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Who cares what you think?
Are testimonials worth anything?
Many websites include “testimonials” from “customers”, but do they have any worth? If you want to attract new business it is good to be able to publish positive feedback, which helps demonstrate the value that other customers find in your service. The problem is that if reviews are obviously edited and self-selected they are not obviously representative of the views of your customers. Single line reviews taken out of context can be particularly misleading!
Use external review sites
One of the best-known review sites is tripadvisor. The greatest strength of these reviews is that hotels and restaurants etc have no control over the reviews. They have the opportunity to respond to criticism, but can’t cherry-pick the best reviews to give a false impression. The Pensions Regulator website is keen to point out that “private sector organisations we link to are not endorsed by Government and are provided for information only”; however it is worth noting that they include a link to VouchedFor on their advice page for individuals and in their guide to finding an advisor for Pension Auto Enrolment.
VouchedFor
If you are looking for a hotel you would probably prefer to check tripadvisor rather than lot of different websites for reviews. VouchedFor works along similar lines to tripadvisor, but for Accountants, Financial Advisors and Solicitors. Professionals who have a listing on the site must confirm that they recognise the name / email address of any reviewer before the review is posted online. Just like tripadvisor the professionals can’t read the review until is online so they can’t edit out any negative feedback and poor scores.
Tim Alter appeared in the guide in The Sunday Telegraph on March 29th. You can also read all his great client reviews on his VouchedFor profile!
Auto Enrolment
Many small businesses will need professional advice to help them set up a pension scheme to comply with Auto Enrolment regulations. If you are an employer and still need to prepare for your staging date, you can use an Accountant or Financial Adviser to guide you through the process. For help with setting up your payroll and preparing for your staging date, please contact Alterledger.
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Pension annual allowance
Carrying forward unused pension annual allowance
Money that you pay into a UK registered pension scheme or qualifying pension scheme receives tax relief. Personal pension contributions are paid from your earnings after tax and the pension provider reclaims the 20% tax suffered. All employers will soon be required to offer pension schemes to employees, so now is a good time to think about what you can contribute to your pension scheme.
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Anyone can make (gross) contributions each year of £3,600, but above this threshold the maximum you can put into the fund is 100% of Net Relevant Earnings (NRE). Tax relief on contributions is only available up to the Annual Allowance (including any Annual Allowance carried forward).
| Tax Year | 2011/12 £ |
2012/13 £ |
2013/14 £ |
2014/15 £ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Annual Allowance | 50,000 | 50,000 | 50,000 | 40,000 |
Carry-forward relief
Any unused annual allowance can be carried forward provided you were a member of a registered pension scheme, or qualifying overseas pension scheme during the year. The carry-forward relief can be used for any unused allowance from the previous 3 tax years. Assuming you were a member of a pension scheme, but didn’t have any contributions (personal or employer’s) in the tax years from 2011-12 up to 2013-/14, it would be possible to have total contributions of £190,000 in 2014/15.
Net Relevant Earnings
- Earnings from employment
- Benefits in kind
- Self-employed profits as a sole trader
- Share of profits from a partnership
- Any profit from furnished holidaylettings
- Less allowable business expenses
Alterledger can help
Alterledger can explain the tax implication of pension contributions for employers and individuals. Contact Alterledger or visit the website alterledger.com for more information.
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Employers and their staging date
Staging Date
A process started in 2012 which means eventually, all UK employers will be obliged to enrol all their eligible employees into a contributory pension scheme, known as Auto Enrolment. This obligation is already being phased in, starting with the biggest employers. The commencement date for an employer’s obligation to provide a contributory pension scheme is known as the staging date.
The government has said that no small employers (those with fewer than 50 employees) will be affected before the end of the current Parliament. The general election will be on 7th May so we are nearly there. Employers will be able to meet this obligation in any way they choose, but one way will be through a government-sponsored National Employment Savings Trust ( NEST ), a simple, low-cost scheme with very limited fund choice, and initial restrictions on transfers and contribution levels. NESTs will be operated by the NEST Corporation, a not-for-profit trustee body, and will be regulated by the Pensions Regulator.
Alterledger can help
Alterledger can help you prepare for your staging and manage your auto enrolment process along with your payroll once everything is up and running. Contact Alterledger or visit the website alterledger.com for more information.
Business Accountant 