Unfortunately Wagner is now synonymous with a late middle aged hopeful whose hopes are being artificially prolonged by a crazy facebook campaign designed to “upset” Simon Cowell’s money machine.

First of all, it won’t. Even if Wagner IS the last contestant standing and actually wins, he will get a prize but he won’t have a career. In that situation, the second place contestant WILL win and be promoted – take it from me. While a Christmas number 1 will make Simon more money, he already has loads and a few millions less won’t affect his worldwide income – and he will still win out of X-Factor: everyone who votes for Wagner is adding even more money to Simon’s cash via the telephone lines.

So it’s a Facebook fail. Yes Wagner might have a CD but who on earth – unless it’s his granny – is going to buy it.

These facebook campaigns demonstrate the power of social media and maybe one day the government will be elected by facebook (no, I really am only joking). While it’s great to show how people can mobilise against capitalism if that’s what it is, what the Wagnerites have failed to understand is that by voting for Wagner is that they will be doing a young person (or older person in Mary’s or Matt’s case)  out of a career they would not otherwise have had.

That is the damage that social media can have on people’s lives, along with on-line bullying. Social Media – Great tool. Just a pity that there are some real tools out there using it for less good purposes.

JohnF

You probably think it needs to be some sort of weirdo who gets any pleasure out of accounts. This weirdo does! Business can be fun if you want it to be and so can accounts. It just really depends on your definition of fun.

What makes accounts more fun to do and to have is when they actually become useful or worthwhile. The only reason we have faces dragging along the ground when accounts are mentioned, is when we are looking BACK in time at something it’s too late to change or do anything about. The phrase “what’s the point?” springs too easily to mind.

STOP RIGHT THERE!

The answer is here for you now – how to get more fun from your accounts and make them more useful all in one go. Want to know how?

http://www.ngmaccountants.com/content/servicesmanagementaccounts/

It’s over to you now – have fun, go on enjoy yourself!

JohnF

No this is NOT that sort of article but it does have the same childish context I suppose. Every sales professional has their own image in their minds of what the sales process “looks like” and while each talks about their pipeline or funnel in “of course you know what I’m talking about” tones of voice, the reality is every one looks the same and is the same. Now where have I heard THAT before?!

But still we persevere in trying to pictorialise sales as if it helps you make more sales in knowing what it is supposed to look like. So I eventually got fed up and did my own.

It is so far off the wall, it’s in the neighbour’s house two streets down. See what you think – if you can be bothered. After all if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all….

http://www.ngmaccountants.com/news/businessmatters/liquid_gold/

JohnF

In the UK in some circumstances, paying dividends can permit up to £44000 to be paid to the recipient virtually tax free and THAT’s where it becomes immoral – not contributing to the state! But then that’s only one perspective on this, it is entirely moral and legal to work within the law and it IS within the law to pay income in this way. So maybe it’s just down to you and how YOU feel about it. It’s all about guilt not morality.

But hey, if you feel guilty about getting something tax free for a change, go right ahead. For me and my clients it is important to minimise their tax liabilities legally.

If you want to read more, you’ll get it here at http://www.ngmaccountants.com/content/advicedividends1

If you’d feel guilty following my advice, then it’s simple:

Don’t click on the link.

JohnF

So if you need to know some more about this, you can check out our main blog post on the site http://www.ngmaccountants.com/news/businessmatters/avoiding_problems_with_companies_house2/

But the short answer is that you need to file on time and that means being prepared, and THAT means:

1. Don’t leave it till the last minute to send your accounts to the accountant. For one thing it costs you more and secondly you could still be late.
2. If you’re doing your own accounts, do them much sooner than the final month. It will take you longer than you think and don’t put them in the post – it is wholly unreliable and Companies House won’t accept that as an excuse.
3. Don’t believe that you will be able to appeal against any penalty and win. You WILL lose. In short there is virtually no excuse for late submission of accounts to Companies House, and the few there are are so difficult to qualify for its much easier and takes less energy to do it on time.

It is true nonetheless. I was reminded of my musical past tonight when I caught the tail end of a Sky Arts programme “The Mikado” by Gilbert & Sullivan. It was while I was at secondary school (Coatbridge High School) in the seventies and it was then the tradition in the grammar schools to do a G & S opera as the end of term concert. You could only audition if you were in 4th year or above and I recall auditioning in 5th year for the part of Strephon but was pipped at the post by Iain Ewart and I was left with Lord Tololler!

But it was the beginning and under Mrs Gallacher’s tutelage, principal Music teacher, I became Nanki Poo in The Mikado in 6th year.

Unfortunately the G & S tradition has died out in secondary schools nowadays, having been replaced with “musicals”. Good enough in their own right, but nothing to beat G & S.

Sad really that time has moved on

JohnF

http://www.ngmaccountants.com/news/businessmatters/have_a_very_merry_christmas_and_a_vatty_new_year_/

I don’t feel sorry for HMRC’s latest bit of bad publicity, suggesting that they are going to write off £1.5billion of old, unpaid taxes. A whistleblower inside HMRC confirmed that the focus was on debts that were under two years old and on refunds due but now HMRC spokesperson says that this is not the case.

But they would have to say that wouldn’t they?

This is what the whistle blower said last week:

“For each underpayment there are thousands of pounds owed. Underpayments are very frustrating.

“If we had the chance to sort it out three years ago we could have recovered the money. It is now likely to be written off if it’s over two years – we’re not looking at underpayments beyond two years.”

Then the “official spokesman” said,

“No tax is being written off. We are simply prioritising repayments to vulnerable groups.” (Doesn’t this mean that they won’t be focussing on chasing the debts?)

“While we are reviewing the cases of underpayment, no decision has been made on these cases,”

“It’s a provisional period, where staff have been asked to review underpayments. If they find someone who has underpaid then that is set aside for a future decision.

“We are going to be looking at how best to deal with these. We are going to look at the specifics of each case and apply a normal criteria in due course.”

So my advice is simple:

1. If you get an email from HMRC saying you are due a refund, ignore it. HMRC DOES NOT COMMUNICATE BY EMAIL. It is an attempt at phishing
2. If you get a demand from HMRC for unpaid taxes, send it to your accountant or to me if you don’t have one. In their money saving strategy, HMRC no longer send copies of things they send to the taxpayer to their nominated tax agents. There are often time limits on things coming from HMRC so do it straightaway.
3. If you KNOW you are due a refund – get on the phone ASAP.

I wonder what the next challenge the beleagured HMRC will be facing?

JohnF