As this month sees the start of the new financial year, we asked our friend Aimee Hargreaves from Ultra Accountancy to guest blog for us and give an update of what this means for small businesses.

So, we’re now in April…….where is this year going?!

Spring isn’t “really” here yet (thanks to the weather) but we ARE in April and a couple of important rules became relevant, in the business world, from 1^st April 2022.

Here are a couple of my top tips:

National Minimum Wage

From 1st April 2022 the National Minimum Wage rates increased.

The hourly rate you need to pay depends on the age of your employee and whether they are an apprentice.

• The rate for employees who are 23 and over is now £9.50 (if for example you have an employee who is 23, doing 40 hours work for you a week, this is a salary of £19,760).
• The rate for employees who are 23 and over is now £9.50 (if for example you have an employee who is 23, doing 40 hours work for you a week, this is a salary of £19,760).
• The rate for employees who are 21 and 22 is now £9.18 (if for example you have an employee who is 21, doing 40 hours work for you a week, this is a salary of £19,095).
• The rate for employees who are 18 to 20 is now £6.83 (if for example you have an employee who is 19, doing 40 hours work for you a week, this is a salary of £14,207).
• The rate for employees who are under 18 is now £4.81 (if for example you have an employee who is 17, doing 40 hours work for you a week, this is a salary of £10,005).
• The rate for employees who are deemed an apprentices is now £4.81 (if for example you have an employee who is an apprentice, doing 40 hours work for you a week, this is a salary of £10,005).

Make sure you apply the correct hourly rates to your first payroll run after 1.4.2022.

Making Tax Digital for VAT

From 1.4.2022 ALL VAT registered business (regardless of turnover) must submit their VAT returns through compliant accounting software.

This is compulsory (it is NOT optional).

Here are our top suggestions on compliant accounting software:
Zoho Books
QuickBooks
Xero
Our favourites, here at Ultra Accountancy Limited are Zoho Books and QuickBooks.

Zoho Books and QuickBooks are REALLY easy to use – we’re not saying this because we are accountants, they really are. Many of our clients like the systems and have said they are very easy to us PLUS they are cheaper than a coffee a day 😉!!

The reason why you MUST now submit VAT returns through accounting software is because ultimately HMRC want ALL businesses to maintain digital accounting records – the legislation is called Making Tax Digital (MTD).

You can no longer log on to HMRC and fill in the 9 boxes to submit your VAT returns.

If you already submit your VAT returns through accounting software you can sit back and relax 😊.

If you don’t, here’s what you need to do:
You MUST register for Making Tax Digital (MTD). It’s easy and only takes around 5 minutes to do (if that)!
Please note – you must register BEFORE the end of your first VAT quarter which falls after 1.4.2022.

Your accountant should have been in touch with you to assist with this – if they haven’t we’d recommend that you get in touch with them for advice.

For more information about the service Ultra Accountancy provide please visit – https://www.ultraaccountancy.co.uk/services/

Or you can find Aimee on Linkedin, sharing straight talking top tips and advice, with lots of passion and plenty of emojis *winking face* – https://www.linkedin.com/in/aimeehargreaves/