A new tax year is a natural reset point. It is a chance to review your deadlines, refresh your processes, and strengthen the way you manage your business finances. The businesses that feel in control financially tend to have strong habits, clear systems, and consistent routines in place. Here are the habits that make a real difference. 1. Keep business and personal finances separate If you run a limited company, this is a legal requirement. If you are a sole trader, it is sti

From 6 April 2026, changes to the Construction Industry Scheme (CIS) will tighten compliance, increase reporting expectations and sharpen HMRC’s approach to fraud and supply chain risk. These are not cosmetic updates. They affect how contractors operate month to month, how subcontractors are assessed, and how risk is managed across the whole engagement chain. This article sets out what is changing, what it means in practice, and what businesses should be doing now. Monthly re

Recent developments in the National Insurance Contributions (Employer Pension Contributions) Bill confirm that proposed changes to salary sacrifice pension arrangements will go ahead largely unchanged. While the detail can feel technical, the impact for employers is quite straightforward. What has been confirmed The government has rejected proposals that would have: Increased the relief cap to £5,000 Exempted basic rate taxpayers Excluded certain contributions from student lo

International Women’s Day invites a flood of commentary every year, yet the more useful conversation for accountancy, bookkeeping and payroll sits beneath the slogans. It concerns work, authority, and who gets to shape the systems that increasingly shape everyone else. In a profession built on judgement, evidence, trust and interpretation, that question has become sharper with the rise of artificial intelligence. For firms, advisers and practitioners, this is a structural iss

Payroll legislation rarely stands still, and the rules around holiday pay and leave records are evolving again. From April 2026, employers will face clearer expectations about how long key payroll records must be retained and what evidence should exist to support holiday pay calculations. For payroll teams, bureaus and accountancy practices, this is less about a sudden new burden and more about strengthening something that should already be good practice: keeping clear, defen

At this weeks Association of Payroll Bureau Managers roundtable in London, one message came through clearly: payroll is changing quickly, but the fundamentals that protect businesses remain the same. The event brought together payroll bureau leaders from across the UK to discuss the realities of running payroll services today. As someone who runs a payroll bureau alongside my work in professional education, I attended with both perspectives in mind. The conversations were ref

Every year, as the tax year closes and financial reporting deadlines loom, fraudsters sharpen their tools. Organisations are busy. Finance teams are stretched. Cash flow is under pressure. Senior leaders want figures signed off. Suppliers are chasing payment. Payroll year end reconciliations are underway. It is the perfect storm. According to guidance from the National Cyber Security Centre and warnings issued by HM Revenue & Customs, phishing and business email compromise co

HM Revenue & Customs has always had powers to charge penalties where VAT returns are incorrect. What has become clearer in recent tribunal decisions is how easily a situation can move from “careless” to “deliberate” behaviour. In the recent case of Kog v Revenue and Customs, the Tribunal considered whether a director’s failure to properly address a known VAT issue amounted to deliberate conduct. The issue related to the VAT option to tax on a property, a technical but crucial

If you act as a tax agent, payroll provider or adviser, the regulatory landscape is tightening. HMRC is strengthening the connection between Agent Services Accounts, anti-money laundering supervision and the new mandatory tax adviser registration regime coming into force in 2026. These are separate requirements, but they are increasingly interconnected. Getting one wrong can block access to services or expose your practice to compliance risk. What Is an Agent Services Account

Scope and changes to MTD MTD continues to evolve with a major extension to Income Tax Self Assessment reporting. MTD for Income Tax (often abbreviated as MTD for ITSA) will become mandatory from 6 April 2026  for individuals whose annual self‑employment and/or property income exceeds £50 000. The regime will be phased such that those with income above £30 000 will become subject from April 2027 and above £20 000 from April 2028. This replaces the traditional annual paper or o

This blog pulls together the practical UK tax and payroll rules you’ll need if you’re thinking about salary sacrifice for cars, especially electric ones — including how HMRC treats the arrangement, the valuation traps you must watch, and where the biggest savings (or risks) lie. In the UK a salary sacrifice isn’t just a deduction, it’s a contractual variation where an employee gives up cash pay in exchange for a benefit — and HMRC only accepts it if the variation to pay terms

Over the next few months, Companies House is introducing a set of changes that affect how companies are set up, managed and kept compliant. These updates sit within a wider programme to improve transparency and reduce economic crime, and they will affect directors, people with significant control, and the cost of routine filings. At TCW, we want our clients to be ahead of these changes rather than reacting to them later. Identity verification is becoming mandatory Companies H

Cyber crime has evolved from obvious spam emails into highly targeted, convincing approaches known as spear phishing and social engineering. These attacks can include AI-generated “deepfake” content, including realistic emails, audio clips, and even video calls designed to impersonate trusted people. The goal is usually the same: to rush someone into sharing sensitive information, changing bank details, or making a payment that should never have been made. Here is a straightf

Artificial intelligence now sits at the centre of modern work. It shapes how teams find customers, plan finances, hire talent, serve users and measure impact. The capability that ties this together is AI fluency in leadership. The most reliable way to build that capability is through a guided academy that develops confident leaders, proven use cases and safe ways of working. That is the role of the TCW AI Academy. What leaders gain through the Academy The Academy is designed

Artificial Intelligence isn’t just for big corporations anymore. It’s transforming how small and medium businesses market, manage, and grow, and those who start now are already reaping the rewards. From automating repetitive admin to writing your next marketing campaign, AI is quietly becoming the most powerful return-on-investment tool available to SMEs. The best part? You don’t need to be a tech expert to use it. The SME Advantage: Why AI Levels the Playing Field For years,

Artificial Intelligence isn’t coming – it’s already here. It’s in our inboxes, our analytics dashboards, our finance tools, and even our email drafts. Yet while headlines scream about job losses and robots, the real story is much simpler and more human. The AI reality check According to the latest Artificial Intelligence and the Digital Workplace  report, 81% of respondents say their organisation is actively looking for ways to apply generative AI. Even more tellingly, AI too

Changes announced this summer mean that umbrella companies – those intermediary employers used to pay temporary workers – will no longer...

Holiday pay may not be the most glamorous part of an accountant’s week, but it is a constant source of queries from clients and payroll...

From 1 September 2025, HMRC has for the first time introduced two distinct mileage reimbursement rates for fully electric company...

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has confirmed that the 2025 Autumn Budget will be delivered to Parliament on Wednesday, 26 November 2025. This...