J Leigh Accountant

J Leigh Accountant Business owner. Accountant. Strategist. Helping small business owners understand their numbers, plan properly, and stop flying blind. Less jargon. More clarity.

Accounts, tax & business growth, explained like a human. I've been in the accounting world for more years than I care to count—starting with the fast-paced finance office of a large corporation to managing local practice offices. Now, as the owner of my own firm, I've taken all those years of experience, knowledge, and invaluable client feedback to build something with local business owners in min

d. Accounting doesn’t have to be overwhelming—I’m here to simplify the numbers, keep you compliant, and help your business thrive. Whether it’s bookkeeping, tax, payroll, or strategic advice, I make sure you have the support you need.

21/08/2026

This is what I mean when I talk about tax planning 👇

Every month, I send management accounts to around 70% of the clients in our practice.

We're looking at the P&L, analysing expenses, checking margins, reviewing payroll structure and understanding where the profit is actually heading.

Because sometimes high profits are exactly what you want.

Sometimes you'd rather reinvest into the business, purchase assets, make employer pension contributions, change your salary/dividend mix or make other decisions before the year end.

Then there's the other part people forget…

💷 Cash flow.
If we know what the tax bill is likely to be, can you actually afford to pay it when it's due? Do we need to start putting money aside now?

There isn't one correct answer.

But you can't make any of those decisions if you don't know your numbers until your year-end accounts are prepared.

That's the difference between calculating tax and planning for tax.

Management accounts give us the information — then we decide what to do with it.

📌 Save this if you're a limited company owner.
👋 Follow for practical tax planning and business advice from an accountant who does this every day.

16/08/2026

Last time we talked about the HMRC red flags 🚩

Today, let's talk about the things business owners CAN do… but so many aren't.

Because I genuinely LOVE this stuff

💷 PAYROLL
Is everyone working in your business using their tax-free allowances properly?
Your partner? Your children?
If they genuinely work in the business, paying them properly through payroll could be completely legitimate — and tax deductible.

🚗 YOUR CAR
Everyone says “don't put the car through the limited company because of the benefit in kind.”
But have you actually done the maths?
Because sometimes paying the BIK can work out better than taking taxed income out of your company to pay for the car personally.

Don't guess. Run the numbers.

💰 YOUR DIRECTOR'S LOAN
Put your own money into your limited company?
If the company owes you money, you may be able to charge the company interest.

The company gets a corporation tax deduction for qualifying interest — and you receive the interest personally.

There are tax and reporting rules around this, so do it properly.

📊 AND THIS IS THE BIG ONE…

Stop looking at one tax in isolation.

I've seen people celebrate saving corporation tax while creating a bigger personal tax bill somewhere else.

That's not tax planning.

The aim isn't to move the tax around.

The aim is to look at the WHOLE picture and legally reduce the overall tax cost.

There are so many completely legitimate things business owners can do that they simply don't know about.

And apparently I've become far too excited about telling Instagram all of them 😂

So if you own a business, follow me.

I'll keep sharing the things I talk to my clients about every day — tax, profit, cash flow and making your business actually work for you.

And send this to another business owner who is probably paying more tax than they need to 👀

13/08/2026

HMRC red flags
And some of them are more normal than you think.

You don’t have to be deliberately doing anything wrong for HMRC to start asking questions.

Sometimes, your numbers just need explaining.

🚩 Your social media doesn’t match your income
New car. Holidays. Expensive purchases. But your tax return says you’re earning very little? Publicly available information can form part of the bigger picture.

🚩 Everything is suspiciously round
£5,000 insurance. £3,000 fuel. £2,000 tools.
Are those the actual figures… or did you estimate them?

🚩 You use the business account personally
Tesco. Holidays. Personal bills.

That isn't automatically a disaster — but has it been recorded correctly?

🚩 Money hits your bank that isn’t sales
Savings transfer? Family loan? Sold your old car?
Fine.

But if HMRC ask where £10k came from, can you prove it?

🚩 You claim expenses without keeping the evidence
You know that £800 purchase was for work.

