Beating the top 3 challenges in construction & trade
We’ve looked at the top 3 challenges for construction and trade businesses and pulled together the tips, hints and tools you need to mitigate them.
How often do your clients make late payments?
Someone needs to own the business of getting paid, from quoting for work through to delivery and completion.
Three hints to for a smooth payment process:
Hint #1 Account for retention
If you have sub-contractors working for you, you can minimise the impact on your cashflow by withholding a similar % retention for the same period of time—this leaves you only at risk for the incremental value you’ve added.
Hint #2 Be clear about your terms of trade
Well-drafted contracts are essential for the smooth running of a contract. When quoting for work, point out your terms of trade to the customer. If the customer doesn’t agree to them then negotiate at this stage, not when the invoice becomes overdue.
Hint#3 Facilitate multiple invoices to the same account
Arrange your contract so you can raise multiple invoices against the customer’s account—an invoice for the cost of stock, 30% on order, 30% on delivery, etc. When there are variations, raise them on a separate invoice so that if there is a payment query, the whole amount due isn’t withheld.
Something we can be guilty of as professional advisors is assuming how much our clients know about the services we offer. This is particularly true with tax services. Tax is incredibly vast and complicated. It interconnects with so many different aspects of business and life.
What you might not know is that Chartered Tax Advisers have a completely separate qualification from accountants. The subject is that extensive, it is a specialist area in its own right, and accountants will range from general tax knowledge to niche in areas of tax, through to Chartered Tax Advisor.
However, most – if not all – accountants provide tax compliance services. These are the services you need to ensure you pay the right amount of tax your business owes. It’s the bare minimum of tax services that you will need. But what about tax advice?
Read on to find out what exactly tax advice is and how to access the tax advice you need.
What exactly is Tax Advice?
Advice generally falls into one of two categories: corporate (for businesses) or individual (for personal). But put simply, tax advice is the delivery of some work or planning to help improve a client’s tax position; to make a future saving, or get cash back into their business.
You’ll often see accountants specialising in certain areas that are more likely to be relevant to their customers, for example, VAT, R&D Tax Relief, or International tax.
Our Areas of Tax Advice
At Tennick, we can handle your specialist tax advice needs and issues, no matter the subject or complexity. Here’s a quick look at the top-level categories of tax advice we provide:
Capital Investments
Director & Employee Incentives
Business Structure
Business Sale, Cessation & Shareholder Exit
VAT
Income Tax
Fundraising
Succession & Retirement Planning
HMRC, Tax Disputes & Investigations
Business Activities
Investments
Inheritance Tax
Trading Activities & Taxable Profits
Capital Disposals
International Tax
Pensions
Getting the Tax Advice you need
When it comes to getting the tax advice you need, this is where it starts to get complicated. You may have a good idea of what you are looking for, and feel confident simply telling us the area of tax you need support with. However, this isn’t common, when a client identifies a problem they want help with, it tends to look something like this, in order to find the solution.
To find an appropriate solution, we’ll need to go through at least one, or potentially all four of the above steps.
Which route we take will depend on:
How the issue was identified
The complexity of the planning needed
Timescales
And many other variables
It’s rare for us to jump straight to a specific piece of single tax advice. We always start by undertaking a thorough piece of diagnosis and review, to determine exactly what is required. For us, we believe this is vital to ensure you arrive at the correct course of action.
It’s important to us you feel empowered to make the right decision, for such an important and complex topic – and diagnostic consultancy is the only way to achieve this. It’s a bit like seeking private medical help. The consultant may need to carry out a series of diagnostics and scans prior to clearly setting out three remedial courses of action for the patient to consider, recommending the alternative merits of each. The consultant may then reach a conclusion because of other motives.
Different levels of Tax Advice Complexity
When you approach us with a tax issue or goal, we have developed a system for categorising the complexity of the case. This helps to set expectations, giving you an idea of the timescales in play and the next steps.
We’ve found that for most scenarios there are three levels of complexity:
Each complexity level varies when it comes to the fact-finding, diagnosis, and recommendation of appropriate tax planning to address a client’s problem or scenario.
Expert Tax Advice when you need it
There’s no getting away from the complexity of tax, but it can be managed. We’ve launched a new service to handle our client specialist tax advisory needs and issues, no matter how complex.
