Covid-19

News

Half of small businesses poisoned with ‘toxic debt’

Recovery expert Begbies Traynor says hospitality and property particularly vulnerable to carrying debt they might struggle to repay over the coming year

News

Recovery loan scheme to be extended for six months

Take-up of the scheme has not been as strong as expected, mainly because of more onerous credit decisions.

News

A third of small businesses fear they can’t repay Covid loans

Small businesses worry that as government support dries up, they'll struggle to repay their Covid-19 loans and will need further aid

Tax

Taxman could claw back up to 10% of furlough cash

Small business owners unaware they have overclaimed could face having to repay 5-10% of furlough claims, warns top accounting firm

News

Retailers call for half of rent backlog to be waived

The Commercial Tenants Association is calling on the government to adopt a different strategy to deal with commercial rent debt

News

Over half of SMEs have already bounced back from the pandemic

The majority of UK SMEs feel positive about recovery from Covid-19, with over half meeting or exceeding pre-pandemic turnover

News

Is my small business exempt if one of my staff is pinged?

Government announces 16 business sectors where small business workers could be exempt from self-isolation, despite being pinged by the NHS Covid app

Running a Business

Do staff have to self-isolate if they’ve been pinged by the NHS Covid app?

Small businesses are having to close because of staff shortages caused by staff being pinged by the NHS Covid-19 app. Can you ask employees to come to work even if they’ve been pinged?

News

Government ‘should write off’ £1.7bn of Covid loan debt

Thousands of small business shopkeepers face collapse because of soaring debt levels incurred during the pandemic

News

20% of business workers self-isolating due to Covid

One in five small business workers self-isolate having been pinged by NHS test-and-trace app, forcing businesses to shut

Accounting

The EU VAT e-commerce package: how accounting can help

The EU is expanding the ‘one-stop’ system for reporting and paying VAT across the bloc to include all distance sales of services and intracommunity sale of goods. The updated schemes are together known as the EU VAT E-commerce Package. What does it mean for UK businesses and how can you adapt?

Accounting

HMRC to go easy on small business strangled with Covid debt

Kwasi Kwarteng, the business secretary, says HMRC will not press businesses to pay overdue tax immediately if they’re struggling with coronavirus-related debt