Franchise Focus Business News…

In this week’s Franchise Update, we report on Lord Carter’s controversial Digital Britain report and the Association of Certified Chartered Accountants’ call for more guidance for small businesses on tax law.

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The Digital Britain report published Lord Carter of Barnes, Minister for Communications, Technology and Broadcasting has been met with controversy from industry officials. David Frost, Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), has hit out saying that the report is not ambitious enough. Visit Culture.gov to read the the Digital Britain report and decide for yourself.

A new ACCA policy paper highlights certain areas that the association believes require specific attention by governments across the world, including simplifying legislation, tightening the rules on the difference between tax avoidance and evasion and making green tax laws more explicit and accessible. Visit the ACCA’s website to find out more about green tax laws and more!

This week, ACCA certified accountant Anita Brook of Accounts Assist, published an interesting article on choosing the right medium for your business. It is important for entrepreneurs to consider this option carefully when starting their own business. The following options may be available to you:

Sole trader: This means that you will be the sole individual registered with HMRC in order to pay income tax etc. This option can avoid a lot of paperwork registering Companies Houses, but can be more costly and difficult to sell on.

Partnership: This is made up of between “two and twenty” people and all liability is shared between the partners. Even though it is not required by law, Anita advises partners to draw up a Partnership deed to avoid complications.

Limited Liability Partnership: LLP’s can offer great flexibility to partnerships, as it creates a company and thereby removes responsibility from the individual. However, the creation of an LLP can involve a lot of paperwork and higher accountancy fees.  

Limited: A Limited Company requires directors, who have defined roles with the company. Therefore, the danger of disputes is lessened. Limited companies exist as entities separate from their shareholders, which removes them from any liability. However, there is a considerably higher amount of paperwork and accountancy fees involved.

There are obvious benefits and downsides to each of the business structures above, to find out more visit Anita’s article, and also visit Franchise Direct’s directory of the latest business opportunities.

Watch this week’s episode of Franchise Update to find out about innovative and enterprise awards as well as business funding available to you today.

Download Franchise Update UK: 28/04/09, or view in the player below

The 2009 winners of The Queen’s Enterprise Awards have been announced and Franchise Direct is delighted to announce the success of one of the franchise opportunities featured on our site - EnviroVent. EnviroVent won an award for Innovation for their filterless energy saving extractor fan. Well done EnviroVent!

Government representatives are encouraging small business owners to avail of business funding schemes in order to keep their businesses going throught the recession. At a seminar in Swindon, Business Minister Pat McFadden said that the Government is increasing the lending available from the banks and easing cash flow pressures by allowing businesses to delay payment of taxes and business rates. Visit the Business Link website for more details.

When you start your new franchise, you’ll find that there are certain accounting and tax responsibilities that follow. Whether you’re an accounting whiz or not, you will need to find a way to figure out what kind of taxes your new business owes, and whether or not you need to register for VAT.

This may get even more complicated for franchisees when the basic tax threshold is raised later this year. There will be an increase in personal allowances, enabling all basic-rate tax payers to earn £600 more this year before they have to pay taxes on their income.

If your franchise has employees, then you as the employer must ensure that your employees’ September pay packet shows the difference, because these changes are backdated. This may get confusing or difficult for some of the small business owners and franchisees that do the payroll themselves.

Check out Business Link’s helpful guide on Taxes, returns and payroll. This may help walk you through some of your responsibilities. Also check with your accountant to see if he/she can help walk you through the tax changes.

If you’re still unsure of what to do, look at Franchise Direct’s directory of franchise consultants that. There’s a list of banks and consultancies that can provide financial assistance that might be of help to you, whether you are borrowing money or seeking accounting, taxation and business advice.