A dormant limited company is simply one which is not trading. The company may never have traded before, or may have ceased trading for any number of reasons, without being shut down. Dormant company directors have a number of responsibilities to fulfil to comply with Companies House rules.
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A controversial new Government proposal – the Direct Recovery of Debts (DRD) – could soon empower HMRC with the ability to recover debts directly from the bank accounts of businesses and individuals who have refused to settle their tax liabilities.
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A trade mark is typically a combination of words and images which distinguishes one brand from another. By registering a trade mark, you can legally protect your trade mark from being used by your competitors.
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A leading accountancy firm says that almost half the automatic VAT late filing penalties levied by HMRC last year were overturned upon review, and that the taxman’s systems are automatically weighted against businesses – with fines being imposed regardless of circumstances.
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Shares can be transferred in many ways. If you are transferring shares in a listed company, then you (or your broker) will generally use an un-certificated system such as CREST. However for a private company, the more normal instrument is a stock transfer form.
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The number of small businesses taking claims to the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court has jumped sharply over the past year. The court provides a cost-effective and efficient way for business owners to protect their brands.
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Is the rise in self-employment in recent years due to a lack of traditional work opportunities, or has a structural change taken place in the economy? A new report by the Resolution Foundation aims to provide the answer.
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More and more industry experts are warning SMEs that they should be taking time to prepare for pension ‘auto-enrolment’. Most firms will have to enrol their employees into a pension scheme, and make contributions, unless the staff member decides to opt out.
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New figures suggest that more ordinary investors are placing their money in EIS investments, as a result of recent reforms which increased the tax breaks available, and expanded the scheme to include larger companies.
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Following a public consultation, the Government is to relax the current statutory requirement for all companies to file an Annual Return with Companies House, replacing it with a more flexible system to ensure all registry details are accurate.
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A new survey asked almost 500 people (most of whom are currently running their own small businesses) why they decided to make the move from traditional work into self-employment, and what they’d do differently if they had the chance to start up all over again.
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Following the start of the 2014/15 tax year, we’ve updated our ‘Tax Tables’ section with the latest rates, tax bands and allowances.
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Here, physical therapist Mark O’Brien looks why you should take active steps to move around while running your small business, and avoid the potential health problems associated with remaining desk-bound for most of the day.
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A range of business tax cuts and incentives come into effect this week, in what the Government calls the “biggest cuts to personal and business taxes for two decades and the most important in a generation.”
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A leading freelancers’ organisation says that the Government has backed down over plans to ‘name and shame’ large firms who fail to pay small businesses on time.
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A new free Early Conciliation service from Acas will provide both business owners and their employees with a way to resolve potential employment disputes without the need to resort to legal action or incur significant costs.
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The Chancellor has launched a new consultation to look at how the growing number of alternative funding platforms could help small business owners who have been rejected by traditional lenders.
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New FCA rules which will restrict the amount of money novice investors can inject into crowdfunded businesses to a mere 10% of their assets have received a mixed reaction from the investment community.
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Here are the main points from today’s Budget, specifically as they relate to small businesses.
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