What is the Accounting Reference Date?

The profit and loss account (P&L) is a financial report that shows the revenue, expenses and profit or loss of your company over a specific accounting period.

This period can be a month, a quarter or a year. A P&L is also commonly referred to by other terms, such as the income statement, statement of operations, financial results statement and earnings statement.

Payment terms indicate when payments should be made and how. These terms are usually included in the invoices generated by companies and sent to customers.

A bank deposit involves placing money into an account with a banking institution. Depositing a cheque is one way to make a deposit. You can also deposit cash or make a funds transfer.

Current liabilities, otherwise known as short-term liabilities are due within a year.

A balance sheet is a financial statement that provides a snapshot of the financial condition of a company, showing how much it owns (assets), owes (liabilities) and the amount that is left over for its owners (owners' equity) at a specific point in time. It is typically completed at the end of a month or a financial year.

Taxable turnover is the turnover on which the seller is liable to pay tax.

Employment Allowance enables eligible employers to reduce their National Insurance bill by up to £4,000 each year.

HMRC's resource provides further details on checking if you're eligible, how and when to make a claim and what to do after you've made a claim.

PAYE

RTI late filing will incur a monthly penalty of £100, depending on the number of employees you have.

Self Assessment

A late filing penalty of £100 is imposed if your tax return is up to three months late. The penalty increases if you're later than three months, or if you pay your tax bill late. Additionally, interest will be charged on late payments.

VAT

You may be required to pay a surcharge if you submit a late return. Surcharges for late payments or VAT return filings are indicated on the HMRC website.

Corporation Tax

HMRC's penalties are as follows:

• 1 day late: £100
• 3 months late: An additional £100
• 6 months late: Your total corporation tax bill will be estimated, after which a penalty of 10% of unpaid tax will be imposed.
• 12 months late: An additional penalty of 10% of unpaid tax will be imposed.
  

Company accounts

The following penalties for private limited companies will be imposed if you fail to file your accounts with Companies House on time:

• Up to 1 month late: £150
• 1 - 3 months late: £375
• 3 - 6 months late: £750
• More than 6 months late: £1,500

If you're paying salaries to employees or directors, you need to register for PAYE and pay your PAYE bill to HMRC.

• Monthly payments: Your PAYE bill is due on the 22nd of the next tax month.
• Quarterly payments: Your PAYE bill is due on the 22nd after the end of the quarter.
  

There are various ways to make your payment.

• Same or next day payments: online or telephone banking, CHAPS
• Payments processed in 3 working days: card payments (online), Bacs, cash or cheque payments at your bank or building society, Direct Debit, by cheque through the post
• Payments processed in 5 working days: Direct Debit (if it's the first time you're setting up a Direct Debit payment)

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Tax season can be stressful for small business owners.

You don't have the convenience of having an employer filing for you. While there are all kinds of tips and strategies for managing your taxes, the first order of business is to get key deadlines noted on your schedule, and determine how and when to make your payment.

Here's what you need to know:

Fixed assets are property or equipment that a company owns, and uses in its day-to-day operations for income generating activities. These include machinery, equipment, buildings and land.

As a limited company director, there are several important deadlines you need to be aware of. These are:

• File your Self Assessment tax return: 31st January 2022 for the 2020/2021 tax year
• Pay you Self Assessment tax: 31st January
• Registering for VAT: Register for VAT within 30 days of meeting the conditions for compulsory registration
• Filing and paying VAT returns: 1 month and 7 days after your VAT quarter end date
• Company accounts: First year accounts are due 21 months after incorporation. Subsequent accounts are due 9 months after the year end
• Corporation tax registration: You need to register within 3 months of trading commencing.
• File your corporation tax return: 12 months following the end of your accounting period
• Corporation tax payment: 9 months and 1 day following the end of your accounting period
• File your Confirmation Statement: You need to file a confirmation statement every 12 months, within 14 days after your confirmation date.

It is the amount of money that must by law, be paid to an adoptive parent when he or she takes time off to adopt a child, or have a child through a surrogacy arrangement.

As a self-employed person or small business owner, getting a good grasp of accounting fundamentals can feel like an uphill task.

As accountants who specialise in small business needs, we're familiar with the challenges that you face-and have put together a series of articles to help you easily understand the basics of accounting.

We've touched on key accounting terms & concepts and the differences between bookkeeping and accounting. Below, we'll dive in to explain what debits and credits mean in accounting.

An aged creditors report shows who your business owes money to, as well as the amount owed at any given time.

Through the agent authorisation process, a client is able to authorise an agent to deal with HMRC on their behalf. Further information is available on the HMRC website.

Written-down value, otherwise known as the book value or net book value is the value of an asset after accounting for depreciation or amortisation. It represents the present worth of an asset from an accounting perspective.

An invoice number is a unique number that is assigned to each invoice. This number is one of the most important elements of every invoice. Its role is to identify transactions, so it needs to be unique. Invoice number can contain only numbers or letters and numbers. It may contain date of issue, name of project or task.

Rechargeable expenses are expenses that are incurred during the performance of your work that you can recharge or recover from your client or agency.

Interim accounts are accounts prepared during the tax year to show the current financial position of a company.