The internet is 30 years old – and it’s probably never been more dangerous, with almost daily warnings of various scams, hacks and hoaxes.  Ensuring you are safe online has never been more difficult – so as we bite into a slice of birthday cake, here are our top tips to help you stay safe online, without the need for specialist technical knowledge:

To Click – or not to Click

That, to paraphrase Shakespeare, is the question!  It is likely that any site asking for personal information via a link will be dodgy.  Phishing is where you are promised something in return for giving them your personal data.  What are are most likely to receive in return are lots of irritating emails and possibly even an infected computer.

If it looks too good to be true…

You know how this ends.  If you are being offered something for free, you need to ask yourself how they are able to afford to give it away.  You will pay for the freebie somehow, somewhere.

‘Your computer is infected’…

Actually, of course, it probably isn’t, and how would they know anyway?  These tech support scams may involve very expensive phone calls to their ‘help’ desk, or downloading potentially dangerous software which can infect or control your computer.  Rather, use antivirus or anti-malware software which you control.

‘System optimizers’

These rarely actually optimize anything, but are more likely to try and control your options so you end up with unnecessary toolbars, annoying pop-up ads, or be diverted to landing pages you don’t want to go to.

Use a trusted browser

You’ll be safer with a well known browser such as Chrome, Safari or Firefox rather than a less well known one.  Stay with browsers which are regularly updated rather than older ones which don’t cope well with new versions of malware.

HTTPS

Websites with a green padlock and an HTTPS address are safer because this means the information is encrypted.  Of course nothing is 100% guaranteed safe…

Password Manager

Who still uses ‘password’ as their password?  Asking for suggestions for passwords online often generates a complex string of characters, numbers and symbols, which can be very difficult to write down by hand accurately.  What is the difference between l and I (the first is lower case L, the second is upper case i).  Password manager software from a reputable source may be the answer.

Of course there are many other more complex solutions, but for the non-technical person, starting here may be the best bet.

The HMRC introduction of Making Tax Digital (MTD) will impact on all tax payers, with a phased introduction from April 1^st this year.  Here, we look at how MTD will affect the self-employed.

What It Means

If you are an unincorporated business, which is what most self-employed people count as, you will need to maintain your accounting records in a digital format, either through software or other digital apps.  These records will need to be submitted to the HMRC each quarter through your digital tax account, together with an end of year declaration of your total yearly income. 

Digital Tax Records

Each transaction will need to be recorded, with the following proposed fields:

• Date of transaction
• Value of transaction
• Category of income or expense
• Deducted amount (or percentage) for expenses

If you are a retailer with a high volume of low value cash transactions, such as a newsagent for example, you’ll just need to record the date, gross takings and income category.

Who Does This Apply To

If your business has an income above £85,000, then you should be registered for VAT and different rules will apply to you – see our previous article here.

If the income for your business is less than £10,000, you will be exempt from these new MTD rules.

For all other unincorporated businesses with incomes between £10k and £85k, MTD will directly impact on your business accounting processes.

When Does This Apply?

You may not be surprised to hear that the deadlines for introducing MTD have been pushed back from the initial timescale.  As it stands now, payment of Income Tax and National Insurance for sole traders through MTD has been pushed back to April 2020. 

Self Assessment

A sole trader, who derives their only income from the business, won’t be required to submit a self assessment tax return.

If You Need Help

Because the deadline for introduction of MTD for the self-employed is over a year away, there is no need to panic now, but it is sensible for you to think ahead and be prepared for the changes which will impact on you.  If you do need any help, please don’t hesitate to contact us.   

Today is Blue Monday – apparently, the most depressing day of the whole year.  Here, we look deeper into why today is so significant, and what it means for businesses…

Blue Monday was defined in 2004 by a psychologist who was asked by a travel firm to come up with a scheme for promoting their winter deals.