Our alternative approach to Tax Advice and Consultancy means we can accurately identify the advice you need, giving you the results you wanted.
If you approached us to ask about our bookkeeping services; by simply asking a couple of questions we would be able to determine very quickly the services you need. This is because bookkeeping is a service that has been industry-defined, making it very easy to find the service you need.
But what about when it comes to tax advice? Tax is an incredibly complex subject that is intertwined into so many different aspects of business and life. It can be extremely difficult to explain what it is you need help with and equally hard to determine the right course of action. You’re not a tax expert, so how do you know what you are looking for? And the truth is most accountants aren’t tax specialists either, as specialist tax advice is an entirely separate field from accountancy.
This can cause big problems both for you as a client and us as your advisor.
You run the risk of:
an inaccurate quote, that takes longer to obtain,
the goal posts changing once engaged,
being asked for additional information in bits, leading to delays,
additional costs once the work begins.
The biggest risk is you don’t actually get the tax advice you wanted – which we would never want to happen.
Access Expert Tax Advice when you need it
To ensure this doesn’t happen and to make it easier for you to access, we’ve launched a new service to manage your specialist tax advisory needs and issues, no matter how complex.
We’ve learnt from experience that separating the consultancy steps is vital to ensure you receive the best service possible. Our alternative approach to Tax Advice and Consultancy means we can accurately identify the advice you need, giving you the results you wanted.
Here’s a step-by-step of what to expect when you reach out to us with a tax advice enquiry:
Why is this approach so much better?
It’s only by asking the right questions, and ensuring the process is carefully documented that your needs can be diagnosed accurately.
You see, by asking a specific set of consultative questions, bespoke to your circumstances, we can collate the facts and motives needed for a Tax Specialist to be able to give advice, for your specific tax enquiry.
This means an accurate proposal can be prepared clearly explaining the financial and non-financial benefits to you. It’s vital to us that you understand the proposed work and feel equipped to make an informed decision about whether you choose to take the advice forwards.
Need help with a Tax Issue?
Find out more about our Tax Advice & Consultancy service, or if you’ve been sitting on a tax issue or a complex situation for some time, we can help you access the expert advice you need.
Get in touch here, and let’s get you and your business the tax advice you need.
I’m going to show you how we took our business from strength to strength, and how you use the same processes to do the same.
[Want to get straight to the FREE resources? Click here]
If I take you back to 2017, will you promise not to run off into a pub to hug a load of strangers as soon as I open the DeLorean doors?
Promise? Ok… I’m trusting you.
We’re in Costa Del Cramlington three years ago, and we’re stood outside Graeme Tennick & Co HQ. There’s me upstairs in my office, looking pensively out the window. I’m frustrated with working long hours and seeing little in return.
You see, I know we’re not that tech-savvy, and it’s worrying me. And on top of that, we’re quite a way behind a lot of our competitors, which is even worse.
Perhaps you’re feeling like this right now? If so, I’m going to put the violins away and show you exactly how we went from this to winning Digital Accountant of the Year in 2020.
Let’s get started.
Digital Accountant of the Year 2020 – What Even Is It?
It’s all about you, actually.
You see, the award goes to a partner or practice owner that uses technology in innovative ways to help improve client’s businesses (and their own).
Thanks to technology, I can speak to friends in Australia at the click of a button. But with this new technology comes what I call the ‘Amazon Era’, whereby we want more, for less, quicker.
You now face competition from businesses and software companies around the world. As challenging as it may be, it also presents new opportunities, which is your first takeaway:
If you run a small business, you can use your size to your advantage since you’re more agile than the larger corporations. Where they perhaps used their size and financial might in the past, you’re in a better position today.
Back to 2017
Since I’m dragging you back and forwards through time, I’ll let you have a pint before we crack on with storytime again.
Enjoy that? Good. Moving on.
Now we’re somewhere a bit more interesting. We’re on a ski trip in Morzine, a town on the French/Swiss border. As you know, I’m stressed about work. I self-financed everything, had five staff members to look after and my margins were getting narrower by the day.
It was on this trip where I have a word with myself and go home a new person, full of fresh ideas and vigour. Now, I know what you’re thinking: does that make the trip tax deductible? Sadly not.
