J Leigh Accountant

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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 mind. 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.

11/10/2026

PLEASE, JUST TALK TO US!! 😩

I cannot stress this enough.

You are NOT expected to understand corporation tax, directors' loans, dividends, capital allowances and every other bit of accounting jargon we throw around.

That's OUR job.

But you absolutely should understand what's happening in YOUR business.

How much money you're making.
What tax you're going to owe.
Whether you can afford to take more money out.
Why your business is making a profit but you've got no cash in the bank.

And if you don't understand something, ASK!

Ask again. Ask us to explain it differently. Ask us to show you the numbers.

There is absolutely nothing embarrassing about not understanding something you've never been taught.

I'm an accountant AND a business owner. I know how overwhelming running a business can be.

The whole point of having an accountant is to have someone in your corner who helps you make sense of it all.

Not someone who sends you a set of accounts once a year, uses a load of fancy words and leaves you wondering what on earth just happened.

Your accountant should be making business easier to understand. Not harder.

💬 Business owners, be honest. Have you ever nodded along in a meeting with your accountant when you had absolutely no idea what they were talking about? 😂

11/10/2026

Your business isn't failing. Your decisions might be. 👀

Sales are down? Cut costs.

But what if those costs were helping your business grow?

Margins getting tighter? Put your prices up.

But your mate down the pub reckons you're already too expensive… so you don't. 🙄

Meanwhile, have you actually worked out whether your prices even cover your overheads?

We're making decisions based on panic, not facts.

And listen, I'm a business owner too. I get it. Sometimes things get tight, the pressure builds and you just want to DO something.

But every action has a consequence.

Cutting costs today could restrict your growth tomorrow. Keeping prices low could mean you're working harder for less profit.

This is why I bang on about management accounts, forecasting and actually TALKING to your accountant.

Not just once a year when your accounts are due.

Know your numbers. Understand your options. Make decisions BEFORE problems become emergencies.

Stop panicking. Start planning. 💗

💬 Business owners, what's the first thing you do when business gets quiet? Cut costs, chase sales or sit down and look at the numbers?

📌 Save this for the next time you're tempted to make a knee-jerk decision.

06/10/2026

This is what a tax rise without raising the tax rate looks like.

The Personal Allowance was ÂŁ12,500 in 2019.

Today? ÂŁ12,570.

Just ÂŁ70 more.

Meanwhile wages, prices and the cost of simply existing have moved on considerably.

So as earnings rise, more of your income gets dragged into tax, even though the headline tax rates haven't necessarily changed.

It's called fiscal drag.
And it's one of those tax increases you don't really notice happening… until you look at your payslip.

The question is 👇
Should the Personal Allowance rise with inflation?

Tell me what you think. 👇

05/10/2026

Contractors, HMRC look to YOU to get CIS right. 👀
And getting it wrong can come with a penalty of up to ÂŁ3,000.

There’s no “but he only worked for me once…” exemption.

If they’re a subcontractor and you’ve paid them for construction work under CIS, those payments need to be dealt with correctly.

That means:
✔️ Verify subcontractors
✔️ Apply the correct CIS deduction
✔️ Report the payments to HMRC
✔️ Give the subcontractor their payment & deduction statement

And yes , even if they only worked for you once.
CIS is one of those areas where “I didn’t realise” can get expensive.

Construction business owners — save this one. 🔨

01/10/2026

🚨 MTD QUARTER 2 — DONE.

July. August. September. ✅

If you’re already in Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, your next quarterly update is due by 7 November.

And if you’re VAT registered, there’s a good chance you’ve got a VAT return covering the same period too. So November could be fun. 🙃

But here’s the bit I really want to talk about…

If you should have joined MTD from April but didn’t sign yourself up, HMRC have started automatically enrolling eligible taxpayers.

How helpful of them. 🥰

So if you’ve spent the last six months thinking:

“I’ll deal with MTD later…”

Later may have just arrived.

Check your HMRC account. Check your software. And make sure you know what you now need to submit and when.

And obviously, if HMRC have kindly enrolled you without you asking…

👇 Pop a little “thank you HMRC” in the comments. 😂

TaxReturn HMRC UKBusiness Accountant BusinessOwnerUK

22/09/2026

HMRC are watching

They monitor social media.

They want to see cash being declared.

Those suspiciously rounded expense figures?

The same numbers appearing year after year?

Money hitting your bank that doesn’t match what you’ve declared?

None of these automatically mean you’ve done anything wrong.

But they can raise questions.

And if HMRC ask the question, you need to be able to back up the numbers.

Would your records stand up to scrutiny?

Follow for more things your accountant probably should be talking to you about.

21/09/2026

About to go VAT registered? Or already VAT registered?

Quick question…

Do you actually know which VAT scheme you're on?

Because VAT isn't one-size-fits-all.

You've got standard VAT accounting.

You've got cash accounting, which can be really useful if you invoice customers and then wait to get paid, because generally you don't pay the VAT to HMRC until your customer pays you.

Then there's the Flat Rate Scheme, which can work really well for some smaller businesses, particularly where the numbers stack up and there isn't loads of VAT on costs to reclaim. But you need to actually run the numbers.

And there are other schemes depending on what your business actually does.

So don't just register for VAT and automatically default to standard accounting.

Look at the schemes. Run the numbers.

And if your accountant manages your VAT for you, ask them:

“Am I actually on the right VAT scheme?”

Because the answer might save you money, or seriously help your cash flow.

20/09/2026

Going limited can save tax.

But that doesn’t mean you should do it.

Around the £50k profit mark, I wouldn’t incorporate a business for the tax saving alone.

Because once you actually run the numbers, you need to consider more than Corporation Tax:

Salary.
Employer’s NI.
Dividend tax.
Accountancy costs.

The extra admin that comes with running a company.

And then there’s the bigger question:
What are you actually trying to achieve?

Do you need to take all the money out?

Are you planning to leave profits in the business?

Buying a vehicle?

Taking on staff?

Growing

Planning for a mortgage?

The right structure depends on you and the business, not a random turnover figure someone told you on TikTok.

Before you go Ltd, get your accountant to run the numbers for your circumstances.

Sometimes Ltd is absolutely the right move.
Sometimes staying self-employed is better.

Don’t incorporate because you’ve heard it saves tax. Incorporate because the numbers say you should.

Save this if going Ltd is something you’re considering — and follow for straight-talking accounting without the jargon.

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36 Bear Street
Barnstaple

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