Plimco Say the UK is Going to be OK
Posted: 10/08/2010 Filed under: Small Business, UK Company Set Up, UK Immigration | Tags: business, business concerns, corporate tax, Moving to London, moving to UK, VAT 1 Comment »I am always pretty sure that the UK is going to continue to be an economic strength despite the somewhat hard times we have been experiencing. It is always good to have outside confirmation of this though.
The UK have been backed by the world’s second largest bond house, Pimco, after they changed their aggressive stance against Britain’s gilts.
This is a major turn around from the beginning of the year when the very same company warned that the UK gilts (gilt-edged security) were “resting on a bed of nitroglycerine” as a result of the nations high levels of debt.
Strong words indeed and they caused a lot of angst at the time.
But after Pimco talking down the UK for much of the year they now seemed pleased since yields, which fell as gilt prices improved, have recovered from 4.27pc in February to 3.39pc.
The bond house have been quoted as saying “We do not expect the UK to fail in meeting its commitments”. For expert investors, Pimco added: “We believe exposure to the UK in the credit default swap (CDS) market offers a valuable opportunity.”
This dramatic change of stance has been put down to the Governments plan to attack the deficit. Mike Amey, an executive vice-president stated in his bid to support the Coalition Government “The coalition has demonstrated their intent to tackle the deficit immediately, and we think that is generally good news.”
I for one am happy with this new opinion, as I believe it shows the world that Britain is making a come back from our recession and that the likelihood of a ‘double-dip’ recession has decreased.
Austerity measures may well be as much about world opinion as anything else and I suppose we must look at the big picture for the UK economy.
Small Business to Prosper In The UK
Posted: 08/08/2010 Filed under: Small Business | Tags: business, business concerns, moving to the UK, moving to UK, Non Dom, Small Business, UK tax Leave a comment »I have always been confident that Britain is going to pull itself out of the recession and it is great to see the Bank of England have stepped up to lend a hand to small and large businesses alike.
They have done this by purchasing more corporate bonds in May and June under their qualitative easing programme in order to push cash into the economy, for businesses who have been struggling with the sovereign debt crisis.
Bank holdings of corporate debt rose from £1.36bn to £1.6bn in the three months leading up to June, its quarterly Asset Purchase Facility report showed. The Bank has bought £198bn of gilts from companies under the programme and continues to buy and sell around £2bn of corporate debt.
The Banks facilities have been made use of by Corporate’s in the past quarter as concerns about sovereign debts fed through to fears about companies, pushing the price of bond issuance higher and reducing demand.
“Increased concerns about the fiscal adjustment of some euro-area member states and banks’ exposure to sovereign debt fed through into other risky asset prices, such as corporate bonds,” the Bank said. “The resulting increase in uncertainty and volatility saw conditions in UK corporate debt markets deteriorate marginally during May and early June.”
The cost of raising debt through bond issuance, compared with Government gilts, increased by 0.3 percentage points. “Issuance was lower than in 2009 but broadly in line with historical averages. Market contacts suggested that some firms had delayed issuance as a result of market conditions,” the bank said.
This is all good news for Britain and the both large and small businesses that reside here. In times of austerity it is important, in my opinion, that we highlight the positives and at the moment I must say I do not have to search very far to find them.
Small business may well prosper under this government. Time will tell.
Exciting Figures As UK Economy Strengthens
Posted: 07/08/2010 Filed under: UK Immigration, UK Taxation | Tags: business concerns, corporate tax, corporation tax, economy, moving to UK Leave a comment »The UK is showing how strong it can be, confounding experts by growing at almost double the rate predicted in the past three months. It did trigger some thoughts in me concerning the necessity of some of the austerity measures, in particular the redundancies and taxation changes really need to be as severe as planned. But more about that in a minute.
For now let’s revel in some numbers
Gross domestic product (GDP) in the quarter to June leapt at an amazing 1.1pc, the most since the first three months of 2006, lifting sterling 1.2pc against the dollar. Economists had forecast just 0.6pc growth as a realistic aim.
The surge was driven by an astounding recovery in construction and the fortitude of Britain’s powerhouse services sectors. This puts UK growth for the first half at 1.4pc – already ahead of the Treasury’s own forecasts of 1.2pc for the full 12 months.
Capital Economics, which was predicting a 1pc annual increase, revised its position, describing the numbers as “a pleasant surprise” and saying: “The figures suggest that growth in 2010 overall may now be closer to 1.5pc.”