A Revelation
I realised that I’d structured my business around clients first, and me last. And because of this, I’d always seen tax savings a sign of success – telling clients this was how best to judge us. This was wrong.
So the journey of transformation began. I tipped my business upside down, gave it a good shake, and rebuilt it around four key pillars that ultimately meant we won the award.
People
Process
Technology
Data
People
We already had a great team, but I knew I needed to hire more people from different backgrounds – and I certainly did that. In fact, neither of my last two recruits have an accountancy background. One is from my local pub, and the other a software/data engineer.
Emma – Customer service will always play a big part in the future of our business. While Emma trains to be an accountant, she already had people-skills that you can’t teach. It’s something our clients love when dealing with her.
Ewa – We were using 23 pieces of software before Ewa came on board, and she showed us that we were not using them efficiently or, in some cases, correctly.
Processes
People and technology come with a catch-22. You see, when you put all of the emphasis on people rather than processes you come a little unstuck when one person leaves. And when you add technology into the mix, it can be easy to have an over-reliance on the software.
We stripped everything back and started with a good old Excel spreadsheet (admittedly, using it better than the Government).
It’d be helpful for you to do the same exercise. What you need to do is list every process in your business, the technology you use, and then assign responsibilities to each one.
What you’ll find it by sharing ownership with the correct people, you’ll progress as a business rather than it falling on you – the business owner. I’d actually slowed growth by doing it myself.
Having your people and processes working correctly and together frees up your own time. Time you can spend developing new ways to make your clients’ lives easier.
Technology/Data
Technology allowed us to very quickly make up for lost time. It felt like a 5000m race where the runner at the back has a burst of energy and catches up to the main pack.
Being an impatient bugger, I got a bit excited and invested in too much software too soon without the correct foundations in place. That didn’t work.
When I got it right (but still by no means perfect), we built solid foundations and have been using technology to help clients with answers to their individual problems ever since.
We now have software that allows us to:
Qualify a lead before we even have a meeting,
Support a client anywhere in the world
Predict and fix a problem for a client before they know they even have one
And run a more profitable and agile business than we ever thought possible
Technology provides us with the data necessary to do all of the above, without needing a finance team of 10 or an investment that means a getting a second mortgage on your home.
What Difference Has This Made For Our Clients?
We are now regularly seeing clients surpass year-on-year figures, and hit targets while enjoying personal rewards like cars, holidays, and holiday homes – all while also striking a better work-life balance.
Clients love our ‘value-based’ approach. Now our success is measured on the difference we make to their lives, instead of how much tax we save them.
What’s Next Following The Award?
Everything is a work in progress, so while we’ve come a long way since 2017, we’re still learning and evolving. In the short term, we’re working on the following:
A complete rebrand that matches our company goal of building sustainable legacies underpinned by the right blend between technology and people.
A very modern and dynamic marketing machine that is fit for purpose and designed to maximise the value we add to the right people at the right time.
A NEW website to serve as a resource centre to help support you, and make it easier than ever to use.
There are of course other ideas in the pipeline, but you’ll have to wait for those.
What’s Next For You?
Are you feeling inspired to work on your own business and take a fresh look at your people, processes, technology, and data?
We are far from the finished article. However, this award proves just how far we have come and we would love help more businesses develop in the way we’ve done.
If you want to learn from our mistakes and successes, we’ll help you build a sustainable legacy you, your team, clients, friends, and family would be proud of.
Start with these FREE downloads. They’re actionable tasks and processes you can use to improve your business. In fact, they’re the very same we used.
The Government has now announced as extension meaning that the deadline for final approvals for anybody after a CBILs loan has now been pushed back to 30 November 2020.
The deadline for larger CBILs has been pushed back to 31 December 2020.
Don’t forget, for those with a CBILs already who want to flip this to a BBL to benefit from the lower rate of interest and who can comfortably survive on the reduced amount of borrowing, should soon start thinking about this.
Banking partnership
We are delighted to officially announce our partnership with Starling Bank.
Whilst we have been working alongside Starling bank with a number of clients for some time now we are stepping this up a level having seen the support that that they have been providing to clients and how they have picked up where some high street banks have fallen down.
They also have the added benefits of:
* No monthly account fees
* Speedy set up
* They are taking on new customers today
* 24/7 customer support
* Real-time alerts and categorised transactions
If you are looking to move why not get in touch with us or if you want to apply direct why not click here.
