by Emma Hooper

The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme went live yesterday, with over 140,000 businesses applying for the support within 24 hours.

The scheme is available for businesses that, as a result of Covid-19, cannot maintain their current workforce and would be forced to make employees redundant as a result. These employees need to be furloughed by written communication to be eligible.

The Government will be providing 80% of the employee’s usual monthly wage up to £2,500 a month. Employer National Insurance contributions and employer pension contributions (at the minimum percentage required) will also be reimbursed to the business. Once a claim has been submitted, HMRC plan to pay the amounts directly to the business bank account within 6 working days.

At Frost Wiltshire we want to make this as smooth as possible for our clients. We have a template furlough letter that can be issued to your employees if needed and will be making claims on behalf of all our payroll clients to help ease the financial pressures during this difficult time.

If you have any questions regarding the scheme please contact our team who will be more than happy to help by emailing payroll@frostwiltshire.co.uk.

 

image by Finn Hackshaw on Unsplash

By Emma Hooper

The Government has announced a temporary change to VAT payments as a way to help businesses manage cash flow during this difficult time. Any VAT liabilities becoming due between 20 March 2020 and 30 June 2020 can now be deferred, with payment needing to be settled on or before 31 March 2021.

As of now (3 April 2020) any VAT payments becoming due after 30 June 2020 will be payable as normal. But as things are constantly changing and uncertainty over the COVID-19 situation continues, these measures may be extended in the future.

It’s important to remember that whilst the VAT payments can be deferred, the return still needs to be submitted on time to avoid any late filing penalties.

If you’d like to take advantage of the VAT deferral and you currently pay by Direct Debit you will need to contact your bank and get this cancelled, otherwise the payment will be automatically taken.

If you have any questions around the deferral of VAT payments please contact emma.h@frostwiltshire.co.uk

by Lydia Westmore

The outbreak of Coronavirus will inevitably impact all of our businesses.  In the short term, the current situation is likely to have a significant impact on cash flow, with loss of revenues and productivity.  Government support for impacted businesses is coming, but careful management of your short-term cash flow is essential for decision making such as prioritising payments, taking on new debt and negotiating payment plans with creditors.

An industry standard is to use a rolling 13-week cash flow forecast, which enables you to continually track your current cash position and estimate your future inflows and outflows, as well as run various ‘what if’ scenarios to prepare for these uncertain times.

A fully populated and working cash flow forecast demonstrates your active cash management approach and could be shared with your bank, HMRC or other stakeholders.

We have developed such a forecast model, which we can help you to implement quickly and easily, helping you to gain some welcome clarity in these very challenging circumstances.

If you would like to find out more, please get in touch with Lydia by email at lydia@frostwiltshire.co.uk or on 01454 529 529.

 

image: fabian blank