The Business Exchange Swindon & Wiltshire Edition 37: June/July 2018 | Page 13

FINANCE
WORKING WOMEN ARE FACING
FINANCIAL RISKS BY NOT
PROTECTING THEIR INCOME
Jon Gratland, Chief Executive at Wiltshire Friendly Society
explains “We want to ensure that women protect their
financial risks by having the right protection plan in place
so that they are able to support themselves and their
families if they were unable to work due to illness or injury.”
According to recent
research 46% of women
believe that it would be
their sole responsibility
to support their family
financially if anything
unexpected were to
happen and yet 45%
have no form of financial
protection in place.
According to sociologist, Isabella Crespi,
British culture pressures men and women
to conform traditional gender roles, even
within modern two-career families, the
result being that women often remain
subservient.
Her view is that working women
compensate their guilt for returning to
work by undertaking the dual role of
earning an income, juggling child care and
parenting responsibilities and also assuming
the lion’s share of the domestic jobs in the
home.
With the gender gap in the workplace
gradually becoming closer, and the fact
that we are now seeing more women as
the main breadwinner in the household, it
appears that almost half of women in the
workplace are neglecting to protect their
income with adequate insurance that could
safeguard them and their family if they
suddenly found themselves unable to work.
Women want to feel financially
independent, so even if they did become
unable to work they don’t want to be
reliant on a partner’s income. Without
income protection insurance providing
working women with a safety net,
GETTING READY FOR
MAKING TAX DIGITAL
VAT registered businesses with turnovers of
£85,000+ must use MTD system from April 2019.
Making Tax Digital (MTD) is the biggest
change in our tax system since Self-
Assessment was introduced. From April
2020, all businesses and landlords with
annual turnover over £10,000 will have
to make online quarterly submissions of
key financial information to HMRC. But,
businesses with turnover over £85,000 (over
a rolling 12 month period) will be affected
from April 2019.
VAT registered businesses with annual
(Standard/Zero-rated) turnover over £85,000
will have to submit their VAT returns using
HMRC’s new MTD system from the first
VAT period that begins on or after 1 April
2019. A business with (Standard/Zero-rated)
turnover under £85,000 will only have to
use the MTD system from the start of the
next VAT period after its rolling 12 month
turnover figure has exceeded £85,000.
The threshold of £85,000 therefore needs
to be checked every month - even for
businesses which have registered for VAT
on a voluntary basis.
Once businesses are required to make
submissions to the MTD system, they must
ensure that their records are in digital form
and are filed with HMRC using compatible
software. HMRC will not provide any
compatible software. Instead, business es
may need to purchase the necessary cloud
accounting software (of which there are
many products) in order to make the
submissions.
However, many small businesses keep
their bookkeeping in spreadsheet form.
As an alternative to buying new cloud
accounting software, there will be ‘bridging’
software available to purchase that converts
spreadsheet records into a format suitable to
submit to the MTD system.
Whilst it would not be a big surprise if the
implementation was delayed by HMRC, as
things stand, businesses with turnover over,
or approaching, £85,000, need to be ready
and prepared to make VAT returns using the
MTD system in early 2019.
Peter Bromiley ACA
Partner at AMS Accountancy
unexpected illness or injury could have a
serious adverse effect on their financial
security.
Wiltshire Friendly Society offer financial
protection for women by offering a flexible
income protection plan that provides
an income in the event that a woman is
unable to work through illness or injury.
01225 752120
For more info:
www.wiltshirefriendly.com
Ask AMS
Advice for small businesses
AMS Accountancy Ltd. 01793 818400
What does the ‘Personal Tax Allowance’ mean?
Every person who is resident in the UK is given a personal
allowance each tax year. It operates as follows:
The personal allowance is the amount of income you can receive
before paying tax – and it increases each tax year. For the 2018/19
tax year, it will be £11,850. So, if you earn £20,000 in 2018/19, you
will be subject to income tax on £8,150 of your earnings.
The personal allowance is reduced when your income exceeds
£100,000 in a tax year (by £1 for every £2 your income exceeds
£100,000) – so that when your income reaches £123,700 (in
2018/19), you will no longer receive a personal allowance.
Robwyn Cowper
70+ videos on YouTube. ‘Ask AMS Accountancy’
@AMSAccountancy
www.ams-accountancy.co.uk
THE BUSINESS EXCHANGE 2018
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