If you are still unsure, why not get in touch and register for our webinar that we are running with Starling on Thursday 24 September at Midday that will last 45 minutes and include an opportunity to ask any questions?
So following last night’s announcement I’m sure many more would have struggled to sleep last night and woke up this morning feel anxious, nervous, upset and even perhaps lost.
For many, today will be the day when you have to decide whether you fall within the Government guidelines of being ‘essential’ and thus determining whether you can still ‘open your doors’.
We cannot help you determine that, but what we can say is we made the decision ourselves to work remotely on Sunday night so as of yesterday morning our offices were emptied and we worked from home and will do for the foreseeable future. What we noticed was there was no disruption to how we serviced clients and if anything, processes and communication improved even further.
For some though; the idea of working remotely will not be possibly and you will now be looking at a scary period of financial uncertainty.
It goes without saying though that health is far more important that money so whatever difficult decisions have to be made, always put health at the forefront of things and we can support you with the rest.
I appreciate this will put people in what might seem an impossible position but at least you then stand the best possible chance of being healthy when the current situation passes.
Let us focus on the financial side of things for you and this is where we will step forward. We can naturally never make an guarantees, so we need to be honest, but what we can guarantee is that following Government guidelines reduces the risk of you being infected. You can then focus your efforts on working alongside us for structuring your finances accordingly to give you the best possible chance of coming through this and also coming back stronger than ever when normality resumes.
You might then ask where are we at as a firm?
The first thing I would say is that we have been preparing for this for quite some time now and working relentlessly the best we can to support you in amongst all of this uncertainty.
We actually had somebody new join us yesterday to strengthen our support for clients and bless Sam Oliver; who many of you know, turned 30 on Sunday and had this week booked off but instead cancelled this so that he could come in and support clients in this difficult time.
Our focus has initially been on keeping all clients calm and we cannot stress enough that this needs to remain the case.
Since then we have focused on getting your data as up to date as much as possible for those using cloud accounting software. For those not on cloud accounting software I suggest you move in this direction otherwise reliance will be on you for bringing everything up to date.
Our focus this week will be on accessing the Government grants and external finance and we’ve already had positive conversations with the director of Natwest, are speaking with Barclays tomorrow and will know about further lenders Thursday so we are ready in the knowledge of what they need and when by.
To reiterate what I have mentioned above, all I ask now is for you to remain calm and MOST IMPORTANTLY follow guidelines to remain healthy. Let us take responsibility alongside you for helping sort the finances and we will be in touch in due course regarding this.
Let’s now work together and beat this and reflect on some of the real life positive stories that I heard of yesterday and yes these all happened in the space of one day which prove that together we can fight this!
Some uplifting stories
Given the current climate I couldn’t help but mention stories I experienced and heard yesterday that literally gave me goosebumps:
As mentioned above, Sam Oliver; who most of you will be aware of in our office, turned 30 on Sunday and was due to have this week off but cancelled his week off to come in and help support clients.
Other people in the team are working extra hours to again provide further support to our clients to put their minds at ease and have even had staff offer to buy equipment for home as we start working from home; which I refused, but it shows how much everybody cares.
A client of ours had one of their biggest customers call them and say, given the current climate, they will be paying invoices sooner and if they wanted to invoice for work in advance of it being completed they would happily pay for this to support them.
They stories genuinely all came about in one single day and we as a firm have even taken the decision to support our suppliers as far as possible and continue paying them throughout this period; even if we get nothing for it, to help them come out the other side.
Let’s continue to look at the long-term picture, support suppliers and customers where possible, and ensure we have the necessary team around us, as we need one another now more than ever.
Following the Government’s latest announcement at the back end of last week and some of the further details that have since come to light, we now issue you with an update.
