Confused? Glossary of key words you need to know

WHAT’S GOING ON!!? There’s so many terms being bandied around, Furloughed, CJRA, JRS, UC, CBILS, ESA, PAYE, SSP that we thought we’d give a brief ‘down to earth’ overview. Please scroll down for some ‘straight talking’ definitions. We’ll keep this list updated too.

And if there’s any more you’d like help with, just get in touch. 01763 257882.

Even if you’re not a client, we’d be very happy to hear from you. And we won’t charge! We never charge for advice over the phone. It’s part of our pledge to all our clients.

BEFORE WE START…

There’s also some confusion about being self employed and having your own business, or having your own limited company. You may think you are ‘self employed’ as indeed you are technically. But the way your business is treated for the various new handouts and support measures is different.

• If you work for yourself but have a limited company, you are likely to be on PAYE. If you can’t work you will be reimbursed 80% of your monthly salary to a maximum of £2500 per month. For three months. Your staff will be eligible be too if they are on PAYE. If you temporarily ask some staff to stay at home it is called ‘Furloughed’ and you will be given 80% of their salary back for three months, from the government. This is not a loan. It’s a gift to encourage you not to lay people off and to help keep your business going.

 

• NB we’ve now had confirmation that you can furlough yourself, even if you are the sole director. It means you cannot work for the business while you are furloughed but you can do the essential legal elements such as company filing

 

• If you have a small business with premises for which you pay rates, even reduced rates, you will be eligible for a £10,000 handout, which will be coming automatically from the local government offices. You don’t need to apply.

 

• If you have a small business in the leisure, hospitality or retail sectors you will be given £25,000 grant – free money. To qualify you need to have a rateable value of £15,000 to £51,000. More on how to apply as it emerges.

 

• If you’ve got a VAT bill coming up DON’T PAY IT but DO submit the tax returns as usual. Your payment will be deferred automatically to the end of the tax year. Use this money to keep your business afloat for now. MAKE SURE YOU CANCEL ANY DIRECT DEBITS SO YOU DON’T PAY BY MISTAKE!

 

• If you have got payments to make to HMRC contact them about deferring your payments, they have a ‘Time to Pay’ scheme in place

 

• If you have a payment to be made ‘on account’ for July this year, do not pay this, it will be deferred to January ’21.

 

Furloughed – staff on PAYE who are given 80% of their salary (up to £2500 per month) by the government, to stay home and not work. You have to pay them first and you’ll get a rebate, soon we hope. Starting from 1st March for three months at present. We have more about this on another post here

 

UC/ Universal Credit – Payment from the government if your household has less than £16,000 in savings. Generates living costs and also housing and rent benefits. We have more about this on another post here

 

ESA – Employment and Support Allowance – it’s a payment for individuals regardless of other adults in the household and regardless of savings. Is equivalent of about £74.00 a week. You need to have been paying National Insurance as a self employed person for the previous two years to qualify. We have more about this on another post here

 

SSP – Statutory Sickness Pay – payable by the government for the first two weeks for any staff from small businesses (less than 250 staff) who have coronavirus or have to stay home because of it (most of us then), which is currently approx £94.00 per week. It will be paid from day 1 of isolation rather than waiting til day 4 and you don’t need a doctors sick note. The system is not in place yet.  Please click here for more information

 

CBILS – Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme. Money being lent to small businesses which would otherwise struggle to raise finance, with no interest for twelve months. Please click here to find out more.

 

PAYE – Pay As You Earn – the standard employee scheme where you get paid on a monthly basis by a business, which has the tax and national insurance already deducted ‘at source’ ie the company sorts that out before it gets to you.

 

IF YOU ARE SELF EMPLOYED SOLE TRADER STATUS

We have a page about self employment here

IF YOU HAVE A SMALL BUSINESS WE’VE HAVE THE UPDATES HERE 

 

If you’d like to talk to us about your options, even if you are not a client, please call us on 01763 257882 or email david@theaccountancypractice.com. And of course, we won’t charge you if we have a chat, whether you’re a client or not. We all need to pull together and we’re hoping to do our bit by sharing straight forward information as soon as it’s available. www.theaccountancypractice.com