Forward Path Accounting

09/09/2026

Did you pay your second payment on account on 31 July?

Payments on account are the two advance instalments towards your personal tax bill, one due 31 January and one 31 July. Everyone remembers January. July slips past.

If not, HMRC has been charging you interest every single day since 1 August.

The rate is 7.75%. In real terms:

£1,000 owed = 21p a day
£5,000 owed = £1.06 a day
£10,000 owed = £2.12 a day

Not a disaster. But it's money leaving your business for nothing, and it doesn't disappear — it turns up again in January on top of everything else.

If you can pay it, pay it and the interest stops. If you can't, HMRC's Time to Pay scheme is far less scary than people expect.

And if your income has dropped this year, the amount they've asked for may be too high. Worth a check.

31/08/2026

I didn't get asked a question last week.

I was on holiday, and I chose to switch off completely and be with my family. No inbox at breakfast. No "just five minutes" while everyone else was in the pool.

And nothing broke.

Not luck. Preparation. I told clients I'd be away, cleared the deadlines that fell in that window, and got ahead of my work before I went.

Thinking ahead isn't just how you get a holiday. It's how you get peace of mind.

That's what I do for clients every week — look at what's coming, rather than what's already happened. Most stress in a small business isn't caused by the problem. It's caused by meeting it with no warning.

Your accounts work exactly the same way. Handled once a year, they're a bill and a shock. Looked at forward, they're a plan.

So this week's question is for you:

What's coming in the next six months that you haven't looked at yet?

Have a think. That's usually the one worth preparing for.

17/08/2026

The question I got asked last week: "Can I put this through the business?"

This time it was a receipt for lunch with clients.

The answer surprises most people. Client entertaining isn't allowable at all — not a percentage, not with better record-keeping, not ever. You can still pay for it through the business if you want to, it just doesn't reduce your tax bill. A lot of people assume it does because it feels like a cost of doing business. HMRC disagrees, and has for a long time.

Staff entertaining is different — a team meal or a Christmas do is exempt up to £150 a head per year, covering everything from food to transport. Go £1 over and the whole amount becomes taxable, not just the excess. Worth knowing before you book anything.

The rule of thumb I give clients: if you'd have bought it anyway, personal life or not, it's probably not going through the business. If the business genuinely needed it, keep the receipt and ask me if you're not sure — that's a much better use of five minutes than guessing and hoping HMRC doesn't ask.

10/08/2026

The question I got asked this week: **should I go limited?** It's almost never the tax question people think it is.

A sole trader this time — looking to grow, and potentially take on staff.

Three things I asked back.

**Where's this going?** If you want to hire, expand, take on premises, or sell the thing one day, limited gives you a lot more flexibility — and it puts a line between the business's problems and your house. Better to have it in place before you need it than to be restructuring at the point the business is under most pressure. Just don't form it years early: once the company exists it has to file, trading or not.

**Are you spending everything you earn?** This is the one that decides it. If every penny of profit goes out of the door to cover your living costs, going limited won't save you tax — with dividend rates up again in April, it can quietly cost you more. The benefit is in what you *don't* take out: profit left in the company is taxed at 19%, rather than 40% plus National Insurance on its way to your pocket. Pension contributions paid by the company work the same way. If there's nothing spare to leave in, there's nothing to save.

**Do you want the admin?** Annual accounts, a corporation tax return, a confirmation statement, your figures on public record at Companies House, and a bigger bill from me. It isn't onerous. It isn't nothing, either.

If you're growing and the question has crossed your mind, don't settle it on what someone told you at a networking event — every business is different. Half an hour with your real numbers and your real plans will answer it properly.

Ask me, if that's easier.

04/08/2026

The question I got asked this week: "Have I actually got to file something in August?"

If you're a sole trader or landlord with gross income over £50,000 — yes. Your first MTD quarterly update is due by 7 August. That's this Friday.

This is the first one anyone has ever had to do, so nobody's got a routine for it yet. Worth saying what it isn't: it's not a tax bill, and it's not a tax return. It's a summary of your income and expenses for April to July, sent to HMRC from your software.

One thing that keeps catching people out — the £50,000 is gross income, not profit. Turn over £60,000 and make £25,000 after costs and you're still in.

If you're not sure whether this applies to you, just ask. Better to find out on Tuesday than Saturday.

24/06/2026

10/04/2026

Making Tax Digital has now gone live for sole traders and landlords earning over £50k revenue per year - Got any concerns - Please reach out.