Let’s first start with an updated list of the measures introduced to support businesses before adding a bit of further context to what we now know/suspect:
a Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme
deferring VAT and Income Tax payments
a Statutory Sick Pay relief package for SMEs
a 12-month business rates holiday for all retail, hospitality, leisure and nursery businesses in England
small business grant funding of £10,000 for all business in receipt of small business rate relief or rural rate relief
grant funding of £25,000 for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses with property with a rateable value between £15,000 and £51,000
the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme offering loans of up to £5 million for SMEs through the British Business Bank
a new lending facility from the Bank of England to help support liquidity among larger firms, helping them bridge coronavirus disruption to their cash flows through loans
the HMRC Time To Pay Scheme
We want to focus here on two areas in particular that are either new or where more details have been released:
The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme
The key point to note here; based on what details are currently known, is that this is aimed at supporting up to 80% of the salary of somebody that would have otherwise been laid off as part of this crisis up to a maximum of £2,500 per month; ‘furloughed workers’ as HMRC defines them.
It is not aimed at those staff that are still working but that are now working from home.
Naturally we fully expect further measures to be introduced to reduce the risk of this support from being abused.
Small business grant funding of £10,000 for all businesses in receipt of small business rate relief or rural rate relief
There has been conflicting advice given around this so far that whilst it seems to suggest that the eligibility is very broad; we seem to have stumbled across restrictions elsewhere. Our thoughts internally are that this is a very generous bit of support given how many businesses of all very different sizes; take our building alone, that would in theory qualify for this grant.
Guidance should be forthcoming from local authorities on this matter shortly so our advice is wait for this before relying on the Government’s announcement alone.
For more detailed guidance around any of the above please click here.
The Chancellor recently announced that the 2020 Budget will be delivered on Wednesday 11 March. The 2020 Budget will be the first to be delivered after the UK’s departure from the EU.
In light of this we thought let’s remind everybody that there is still time to save tax for the current tax year.
First though some rumoured changes to come in March; stress the ‘rumoured’ changes:
The proposed reduction in corporation tax rate from 19% to 17% may be scrapped.
Entrepreneur’s relief might be scrapped and this may come sooner than 5 April 2020.
New student loan repayment system to come.
Off-payroll working working rules are changing and this is a little more than rumoured but we are expecting a lot more clarification over the coming weeks.
There is one thing certain though, there is still time to put things in place now so don’t waste any time and get in touch with your client account manager today.
Retirement Planning
Whilst tax planning remains a key consideration, it is also a great time to revisit or even start looking at your retirement plans.
Let’s dovetail the two and ensure that you are financially sound from all angles.
We’ve touched upon this before but we think it is worthwhile revisiting this in light of the ‘clarity’ focus that we had as our headline in December; and the introduction of some of the new software we have now have access to.
What is profit?
Profit is simply your sales less all costs.
What is cash?
This is NOT what is left sat in the bank. You must start here, but then factor in those amounts still due to be received and those amounts due to be paid out. There is far less certainty around these amounts!
I can see the difference but surely there isn’t that much to worry about?
Whilst in time you’d hope the two become the same figure; factor in the idea that your customers pay you sporadically and that you might even give them 30 days credit, whereas your suppliers may demand immediate payment. Now we start to see some of the potential problems not immediately evident from profit alone.
Doing something about it
Time continues to be the barrier for most as is the cost of improving cash flow and this is where a mixture of the correct software and a degree of accountability can fix both.
We have software here that will predict future cash flow based on historic cash flow EVERY 5 minutes; and this feeds directly into Xero.
Alongside this we can devise a cash-flow based strategy and hold you accountable against this which some clients are already today benefiting from and are thousands of pounds better off each month.
You might also be able to do this on your own and if so what is stopping you?
As we go through the various stages in our business journey it is very easy to lose focus, direction and really struggle with any sense of clarity.
How often do you go back to those days when you were thinking of setting up in business, setting goals in terms of what you hoped to achieve etc?
How often do you check progress against this?
What are you doing about this if anything?
As businesses grow and develop we can significantly veer from where we first hoped to be but with the right support, team and infrastructure around you, control can be regained.
If this is you, why not get in touch for a chat? OFFICE SPACE FOR RENT
We now have a vacant office in our building available on flexible terms so if you or anybody know would be interested then please send them our way. FINALLY, MERRY CHRISTMAS
We will be closing our offices over the Christmas holidays with our last working day being Friday 20 December and will be reopening on Thursday 2 January.
If you have any concerns regarding this please contact your account manager and we will work with you to overcome these. The emergency contact number over this period will be 07809 695081 so the support will still be there throughout should it be needed.