HMRC don't. The evidence matters.

🚩 You take money from your limited company whenever you need it

Salary? Dividend? Director’s loan? Expense reimbursement?

They are NOT the same thing.

HMRC ARE CHECKING MORE.
ASKING MORE QUESTIONS.
AND CORRECTING RETURNS.

11/08/2026

Business owners, what if your Instagram feed came with an accountant?

Not one trying to sell you something every five minutes.

Just one quietly popping up with the stuff that could actually help you run your business better.

💷 Tax-saving ideas you might not know about
⏰ HMRC deadlines before they become expensive problems
📢 Tax and regulation changes explained in normal English
📈 Business strategies to help you make more from what you’re already doing
🧮 And free calculators to help you work out what you should be putting aside for tax

I’m an accountant, but I’m also a business owner.

So I’m interested in more than getting your tax return filed.

How do we improve the profit?
Where is the money disappearing?
Are you paying more tax than you need to?
And how do we make the business work better for you?

That’s the stuff I share here.

So if Instagram has randomly dropped me onto your feed today…

consider me the accountant in your pocket. 🩷

Hit follow and I’ll hopefully save you a few quid along the way.

09/08/2026

Business owners — your to-do list for this week 👇

A few deadlines to deal with… and a few things that could actually save you money.
📌 CIS contractors: July’s CIS period has closed. Get the return ready for the 19th — and remember, filing NIL then amending later can now cost you interest.

📌 VAT: July quarter-end? Don’t leave it until September. Get the bookkeeping sorted now while you’ve actually got time to fix anything.

📌 Payroll: Does your spouse help with admin? Do your teenagers genuinely work in the business? Make sure you’re looking at whether they should be on payroll — properly, for real work and at a justifiable rate.

📌 Making £50k+ profit? If you’re a limited company director still automatically taking a £12,570 salary because “that’s what I’ve always taken” — get your remuneration strategy reviewed. The most tax-efficient answer isn’t the same for everyone.

📌 And finally… management accounts.
You can’t tax plan properly when you don’t know what profit you’re making.

Your accountant shouldn’t just be telling you what happened nine months ago.

They should be helping you decide what to do next.
Save this for Monday morning

📌 and follow for practical tax, HMRC and business advice from an accountant who works with business owners every day.

07/08/2026

A little Friday deadline round-up from your friendly neighbourhood accountant 👋

It’s been one of those weeks…

📌 MTD quarterly update deadline — today
📌 VAT payment deadline — today
📌 CIS period closed on the 5th — returns need filing by the 19th and payment made by the 22nd

And a little CIS reminder because this one can get expensive 👀

Filing a NIL return just to get something submitted, then going back and amending it later?

HMRC are now charging interest where amendments result in additional CIS being due.

And if you’re paying late, interest is clocking up there too.

So the message this month is pretty simple:

Get the return right.
Get it filed.
Get it paid.

Future-you (and your bank balance) will thank you.

I share the stuff I’m seeing every day as an accountant and business owner, tax, cash flow, deadlines and the little things that can quietly cost businesses money.

Follow for more practical UK business & tax tips — without the accountant jargon.

BusinessOwnerUK SmallBusinessUK Accountant TaxTipsUK MakingTaxDigital

04/08/2026

Making Tax Digital is here... but do you actually know when it affects you? 🤔

I've had so many conversations recently with business owners who aren't sure whether they need to do anything, or when.

The rules aren't based on your profit, they're based on your qualifying gross income. That catches a lot of people out.

So, to make things a little easier, I've built a free MTD Date Checker that tells you when you're likely to need to comply based on your circumstances.

No jargon. No trawling through HMRC guidance. Just a clear answer.

💻 Give it a try at www.jleighaccounting.com⁠�

I'd genuinely love your feedback too.

I've built these calculators from the questions clients ask me every day, so if there's something that would make them even more useful, let me know in the comments.
👇

Which MTD group are you in?
🟣 April 2026
🟣 April 2027
🟣 Not sure...
🟣 I didn't even know MTD was changing!

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36 Bear Street
Barnstaple

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