UK’S FIRST TAX RATES APP LAUNCHES FOR BUSINESS OWNERS & FDs.

HAINES WATTS

CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS

PRESS RELEASE

April 11, 2011

UK’S FIRST TAX RATES APP LAUNCHES FOR BUSINESS OWNERS & FDs.

A new mobile app has been launched for business owners, FDs and financial controllers, giving instant and continuous access to the latest UK Tax Rates on their iPhones. Download app here

“Time is money – and anything that streamlines accountancy and makes things faster and more efficient is worth embracing. Rather than having to use the internet via a PC to find out relevant tax rates or keep a hard copy tax card to hand, the app will allow access to tax rates anywhere, at any point in time,” said Gary Heywood of Haines Watts, a top 20 firm of Chartered Accountants, which has offices across the UK. Watch video here

“There’s huge demand for our tax rates cards, but there’s both a financial cost and an environmental cost in generating reams of printed versions – so we turned it into an app. The app will initially be available for use on iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad.” 

The app will be free to download from the app store. It will list a large proportion of UK tax rates, including Income Tax, Car & Fuel Benefits, Corporation Tax, VAT, Capital Gains Tax and National Insurance – amongst others.

The move follows Haines Watts’ look at how it can better serve business owners and finance directors by making information more easily accessible day-to-day.

Samantha Davies, Marketing Manager of Haines Watts, said: “Our partners, who are also business owners, rely on their phones so much now to access information 24/7 as a matter of course - we know that other business owners would be doing the same.  Time is at a premium for business owners and FDs, and this is just a small step in the process of driving efficient and massively more convenient accountancy services.

“No other UK accountancy firm has developed such an app.  At Haines Watts we make sure we give business owners what they want, when they want it – technology is the ideal way to do this.”

Gary Heywood, Partner at Haines Watts, said: “Time is precious for most business owners and FDs, with many working long hours both day and night.  Giving them information at their fingertips whatever time of the day they need it is vital.

“Every year we send out tax cards to our clients and contacts - in recent years we have become less reliant on hard copy material and emailed more.  With access online via our website and now with our new app, we know that this will also have a positive impact on the environment,” said Gary.

Haines Watts sees the new app as only the beginning and will track downloads in the coming months.  The firm will then look to develop onto other platforms in the future.  If this proves to be a success, Haines Watts will invest in further app development to help business owners in their day-to-day business lives.

ENDS

About Haines Watts

Haines Watts is a top-20 firm of Chartered Accountants that specialises in the owner- managed business sector.  Haines Watts has a broad range of services, and more than 80 years experience in working with privately-owned businesses. From accountancy, tax, VAT, financial services, expense control, corporate finance and business advice, the firm has the market understanding and expertise to make a difference to business.

With over 50 offices around the UK, and over 30,000 UK clients, Haines Watts’ aim is to become the premier adviser to the owner-managed business sector. They are able to offer a comprehensive range of national services without losing the personal attention to detail at a local level. This combination makes the Haines Watts offering unique.

For further information contact:

Samantha Davies

National Marketing Manager

Haines Watts, Sterling House,97 Lichfield Street, Tamworth, Staffs, B79 7QF

Tel: 01827 61835

Email: sdavies@hwca.com

Iain Macauley

im@pressrelations.co.uk

07788 978800

HAINES WATTS DRIVES DEFENSIVE COMPANIES INTO BUSINESS ATTACK.

HAINES WATTS

CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS

MANCHESTER AND PRESTON

PRESS RELEASE

November 25, 2010.

HAINES WATTS DRIVES DEFENSIVE COMPANIES INTO BUSINESS ATTACK.

North West owner managers have been so busy defending and protecting their businesses that many have taken their eye off the growth and development ball.

Manchester and Preston-based Haines Watts chartered accountants has responded by developing a series of seminars aimed at helping put businesses on the attack.

Called “Rise”, the seminars will cover key areas relating to the growth and development of owner-managed businesses. They’ll take place throughout January and February 2011.

David Fort of Haines Watts said: “Owner-managed businesses tell us the biggest challenge they face is achieving and sustaining business growth.

“Being an owner manager or managing director of your company can be a lonely place when trying to make that step change in your organisation.

“The people around you often don’t have the necessary knowledge, skills or experience to help you through this process. The seminar series is designed for people in just that position who are looking to grow their business.”

Consisting of six high-impact breakfast sessions that will provide focused information and cut through the woffle, elements include creating, retaining and extracting personal and family wealth in line with aspirations; sustaining growth against increasingly stiff competition in a changing market; leading the business in the right direction while reducing business and personal risks; recruiting, motivating and retaining the right people and exiting the wrong ones with low risk; establishing and maintaining effective and appropriate funding arrangements; providing the right operations and facilities to support the business without breaking the bank.

Key features of the events include access to experts in business growth acceleration, and are held in  a confidential environment in short sessions with practical not theoretical content in a discussion rather than lecturing environment.