Have a great break everybody and we look forward to supporting you further in 2020; maybe the number is a hint for further clarity in your business?
"Tennick Accountants always go over and beyond to help their clients. One telephone call and the strain is gone. Highly recommend"
Tracey Gibb – Head of Finance, Wright’s Motors
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Privacy Overview
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PRIVACY NOTICE
The Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018) and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) impose certain legal obligations in connection with the processing of personal data.
Graeme Tennick & Co Limited T/A Tennick Accountants is a data controller within the meaning of the GDPR and we process personal data. The firm's contact details can be found on our website at www.tennick.co.uk with Graeme Tennick being the Data Protection Officer.
We may amend this privacy notice from time to time. If we do so, we will supply you with and/or otherwise make available to you a copy of the amended privacy notice.
Where we act as a data processor on behalf of a data controller (for example, when processing payroll), we provide an additional schedule setting out required information as part of that agreement. That additional schedule should be read in conjunction with this privacy notice.
In addition to the information detailed below within this privacy notice; and upon request, we can supply a more detailed breakdown of:
sources of data
information stored
purpose
computer program/processing/storage
access/security
deletion policy
The purposes for which we intend to process personal data
We intend to process personal data for the following purposes:
to enable us to supply professional services to you as our client
to fulfil our obligations under relevant laws in force from time to time (e.g. the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 ("MLR 2017"))
to comply with professional obligations to which we are subject as a member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants
to use in the investigation and/or defence of potential complaints, disciplinary proceedings and legal proceedings
to enable us to invoice you for our services and investigate/address any attendant fee disputes that may have arisen
to contact you about other services we provide which may be of interest to you if you have consented to us doing so
The legal bases for our intended processing of personal data
Our intended processing of personal data has the following legal bases:
at the time you instructed us to act, you gave consent to our processing your personal data for the purposes listed above
the processing is necessary for the performance of our contract with you
the processing is necessary for compliance with legal obligations to which we are subject (e.g. MLR 2017)
the processing is necessary for the purposes of the following legitimate interests which we pursue e.g. investigating/defending legal claims.
It is a requirement of our contract with you that you provide us with the personal data that we request. If you do not provide the information that we request, we may not be able to provide professional services to you. If this is the case, we will not be able to commence acting or will need to cease to act.
Persons/organisations to whom we may give personal data
We may share your personal data with:
Companies House and HMRC
any third parties with whom you require or permit us to correspond
any third party software companies whom will better support us in delivering an improved service with respect to those pieces of work covered within our letter of engagement; a full list of which can be provided upon request
subcontractors
an alternate appointed by us in the event of incapacity or death
tax insurance providers
professional indemnity insurers
our professional body (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) and/or the Office of Professional Body Anti-Money Laundering Supervisors (OPBAS) in relation to practice assurance and/or the requirements of MLR 2017 (or any similar legislation)
If the law allows or requires us to do so, we may share your personal data with:
the police and law enforcement agencies
courts and tribunals
the Information Commissioner's Office ("ICO").
We may need to share your personal data with the third parties identified above in order to comply with our legal obligations, including our legal obligations to you. If you ask us not to share your personal data with such third parties we may need to cease to act.
We may also pass your details on to other third-party organisations who may in turn contact you whereby we feel it would be of benefit, but will only do so having first notified you of this and having sought your agreement prior to this.
Transfers of personal data outside the EU
Where personal data is transferred outside the EU; which is common with many software companies, further information can be supplied upon request as to the specific measures taken by these companies to make this process GDPR-compliant.
Retention of personal data
When acting as a data controller and in accordance with recognised good practice within the tax and accountancy sector we will retain all of our records relating to you as follows:
where tax returns have been prepared it is our policy to retain information for 7 years from the end of the tax year to which the information relates
where ad hoc advisory work has been undertaken it is our policy to retain information for 2 years from the date the business relationship ceased
where we have an ongoing client relationship, data which is needed for more than one year's tax compliance (e.g. capital gains base costs and claims and elections submitted to HMRC) is retained throughout the period of the relationship, but will be 7 years after the end of the business relationship unless you as our client ask us to retain it for a longer period.
Our contractual terms provide for the destruction of documents after 7 years and therefore agreement to the contractual terms is taken as agreement to the retention of records for this period, and to their destruction thereafter.
