: the guy was a customer of theirs.  The receptionist left a 'phone message for him and an hour later he called me.  Half an hour after that he came to the office and collected his wallet.

As I thought, it was the pictures of his wife with their grandson that he was most worried about losing but all's well that ends well and bloke and wallet were reunited.

And then I thought - what kind of muppet am I that a) my first thought was 'what I pain, I need to do something about this' and b) I felt guilty for picking up the wallet in the first place in case someone thought I was nicking it?

But, there you are... even being a muppet doesn't necessarily stop good things from happening.

Singing Praises

I don't do this very often - perhaps I should do more of it here in our blogs.

But today I am going to be serious (for once) and take the opportunity to sing the praises of two of our team members.

(Although I could do this for every one of our team... it's just there have been two very specific instances recently.)

Farhan joined us a few months ago and has proved to be a brilliant addition to our accounting team.  This was really brought home to me on New Year's Eve.

A customer of ours had a deadline to meet which just happened to be 31st December 2015.  It wasn't an easy set of accounts and it was a bit of a rush job.  There was some info missing from what we needed and all in all it would have been easy for Farhan to say 'you know what... I didn't get everything I needed on time, I'm going home.'

But he didn't.

He completed his background work at about 6.30pm (on New Year's Eve, remember), journalled in the accounts, checked everything and called the customer at 8.30pm asking for permission to file.

All on New Year's Eve...

And what's even more impressive is that he did it all with a smile on his face, communicated with the customers all the way through the process and got the job done.

The accounts were filed within deadline... whilst the customer was at a party!

Brilliant.

The second member of our team I want to thank formally is Arjun.

VAT returns have to be filed by 7th of the month after the end of the VAT quarter... so if your VAT quarter finishes 30th November you have all of December and 7 days of January to file (and pay your VAT bill if there is one).

We spotted we had a customer who hadn't filed their VAT return by about 6.00pm on 7th January... it was an oversight, nothing more, on their part.

Arjun contacted the customer to get their records emailed through, completed the VAT return, got the figure to our customer, filed the return and the customer paid their VAT bill... all within deadline which means for the customer there was no fine and everyone was happy.

Arjun stayed and finished the process, leaving the office at about 9.30pm.  This is what the customer wrote to him:

'Hi Arjun, you are incredibly kind doing this for me tonight.  I have just paid the outstanding via my online banking so that is great.  I owe you guys for this.  Have a good night also and thank you very much again.  Cheers.'

Arjun's reply was priceless.  I love it and will keep it forever because it's exactly how we operate, it's our ethos and what we strive to be and do for everyone.  Here it is:

'Not a problem at all, XXX.  Pleasure is all mine.  That's why we are different at TaxAssist.

Good night.'

Dog Walking Fail

Ever had one of those moments when things have gone so spectacularly wrong that you have only two choices..?

1. Curl up in a fetal ball and whimper in pain, or
2. Jump up and saunter off as though nothing had happened

I had just such a situation on Boxing Day.

Renee and I were out walking Barney (our dog, rather than an elderly relation) through the Hermitage of Braid.

You may know the walk, but in case you don't, let me paint a picture.  On the left hand side there's the Braidburn; a fast flowing stream swollen by the recent rains.  On the right hand side, a steep bank, almost a cliff, covered in leaves and mud and very slippery.

The path is muddy, too.

So, I throw a stick up the steep slope and Barney and goes haring after it.  Unfortunately he gets stuck in a bramble patch and can't pull himself out.

I couldn't climb the slope where I'd thrown the stick so I had to scale the cliff in a slightly less steep place... which was still very slippery - two steps forward and at least one and half back.

I was about two thirds of the way up when I hear a shout from Renee... 'He's out!  He's got himself free!'

Oh, just spiffing.

I turned to start walking gingerly down the slope only for my lower foot to slide away from under me.  I had no choice: I had to bring my upper foot round to try and put the brakes on... only for it, too to slide out from under me.

Suddenly I'm running full tilt down the slope strides getting bigger and bigger and with no chance of stopping when I hit the flat path.

Sure enough, as I reached the flat my knees collapsed under me and I started heading for what was going to be a dramatic impact.

Just at that moment time slowed up and, as clear as day, I saw a lady standing on the path with her own dog on a lead (a Jack Russell as I recall)... clearly she'd been looking up the slope at Barney but her head was now swiveled to look at me and her mouth was hanging open.

Time clicked back to normal speed and I hit the ground, manged to just about get my shoulder underneath, rolled across my back and straight onto my feet.

I looked at the woman, nodded casually and said 'Morning' before sauntering jauntily up the path.

I'd never seen her before and I'll probably never see her again!

As I got round the corner and away from the shocked lady Renee caught sight of me and burst out laughing: I was soaking wet from head to knees where I'd hit the path, I had mud in my hair and across my face and my trainers were caked with gravel and leaves.

I ached for days afterwards and I badly dented my pride... next time I think I'll just go for the fetal ball... it's much simpler.