Tag: finance
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The Sunday Rundown: 30 August 2026
Borrowing is getting more expensive just as the Budget clock starts ticking, your energy bill forecast is now official, half the country’s sole traders missed their first tax deadline, and youth unemployment is closing in on a million. Here’s what mattered this week — and what to do about it. 1. Borrowing just got pricier,…
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Tax Relief on Hire Purchase Interest Isn’t a Reason to Stop Shopping the Rate
Some business owners treat the interest rate on a hire purchase agreement as almost an afterthought, because the interest is tax-deductible. The logic goes: “the taxman’s paying part of it anyway, so why haggle.” That logic is wrong, and it’s an expensive mistake to make on kit that can run to tens of thousands of…
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Stop Watching the Bank of England. Start Watching Your Debtor List.
Every time the Bank of England meets, small business owners hold their breath for a rate cut that might ease the pressure. It’s understandable, but it’s misplaced. Interest rates are a fraction of a percentage point you can’t influence. Late payment is a much bigger problem sitting inside your own sales ledger — and unlike…
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What tax compliance really costs your business — and where the time and money goes
If tax admin feels like it’s eating more of your week than it used to, you’re not imagining it. According to the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), the average UK small business now spends £4,500 and 44 hours a year just staying compliant with the tax system — up around 10% since 2021. Multiplied across…
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Half of Sole Traders Missed the First MTD Deadline. That’s Not a Taxpayer Problem.
Nearly half of the taxpayers required to file under Making Tax Digital for Income Tax missed their first deadline. Azets found that of 864,000 people eligible, only 436,000 filed on time. When a new system trips up that many people at the first hurdle, the fault sits with the system, not the sole traders and…
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Equipment Auctions Are a Great Way to Buy Kit — If You Treat Them as Homework, Not a Bargain Hunt
The case for auctions Every few months another SME owner tells me they got “a great deal” at an equipment auction, and every few months another tells me they got burned. The difference between the two almost never comes down to luck. It comes down to whether they did the boring bit — inspecting, checking,…
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The Sunday Rundown: 23 August 2026
A Budget date is locked in, the Bank of England is holding steady, hiring is cooling, and a tax change that quietly went live in April is about to catch a lot more sole traders. Here’s what mattered this week, and what it means for your business.