You are responsible for retaining information that we send to you (including details of capital gains base costs and claims and elections submitted) and this will be supplied in the form agreed between us. Documents and records relevant to your tax affairs are required by law to be retained by you as follows:
Individuals, trustees and partnerships
with trading or rental income: five years and 10 months after the end of the tax year
otherwise: 22 months after the end of the tax year.
Companies, LLPs and other corporate entities
six years from the end of the accounting period.
Where we act as a data processor as defined in DPA 2018, we will delete or return all personal data to the data controller as agreed with the controller annually at the termination of the contract.
Requesting personal data we hold about you (subject access requests)
You have a right to request access to your personal data that we hold. Such requests are known as 'subject access requests' ("SARs").
Please provide all SARs in writing marked for the attention of Graeme Tennick.
To help us provide the information you want and deal with your request more quickly, you should include enough details to enable us to verify your identity and locate the relevant information. For example, you should tell us:
your date of birth
previous or other name(s) you have used
your previous addresses in the past five years
personal reference number(s) that we may have given you, for example your national insurance number, your tax reference number or your VAT registration number
what type of information you want to know
If you do not have a national insurance number, you must send a copy of:
the back page of your passport or a copy of your driving licence
a recent utility bill.
DPA 2018 requires that we comply with a SAR promptly and in any event within one month of receipt. There are, however, some circumstances in which the law allows us to refuse to provide access to personal data in response to a SAR (e.g. if you have previously made a similar request and there has been little or no change to the data since we complied with the original request).
We may not charge you for dealing with a SAR.
You can ask someone else to request information on your behalf – for example, a friend, relative or solicitor. We must have your authority to respond to a SAR made on your behalf. You can provide such authority by signing a letter which states that you authorise the person concerned to write to us for information about you, and/or receive our reply.
Where you are a data controller and we act for you as a data processor (e.g. by processing payroll), we will assist you with SARs on the same basis as is set out above.
Putting things right (the right to rectification)
You have a right to obtain the rectification of any inaccurate personal data concerning you that we hold. You also have a right to have any incomplete personal data that we hold about you completed. Should you become aware that any personal data that we hold about you is inaccurate and/or incomplete, please inform us immediately so we can correct and/or complete it.
Deleting your records (the right to erasure)
In certain circumstances you have a right to have the personal data that we hold about you erased. Further information is available on the ICO website (www.ico.org.uk). If you would like your personal data to be erased, please inform us immediately and we will consider your request. In certain circumstances we have the right to refuse to comply with a request for erasure. If applicable, we will supply you with the reasons for refusing your request.
The right to restrict processing and the right to object
In certain circumstances you have the right to 'block' or suppress the processing of personal data or to object to the processing of that information. Further information is available on the ICO website (www.ico.org.uk). Please inform us immediately if you want us to cease to process your information or you object to processing so that we can consider what action, if any, is appropriate.
Obtaining and reusing personal data (the right to data portability)
In certain circumstances you have the right to be provided with the personal data that we hold about you in a machine-readable format, e.g. so that the data can easily be provided to a new professional adviser. Further information is available on the ICO website (www.ico.org.uk).
The right to data portability only applies:
to personal data an individual has provided to a controller
where the processing is based on the individual's consent or for the performance of a contract
when processing is carried out by automated means
We will respond to any data portability requests made to us without undue delay and within one month. We may extend the period by a further two months where the request is complex or a number of requests are received but we will inform you within one month of the receipt of the request and explain why the extension is necessary.
Withdrawal of consent
Where you have consented to our processing of your personal data, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time. Please inform us immediately if you wish to withdraw your consent.
Please note:
the withdrawal of consent does not affect the lawfulness of earlier processing
if you withdraw your consent, we may not be able to continue to provide services to you
even if you withdraw your consent, it may remain lawful for us to process your data on another legal basis (e.g. because we have a legal obligation to continue to process your data).
Automated decision-making
We do not intend to use automated decision-making in relation to your personal data.
Complaints
If you have requested details of the information we hold about you and you are not happy with our response, or you think we have not complied with the GDPR or DPA 2018 in some other way, you can complain to us. Please send any complaints to Graeme Tennick.
If you are not happy with our response, you have a right to lodge a complaint with the ICO (www.ico.org.uk).
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