Although universally welcomed, the speed of growth reignited debate about the Chancellor’s savage austerity measures to get the public finances under control. In the short term, the planned £40bn of tax rises and spending cuts are expected to soak up demand and kill off growth.
My opinion is that messing with the UK taxation now, after such an impressive surge in the right direction is playing with fire. The government should allow the economy to recover more before throwing their unwanted weight around.
Socially Responsible Immigration Into the UK?
Posted: 03/08/2010 Filed under: Moving to London, UK Immigration | Tags: Immigration, moving to the UK, moving to UK Leave a comment »In recent news there has been yet more talks on the immigration limit that the Government is now setting on Britain.
I think I back the government’s present approach. They have decided to take control, assuring us that they recognise the importance of immigration but also the strain it could put on society if left untended. I believe people do worry about this sort of thing and their re assurances are welcome. I am not so sure, however that arbitrary limitations are the way forward.
The temporary limit the Coalition has set in place will become permanent next year and will be set every year, in accordance to the needs of businesses and the wider population.
The limit we have set between now and the end of March next year is 24,100. This is 1,300 less than the number of those who came into the UK for the same time period last year.
I believe that many immigrants have enriched British society and created opportunity for all British people, in regards to the rest of the world. The economic immigration brings economic benefits and cultural diversity to the UK. This will never change.
However, the Government believes that creating this socially responsible immigration policy will restore the public confidence in the system. That it will create both good race and community relations and for the orderly provision of public services. We will see how that works out in practice.
The coalition would like to create an effective, well controlled immigration system.
I have seen that many immigrants are attracted to Britain, especially around the London area, showing the strength of our capital city and the fact we get an influx of the brightest and best, will only make us stronger as a nation
Immigration In the UK A Hot Topic
Posted: 19/07/2010 Filed under: UK Immigration | Tags: business concerns, Immigration, Moving to London, moving to UK Leave a comment »In recent news there have been yet more talks on the immigration limit that the Government is now setting on Britain. It seems immigration is very much the topic of the moment
The Government have decided to take control, assuring us that they recognise the importance of immigration but also the strain it could put on society if left untended.
The temporary limit the Coalition has set in place will become permanent next year and will be set every year, in accordance to the needs of businesses and the wider population.
The limit we have set between now and the end of March next year is 24,100. This is 1,300 less than the number of those who came into the UK for the same time period last year.
I believe that many immigrants have enriched British society and created opportunity for all British people, in regards to the rest of the world. The economic immigration brings economic benefits and cultural diversity to the UK. This will never change.
However, the Government believes that creating this socially responsible immigration policy will restore the public confidence in the system. That it will create both good race and community relations and for the orderly provision of public services.
The coalition would like to create an effective, well controlled immigration system.
It is clear that many immigrants are attracted to Britain. I believe this is a complement to us. The fact we get an influx of the brightest and best, will only make us stronger as a nation.
Osborne To Steer Us from Road To Ruin
Posted: 20/06/2010 Filed under: Investment, Non Dom, Offshore Solutions, Small Business, Uncategorized | Tags: business concerns, corporation tax, economy, election promises, Moving to London, moving to UK, Taxation, uk companies Leave a comment »Spending cuts, tax hikes, inflation, unemployment. The way the papers carry on you could sometimes think the the UK was doomed instead of experiencing an economic crisis being endured by most first world countries. Thank goodness Osborne is assuring us that he will be able to avoid complete disaster. Personally I never had any doubt but there you go.
Apparently Osborne is proposing to take us to prosperity via a bit of budget pain. The big questions on his policies are yet to be answered yet of course and we will have the answer to those later in the week. The budget will be released on Tuesday. In the meantime there has been a lot of preparation put into making sure the British people are ready for the worst.
The thing about a change of government is that it is in the new regimes interest to make sure we know just how badly the last lot landed us in it. So it stands to reason that we have been feed a steady diet of doom and gloom, how else could Osborne ride to the rescue on his white charger?
Don’t get me wrong, I understand the need for a tough budget and I am fully expecting one. It is just that I think the pain we are feeling is globally spread rather than Britain localised. Despite what people have been saying recently I believe that the British standard of living is still far higher than many places.
In the meantime if you have taxation issues or are considering the intelligent move of starting a British company then please get in contact. We are experts on that stuff here.
Non Dom Charge A Flea Bite
Posted: 18/06/2010 Filed under: Moving to London, Non Dom | Tags: business concerns, moving to UK, Non Dom, non dom tax Leave a comment »Despite the fact that the new non dom tax has now raised 1.3 million in its first year, the Lib Dems are still not describing it in very flattering terms. In fact they have called it a flea bite.
