By Mark Jones, director of Carmarthen-based Clay Shaw Butler chartered accountants and business consultants. The Money Matters column appears in the Pembrokeshire Herald, the Carmarthenshire Herald and the Llanelli Herald newspapers.
Yes, it’s still dominating the news headlines. The B-word, aka ‘Brexit’, is likely to dominate the news agenda for many more weeks.
‘Deal or No Deal’ sounds like a quiz show.
But the Brexit issue isn’t fun and games; it’s serious stuff.
Which is why everyone must start thinking about the possibility of a ‘No Deal’ Brexit.
Following the issue of some ‘No Deal’ Brexit technical notices (back in August), the Government has issued further notices.
The aim is to provide some help for both businesses and individuals to prepare in the event of a UK-EU agreement not being realised.
The second and third batches of notices cover topics such as passports, driving licences, data protection and mobile phone roaming charges.
The full list of topics covered can be found here. Just follow the internet link for plenty of background and advice – https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/how-to-prepare-if-the-uk-leaves-the-eu-with-no-deal
The Government has confirmed they plan to issue further technical notices over coming weeks.
Although reaching a deal remains the ‘overriding priority’, unless a Withdrawal Agreement is ratified by the UK and European Parliaments, the possibility of the UK leaving the EU without a deal on 29 March 2019 remains.
Meanwhile, a survey by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has revealed that:
- Only 14% of small businesses have started planning for a ‘No Deal’ Brexit.
- A further 41% believe that a ‘No Deal’ Brexit will have an impact on their business but have not yet started planning for the possibility.
- 10% believe that a ‘No Deal’ Brexit will have a positive impact on their ability to do business whilst 48% believe that a ‘No Deal’ Brexit will have a negative effect on their ability to do business. This figure rises sharply to 66% for those small firms that trade with the EU and to 61% for those that employ a staff member from the EU.
FSB National Chairman, Mike Cherry, said: “Looking at this research, it is obvious that our small firms are not prepared or ready for a chaotic ‘No Deal’ Brexit and the impact that it will have on their businesses.
“If you sell your products to the EU, buy goods from the EU or if your business relies on staff from the EU, you now see this outcome as a clear and present threat to your business.”
As always, the team here at Clay Shaw Butler will aim to keep you informed of developments.
In other news, the taxman at HMRC has published an updated list of deliberate tax defaulters.
The list includes details of taxpayers who have incurred a penalty because they have either:
- deliberately provided one or more inaccurate documents to HMRC
- deliberately failed to comply with an HMRC obligation
- committed a VAT or excise wrongdoing.
HMRC’s criteria for publishing this information also states that ‘These deliberate acts have resulted in HMRC establishing an additional amount of tax of more than £25,000. HMRC only publish the details where the taxpayer has not made a full and immediate disclosure when HMRC started to investigate or prior to any investigation.’
The list of defaulters can be found at – https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/publishing-details-of-deliberate-tax-defaulters-pddd/current-list-of-deliberate-tax-defaulters
You can find out more about money matters on the Clay Shaw Butler website (under our news for business section) – http://www.clayshawbutler.com/news/latest-news-for-business
We have a strong and experienced team with great local knowledge all geared-up to helping you get the very best from your finances – whether that is as an individual or as a business.
We stay ahead of the game by putting great store by continual professional development for our staff.
With Investors In People status at Clay Shaw Butler, we care passionately about making sure our staff have all the tools they need to serve you, our customers.
Weblink – http://www.clayshawbutler.com
The team at Clay Shaw Butler can be contacted on 01267 228500.
The team at Clay Shaw Butler are on Twitter. Look for @clayshawbutler.
Leave a Reply