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£ 5.1m skills training pot for Swindon & Wiltshire firms
Small and medium sized enterprises in Swindon and Wiltshire are urged to take advantage of a £ 5.1m skills training pot for their workforce , as a result of a contract extension .
The training is delivered as part of a programme called Skills Support for the Workforce , which Serco ’ s Employment , Skills & Enterprise business is managing in our area . Since the programme launched in September 2016 , 2,376 learners from 454 businesses across Swindon and Wiltshire have taken advantage of the funded training available . Serco has just been awarded a contract extension to continue delivering the programme until March 2019 .
Serco provides a range of courses to the following sectors , which have been identified as key priority sectors :
• Advanced Engineering and High Value Manufacturing
• Health and Life Science
• Financial and Professional Services
• Digital and Information and Communications Technology
• Construction
• Land Based Industries
• Visitor Economy
• Adult Health and Social Care
• Low Carbon Economy .
Businesses operating in these sectors can access funding for training courses such as IT , leadership and management , as well as vocationally-relevant training ( depending on the sector ).
To deliver the programme , which is cofunded by the European Social Fund and the Education and Skills Funding Agency , Serco has partnered with expert training organisations to offer local businesses recognised accredited qualifications and bespoke training courses aiming to enhance employees ’ skills and increase the competitiveness of the businesses .
Businesses can contact Serco on skillssupport @ serco . com or visit www . serco-ssw . com for more details and to find out if they are eligible for funded training through Skills Support for the Workforce .
ENTREPRENEURS ’ RELIEF , WHAT IS IT ? AND HAS IT CHANGED RECENTLY ?
Entrepreneurs ’ Relief is a reduced rate of Capital Gains Tax that applies when ones sells certain business assets ; or all / part of a business ; or more than 5 % of shares in a small company in which you work or hold office . It does not apply to non-business assets such as disposal of an investment property .
If you qualify for ( and claim ) Entrepreneurs ’ Relief , you pay Capital Gains Tax at 10 % - instead of the normal rate for such assets . Since 6th April 2017 , the normal Capital Gains Tax rates for the disposal of business assets have reduced to 10 % and 20 % ( depending on your total taxable income and capital gains ). So , although Entrepreneurs ’ Relief is still useful , it is less valuable than it used to be .
One of the most common times that small businesses claimed Entrepreneurs ’ Relief was when incorporating a soletrader business ( or partnership ) – because Entrepreneur ’ s Relief could be claimed on the value of any goodwill transferred . With effect from December 2014 , the right to claim Entrepreneurs ’ Relief when transferring one ’ s business to one ’ s own company was removed .
Another area where Entrepreneurs ’ Relief was commonly claimed was when winding up a company and making a capital distribution to the shareholders . It was the case that if one ceased trading and wound up one ’ s company , any cash distributed to the director / shareholders could be treated as capital rather than income and Entrepreneurs ’ Relief could be claimed . Now this law has been tightened and if the taxpayer concerned returns to that trade within two years of winding up the original company , then the cash distributed will be taxed as dividends and subject to income tax / dividend tax rather than Capital Gains Tax . This could mean HMRC going back and taxing the cash at 32.5 % rather than the 10 % Entrepreneurs ’ Relief rate !
01793 818400
Peter Bromiley ACA Partner
AMS Accountancy Ltd , Swindon SN5 7XF www . ask-ams . co . uk
AMS Accountancy Limited
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Matt Chapman
Freelance Contractor Service
Our service :
If you are new to Freelancing we ’ ll help and advise you with setting up and won ’ t start charging you until you receive income from your contract . If you ’ re already Freelancing and using a Cloud based system , no problem , we can work with that too . And , when you have periods without contracting income , we ’ ll reduce our fees by 50 %.
We ’ ll calculate your taxes and in your bespoke monthly report we ’ ll advise you on what to set aside to avoid the shock of large tax bills . We ’ ll also calculate and submit your VAT returns .
We have a small dedicated team who are ready with free advice on your Contract / Expenses / Tax / IR35 and contracting issues .
See Matt Chapman on YouTube ‘ AMS Accountancy services for freelancers ’ plus more videos for Freelancers - or call him for a chat !
@ AMSAccountancy
01793 818400 www . ams-accountancy . co . uk
12 THE BUSINESS EXCHANGE 2018