Financial Articles

Many sole traders and small business owners in the UK are oblivious to the insider dealings of HMRC, formerly known as the Inland Revenue and Customs and Excise.

Many seem to think that because their businesses are very small, the “Tax Man” will not notice them. How wrong they are. HMRC have the most state-of-the-art technology at their disposal and are very much aware of the activities of individual traders. Most often under the spotlight are market traders and construction industry workers, but more recently the work-at-home entrepreneurs have attracted much interest.

More and more individuals are setting up online businesses and selling just about every type of product imaginable. Some are earning five and six-figure incomes from auction sites like ebay and some are doing very nicely from Google’s Adsense program. It’s not difficult for HMRC inspectors to track down website owners and ebay sellers and they also have the power to access trader’s PayPal records and accounts.

Anyone not declaring their incomes from these business activities are putting themselves right in the firing line. Tax fraud and tax evasion are serious matters, which can result in very serious consequences. Should a tax inspector become suspicious of a trader, he can instigate a full investigation. The whole process could take months, during which time they will uncover every single piece of evidence needed to prosecute the perpetrator.

Depending on the severity of the tax fraud or the extent of the tax evasion, the individuals concerned could find themselves facing a heavy financial penalty, business closure, loss of the family home or even imprisonment. And they will still have to pay back all taxes due. Is it worth the risk?

It’s a gamble with unfanciable odds and overwhelming risks. The only answer is to play it straight and play it fair. Who wants to be looking over their shoulder for the rest of their working life? Like it or not we all have to pay our share of taxes. But that doesn’t mean you have to give it all away to the taxman. Just be sure to claim for every single allowance available and for every single tax deductible item which is applicable.

You’ll find that your tax bill will be a lot less than you thought. And more importantly you’ll be able to sleep at night. The best advice is to get the best advice. Better still if you can get an inside view of how the government’s HMRC organization works and stay ahead of the game eh? If only…

www.knight-writer.co.uk

The purpose of adopting a quality standards framework is to enable and encourage small businesses to strive for excellence. In some industries, such standards are imposed by government regulations. In fact, the drive for compliance is becoming more and more the norm in an effort to guarantee a minimum level of quality of services to customers.

Effective small business owners and managers engage in best practice activities anyway, and the adopting of standards underpins their business policy development. They take a proactive approach to striving for excellence in their business because they know that by doing so they will achieve highly successful financial results and their key business objectives.

The structure for developing a set of standards within your business requires thinking about the kind of business you are in. The next step is to make a commitment to best practice in the industry sector of which your business is a part.

The following seven areas serve as a guide for aligning and integrating excellence in business:

1. Build leadership and management capacity
2. Develop a strategic business plan
3. Inculcate customer focus throughout your business
4. Deliver products and services that provide value
5. Create a developmental culture
6. Adopt a common decision making framework
7. Measure your business performance

One - Build Leadership And Management Capacity
Implementing this principle ensures that the business owner and managers are committed and dedicated to the purpose and the direction of the business. The leaders of the business show the way, through their own beliefs, attitudes and behavior. They engage in their own leadership skills development as a constant.

The leaders in the business are the ones who must live the mission, vision and values of the business, on a daily basis and at all times in everything that they say and do. They adopt an ‘always learning’ mindset.

Two – Develop A Strategic Business Plan
Effective business owners have a deep and thorough understanding of the nature and direction of their business. To this end, they clearly articulate the vision they have for their business within the framework of the small business plan. Everyone in the business understands the business plan. Everyone knows what their roles, responsibilities and accountabilities are in bringing about the results that have been spelled out for achieving the vision of the business.

Three - Inculcate A Customer Focus Throughout Your Business
Everything that is done within a business is about delivering quality outcomes and results for customers. The effective business owner knows who his or her customers are, where they are located and what their needs are. With this knowledge in hand, they then ensure that their customer needs are met and, indeed, exceeded. Systems, policy development, procedures, processes and measures are all essential in achieving this area of excellence.

Four - Deliver Products And Services That Provide Value
The effective business owner and manager always make sure that their business provides value for money with their product/service range. This means having proper controls in place for quality assurance, from product design and development, production, distribution and customer follow-up and feedback. These control mechanisms are indicative of an ongoing, continuous improvement culture that ensures value for customers on a consistent basis.

Five - Create A Developmental Culture
The successful business owner creates an ethos where continuous learning is the hallmark of pursuing excellence in everything that is done. This is evidenced from the recruitment stage through to exiting. All the employees in a value-based business are employed as being competent and being the ‘best fit’ for the business. They are always developing, both personally and professionally. They all have development plans that are aligned to business objectives and performance outcomes.

Six - Adopt A Common Decision Making Framework
Effective decision-making is critical in achieving excellence. Successful high performing business environments adopt a common language and agreed ways of arriving at best-balanced choices, reaching conclusions, resolving conflict and making hard-edged decisions. Everyone in high performing business cultures knows what these frameworks are and uses the tools consistently to ensure common understanding in the implementation of problem solving/conflict resolution.

Seven – Measure Your Business Performance
Establishing benchmarks and measuring results and performance against agreed objectives and outcomes will insure high performance and excellence in business. Such measures are identified and spelled out in concrete terms in relation to the other six areas listed above.

You have to believe in your small business ideas. What you believe truly and with feeling will become your reality. When you change what you believe, you can change your reality and your performance.Your thoughts and beliefs can either help you achieve your goals or keep you from achieving success.

People with a negative approach to life and the naysayers says : “I don’t believe it until I see it!” In fact, it’s the other way around, it is not until you believe it, you’ll see it! And it doesn’t matter what “it” is.

To limit your self by your thoughts is the worst thing you can do. That will for certain keep you from achieving the success you want. There is an old saying : whether you think you can or you can’t, you’re right.

Once you adapt, how powerful your mind is, it can help you to manifest the things you really want. You need to have a clear vision on what you want to achieve. Form a solid plan to get you there. Truly and full heartedly believe you are destined to achieve your goals. During your journey, you must stay focused and believe in your small business ideas.

One of the biggest challenges you will face, is to persevere and maintain focus on your goals, when you reach seemingly impossible to get through setbacks or obstacles. What we can learn from the past, is that we normally approach an obstacle with the feeling that this is a negative setback.

In fact, obstacles will help you to grow and can be positive! Sometimes things go completely wrong, you struggle through it, and when the difficulties are behind you, you can look back and see what you have learned from the experience. You can see that you have become a stronger and wiser person, thanks to that obstacle.

A person who give up and turn around at the sight of an obstacle, will not have much of a chance to reach the destination. By maintaining believe in your small business ideas, you will be able to achieve your goals. It might be that you reach your destination from a slightly different direction.

Once you have gained the ability to stay persistent through all obstacles and setbacks, you will be able to realize your small business ideas and create the reality that you desire.

Start today, believe that you’re destined to be a successful small business owner. Get your focus very clear, aim for your true desires. Make a plan how to get to your goal, believe with all your heart, that you will get there.

Make it an habit to act like you have already accomplished your goals. Act as the successful person you want to be. This new behavior will influence your beliefs, which in turn will help you to achieve your goals!

To achieve success is no mystery, it is available for anyone. The first step is to believe that you will succeed with your small business ideas.