Introduced by the previous labour government the non dom payment which directs non doms to pay a flat rate of thirty thousand each year was originally predicted to raise 650 million a year for the country. The 130 it has bought in is certainly a far cry from that kind of sum.
People who have been resident in the UK but are non domiciled for taxation reasons are liable to pay the fee or they can choose to be taxed in the normal fashion.
Part of the reason the collected figure is so much lower than expected is that we now have fewer non doms. As some people pointed out would happen many non doms have left the country taking their cash with them and many more have been deterred from coming. I think i remember some pretty prominent people predicting that this is exactly what would happen.
Andrew Rodger, executive director of Stonehage, says: “This piece of evidence seems to suggest that less tax is being generated than anticipated by the 2008 changes but we are nonetheless losing tax revenue as a result of the changes.”
Ah, I don’t think that is quite what the xenophobes had in mind.
Retail Sales Up In Good News For British Economy
Posted: 08/06/2010 Filed under: Investment, Non Dom, Small Business, Uncategorized | Tags: business concerns, moving to the UK, moving to UK, Taxation, UK tax Leave a comment »Sometimes people fail to see the fact that all facets of the British economy are connected. What is good for the other guy is indeed often good for you. So news that the retail sector is experiencing strong sales at the moment gives all of us something to cheer about. Some of my clients in small business will be directly feeling the benefits other will be reaping the rewards in a less direct fashion but there is no doubt that money moving around in our economy is good news for us all.
It seems we have two major factors to thank for the renewed interest in retail spending, warm weather and football.
“The sunnier second half of May provided a welcome boost to overall sales,” said the BRC’s director general Stephen Robertson.
It is no big suprise that people like to come out and do a bit of retail therapy in the sunny weather, but last year, at the height of recession, people resisted the temptation and stayed home. It is great to see that we have come out the other side and people are no longer frightened of the consequences of spending a little money.
It is not just small purchases people are making, in fact due to a huge interest in the rapidly approaching soccer world cup, many of us are going home with huge shiny TV’s to watch the action on.
Non Dom Issue Rears Head Again, Scaring Investors
Posted: 02/06/2010 Filed under: Non Dom, Offshore Solutions | Tags: corporate tax, corporation tax, moving to the UK, moving to UK, Non Dom, non dom tax Leave a comment »It seems to me whenever a politician needs a boost in popularity or more usually a distraction from the really important things taking place in our economy they turn the talk to the subject of non domiciles. Things that they think may not be as popular as a little non dom bashing. And a couple of weeks ago it happened again.
The idea that non doms should be hunted down and taxed within an inch of their lives came under discussion again. It was a discussion that quite frankly scared the life out of those in the know in the financial industry. Those that have no political barrow to push are fully aware that the UK gets its fair share from non doms in monetary terms. They are dismayed every time some politician ‘pledges to review’ the situation. It makes foreign investors nervous.
Believe it or not this is not a good thing, the UK does very nicely out of non doms and only those that have their own agenda would suggest otherwise.
As an article in the financial times pointed out recently further changes to the non-dom rules would be a “real deterrent for wealth-creating individuals to come from overseas”
Why is it the general public finds this so hard to understand? I think it is because politicians are intent on feeding them misinformation on the subject.
Capital Gains Rise Will Close Fat Cat Loophole
Posted: 01/06/2010 Filed under: Small Business, UK Taxation | Tags: business concerns, corporate tax, moving to UK, UK tax Leave a comment »Yesterday I wrote a blog about all the reasons one commentator considers the rise in capital gains tax, from here on referred to as CGT, to be a demented move on the part of our new government. Today as promised the other side to the argument. Please bear in mind that neither of these points of view totally sums up my own.
So after an article from the Scotsman yesterday for the more positive spin on this CGT hike I journeyed over to the The Independent and an article written by Julian Knight. In it he has a right go at the politicians who are attempting to oppose the tax from within the coalition. He says that their claim that the CGT is a tax on ordinary folk is a giggle and their mention of the working classes is deserving of a full blown belly laugh.
Mr Knight maintains that the CGT is a tax that mostly affects the fat cats of our society. His specific claim is that rich people, especially those in the city (that den of over paid and unscrupulous bankers), morph their income into a capital gain and waltz away with an undeserved tax benefit. He believes that a CGT pitched right will hit the exact correct people and close a fat cat loophole.
Fiar enough, it is one point of view.
If you are at all concerned how capital gains or any other tax may affect your business then don’t hesitate to give us a call here at St Matthew’s eAccounting, tax is one of our specialties.