A number of factors were identified which were seen as contributing to low mood:

• The weather – today is definitely chilly but at least the sun is shining!
• Debt – particularly that racked up over Christmas with the monthly statement about to drop through the letterbox
• Monthly salary – with wage increases around the 3% mark, and inflation over 2%, pressure remains on wages
• Time since Christmas – the decorations are packed away, it’s back to the daily grind…
• New Year’s Resolutions – how many are you still maintaining?  Thought so…
• Motivation – for many, this is the time when motivation levels are lowest
• Need to take action – we know we have to, but…

Like many theories, this one turns out to be nothing more than pseudo science – they have even come up with a formula for calculating just how depressing today is meant to be.

What it does mean is that some marketing stunts can piggy-back onto the whole Blue Monday bandwagon.  McDonalds, for example, are giving away free cheeseburgers if you use their app.  There’s other deals on sushi, aromatherapy and diet plans.

Perhaps more importantly, it does help to raise the issue of well-being at work.   One in six will experience depression at some stage of their lives.  To claim that depression can happen on one day in January clearly trivialises the experiences of people who have a serious illness.  It’s an issue which businesses and staff need to be aware of all year round.

For more information from mental health charity Mind, and the NHS, click the links.

Making Tax Digital (MTD) is a major initiative the Government are introducing which will change the way individuals and businesses pay their tax.  It will impact on every tax payer and business in the country.  We’ll be writing a number of blogs posts on MTD so you know exactly what it means to you.  First of all, we’ll tell you what is planned to happen…

Why bother with MTD?

The Government want to introduce MTD so that the tax system is:

• More effective
• More efficient and
• Easier for tax payers to get their tax right.

The context for this is clear – HMRC reckon they lose about £9 billion every year down to ‘avoidable mistakes’.

Will it affect VAT?

Oh yes!  If your turnover is over the VAT threshold (currently £85,000) then your business will have to use the MTD service to keep records and submit your VAT returns from April 1^st, 2019.  That’s just over 3 months away.

And Income Tax?

The deadline for implementing MTD for income tax is a bit further away – this will be April 2020 at the very earliest, and will probably be impacted by how the VAT implementation goes.  If you’re a self-employed business of landlord, you can choose to voluntarily keep business records digitally and send Income Tax updates to the HMRC now, instead of doing a Self Assessment tax return.

Personal Tax Accounts

The introduction of Personal Tax Accounts is all part of this move towards a more digital tax system.  The aim is for you to be able to manage your tax affairs through the account, rather than phoning or writing to the HMRC.  There’s over 30 services currently available through the new system, with more planned.  Registering is easy, but if you do need any help, don’t hesitate to contact us here.

So that is what Making Tax Digital is – next time, we’ll look in more detail at how it will impact on your VAT payments and reporting.

The impact of poor physical health in the workplace is plain for all to see – but the effect of poor mental health can be just as, if not more damaging.  A recent letter signed by industry leaders from across business and education highlighted that one in every six workers will experience mental ill health – which includes depression, anxiety, or stress-related issues.

This represents about 5 million people in the UK, so the costs are significant.  Mental health issues are estimated to cost the UK economy nearly £35 billion each year, with 15.4 million working days lost to mental ill health.

What can be done?

There is still a lot of stigma around the issue of mental health, which often makes it difficult for someone experiencing problems to come forward and ask for help.  One of the challenges, then is to make the issue of poor mental health as important as poor physical health.

Mental Health First Aid

Awareness is so important here, and a training programme called Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) aims to tackle these issues.  The aim of MHFA is to try and change attitudes in society around mental health, by developing skills to look after our own and others’ wellbeing.  The outcomes of the training are an increased knowledge of the range of mental health problems, including substance misuse, and an increase in the supportive behaviours towards individuals with mental health problems.

The courses teach people to spot the symptoms of poor mental health, and then offer initial help and guide a person towards appropriate support.  What it is not about is training people to be therapists themselves – but rather, to help people develop listening and responding skills.

To find out more about MHFA, the skills involved and courses available, go to their website here.  There are a range of courses available, including some which focus specifically on young people, and people who are or have been in the armed forces.