Haines Watts is a UK top 20 chartered accountancy firm specialising in the owner-managed sector, providing a broad range of services out of its 50 offices. The firm has 80 years experience and 30,000 clients.

Ends

Further information:

Iain Macauley

im@pressrelations.co.uk

07788 978800

www.hwca.com

http://www.hwca.com/offices/accountants-north-west.php

NORTH WEST BUSINESS OWNERS MORE LIKELY TO BE ASKED FOR PERSONAL GUARANTEES

HAINES WATTS

CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS

PRESS RELEASE

July 12, 2010.

NORTH WEST BUSINESS OWNERS MORE LIKELY TO BE ASKED FOR PERSONAL GUARANTEES.

Watch video.

One in three North West business owners are being asked by banks to provide personal guarantees to support their companies - higher than the UK average, and more than twice as many as in the East Midlands.

Chartered accountants Haines Watts surveyed 8,700 owner-managed businesses, and, from the responses received, found that 31.63% of company owners in the North West region had been asked by their banks to provide personal guarantees compared to 15.38% in the East Midlands, just over 17% in Scotland, 21.74% in the South East and 24.77% in the West Midlands. The national average is 25%.

“Small owner-managed businesses are the powerhouse of the UK economy: of the 4.7 million businesses in the UK, 99.3% are small firms with fewer than 50 employees, yet they feel they’re being forced to drive round with the handbrake on,” said David Fort, a Partner with Haines Watts Manchester. (Watch video, 1 min 36 secs.)

“People in business need access to finance, the banks have got to release the purse strings; 31% of business owners in the North West say they’ve been asked to provide personal guarantees, which is far higher than just about anywhere else in the country.”

But despite that handicap, David Fort says the signs are that the North West region is amongst the best placed in the UK to drive recovery.

“The North West is actually ideally placed; it has fantastic businesses, fantastic business leaders and a great workforce,” he said.

“But we do need more support from a government which should be looking at more ways of backing businesses, particularly with regard to releasing funding, taxation and how tax changes might give businesses an extra incentive to grow.

“On a basic level, we also have an excellent education system in the North West, it creates useful workers, but some graduates come out of university without the basic skills business requires, so companies should be encouraged to train their own staff so they gain relevant skills.”

Of the 8,700 businesses invited to take the Haines Watts Business Owner Survey, 645 responded giving a response rate of 7.4%. A selection of business owners were further invited to take part in in-depth interviews.

Haines Watts is a UK top 20 chartered accountancy firm specialising in the owner-managed sector, providing a broad range of services out of its 50 offices. The firm has 80 years experience and 30,000 clients.

Ends

Further information:

Iain Macauley

im@pressrelations.co.uk

07788 978800

www.hwca.com

SHIELD EMPLOYEE SHARE SCHEMES FROM CGT HIKE, SAYS POLL OF OVER-50s

SAGA
PRESS RELEASE

June 20, 2010.

SHIELD EMPLOYEE SHARE SCHEMES FROM CGT HIKE, SAYS POLL OF OVER-50s

   •  Saga research with 13,040 over-50s shows 73% believe the Government should levy lower rate on employee share schemes.

The Saga Generation is opposed to increased Capital Gains Tax on employee share schemes, and also believes that the rate of CGT levied on all kinds of asset should decline with the length of time an asset has been held.

Those are two of the main findings of a poll of over-50s, conducted by Saga.

More than three in five respondents (62%) thought that the government should not levy CGT on employee share schemes at all; almost three in four (73%) supported a lower rate of CGT.

Over a half of respondents (55%) believed that the profits from the sale of assets held for a long period of time should attract a lower rate of tax than those held for only a short period. Fewer than a quarter (23%) supported the current system whereby the time an asset is held has no effect on the level of Capital Gains Tax charge.

Finally, almost half of respondents (45%) did not believe that the government had a mandate to increase CGT, which was not mentioned in the Conservative manifesto; fewer than one in three (31%) felt they did have a mandate.

Paul Green, Head of Communications, Saga, said: “Many in the Saga Generation have prudently saved and built up investments to ensure they enjoy a more comfortable retirement and they are not a burden on their families or the taxpayer in their dotage.

”We welcome measures that promote long-term investment and stop people merely re-labelling income as capital so as to reduce their tax bill.

However, it is wrong that the rug is being pulled from beneath the retirement plans of those people who do the right thing. We believe it would be much fairer if CGT was tapered over say five years, so as to reward those who have saved diligently.

“We also believe - as do many of our customers - that to support enterprise and employee participation, owning shares in the company that employs you should be treated as a ‘business asset’ and exempt from CGT.”

-ENDS-

For further information, please contact:

Paul Green

Head of Communications

Saga Group Ltd

Tel: 07714 414 859

paul.green.pr@saga.co.uk

Editorial Notes:

*Based on Saga Populus data carried out on 13,040 customers aged 50+ on an online poll between 11th and 17th June 2010