Welcome to August’s NewsletterWow… where to start!! This has been a very busy month for us, we were moving, then we weren’t, we were, we weren’t… we are still looking and know our perfect offices are out there we just need to find time in our busy schedule to find them?!?!?!

All tax credit accounts are now done (I hope) and other client year ends are steadily coming into the office. The “Payroll on a Cloud” seems to be sparking a lot of interest and hopefully we should be getting some publicity on this new service very soon.

Good news is that Zoé passed her level 3 AAT this month and is looking forward to going onto her level 4 in September.

As I write this the Olympics are imminent and by the time you read this they will be in full swing, let’s hope team GB do us proud. Personally I prefer the Paralympics, especially the swimming; these people can swim so well with their disabilities and even missing limbs that I find it to be so inspirational and emotional to watch.

As you can see from my picture this month, I got to meet an Olympic Gold Medal winner. Ben Hunt-Davies MBE was one of the 8 man rowing team that won in Sydney 2000. Not only did I get to have my photo taken with him while holding his gold medal and an official Olympic torch (which was very “cool” even for a thirty-something year old business woman) but we got to hear him speak. Ben talks about how the team’s ambitions to win made them live everyday with the question “Will it make the boat go faster?” and how this relates to our business.

As the seminar was in Birmingham I had a 3 hour drive home on my own which gave me a chance to think about what I do in my day to day business and evaluate whether each of these processes really make my boat go faster. There is the saying “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you always got” – in each of our businesses we should be asking ourselves every day – “Will this drive my business forward?”

As usual if you have picked this newsletter up and you would like to be on our mailing list please visit www.subscribe.tipayroll.co.uk and request to receive these newsletter monthly so you never miss out.

PS I have my EVA Award interview this afternoon and I am quite nervous while writing this letter, so if there are any grammar errors then I apologise now. Wish me luck

AuGusT 2012, EdiTion 5

GIVING yOU THE HEADS UP…

TIP the Wink

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Dates for your Diary

August 10th Pink Link Furness 19th Payment to HMRC 19th CIS Submission Due 23rd The Business Network - Lancaster (eek - Tracy is doing her 10 minutes) 27th Late Summer Holiday

september 7th EVA Voting Finishes 14th Pink Link Furness 14th EVA Award @ Ribby Hall 19th Payment to HMRC 19th CIS Submission Due 20th The Business Network - Lancaster

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has announced that penalties for late tax returns will increase from August 1st this year as the department looks to encourage prompt filing.

If a tax return is delayed by a day, a penalty of £100 will be issued even if the taxpayer has no tax to pay or is already up-to-date with their payments.

Furthermore, if the tax return is three months late, a £10 fine will be issued for each following day for a maximum of 90 days, in addition to the £100 fixed penalty.

A further £300 - or five per cent of the tax due, depending on which is

higher - will be issued on top of the above penalties if a tax return is six months late, while the same fine will be issued again at 12 months.

In the most serious of cases, HMRC says that taxpayers will be asked to pay up to 100 per cent of the tax due after a year of their return being late.

With the October 31st deadline for 2011/12 paper tax returns approaching, and January 31st online deadline always seeming to creep up on us every year all small businesses or individuals should look at getting their paperwork into us as soon as possible to avoid any fines.

For those who knew me this time last year you will already know what the EVA Awards are as I pestered everyone via social media and email asking for a vote!! And I was honoured and humbled when I won Financial Service 2011.

For those who don’t know, Eva, The Enterprise Vision Awards have been created to specifically recognise those ladies in The North West who are inspiring others by successfully running their own businesses or are at the forefront of their profession.

Eva celebrates these ladies, who our championing entrepreneurial growth in our region and recognises the efforts they have made to start and develop businesses whilst facing challenges along the way.

Well guess what guys – I’m through to the final again

for 2012. I am so proud as I know the awards have grown so much since last year to be through to the final again is such an privilege.

As last year part of the marking for the award will go public vote and therefore yES I will be pestering you AGAIN!!!

Voting opened on Monday 30th July and runs through to 7th September … so PLEASE if you could spare 2 minutes would you pop over to the website below and put your email address in to vote for me I would be eternally grateful:

http://www.enterprise visionawards.co.uk/financial_services.php

Tracy x

New Penalties to be enforced in August

EVA Awards

Business Quote

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One of the marks of excellent people is that they never compare themselves with others. They only compare

themselves with themselves and with their past accomplishments

and future potential.

Brian Tracy

“

”

Client FocusJackie Harris - Brightspark marketing

Bright ideas for small businesses

Marketing is essential to all businesses

these days. But it needn’t cost the earth.

It’s all a question of working smarter and

making a regular commitment. TI Payroll

client, Jackie Harris of Brightspark Marketing

says: “A little and often is better than a big

push once or twice a year.”

Jackie moved to Cumbria around 10

years ago from London. She spent most

of her career as a ‘corporate spin doctor’,

hustling media stories for giant technology

firms such as IBM, Hewlett Packard, British

Telecom and Creative Labs. “It was a crazy

life. I used to take journalists on European

press tours, visiting 7 countries in 6 days.

There were times when we’d forget where

we were and what language we were in.

Ultimately there comes a point where

you want to be in the one place and my

husband, Darren and I felt that we needed a

fresh new start.”

marketing a small business has a special set of challenges

In the summer of 2002, she waved

goodbye to London, moved to Sedbergh

and formed Brightspark Marketing. The

objective was to offer marketing services

to smaller businesses in the area. The

first couple of years proved to be a steep

learning curve. She says: “While the basics

of marketing are the same regardless of

the size of business, clearly small business

owners have some very specific challenges

to overcome. Time, budget and resources

are all in short supply and I have to factor

this into all marketing plans. I’ve learned

to squeeze every last drop of value out of

marketing budgets and encourage clients

to question and evaluate their marketing

spend. Is it in the right place? Did we get

any business from that ad? How effective

was that trade show? In the first couple

of years in Cumbria, I made myself very

unpopular with business directories and

local newspapers because I recommended

to clients that if an ad didn’t result in any

new business, they should put their money

into something else. I certainly rattled a few

cages.

Easy low-cost options for businesses of all sizes

“Professional marketing services are

expensive – there’s no way round it so I’ve

tried hard to make it easy for businesses

to dip in and out as their needs change.

There are multiple options and I have

created packages starting from £199.00 a

month. I’ve even got a package aimed at

freelance firms where they do most of the

work themselves but I act as a guiding hand

and to coach them through it which costs

£185.00 per month. Across the region,

most marketing, graphic design and web

firms charge fees in the region of £500

a day. I think I’ve found some formulas

that allow small businesses to tap into a

level of experience and skills normally only

available to large organisations.

You’ve got to love it when you get smiley face emails from your accounts person

“I started working with Tracy about a year

ago. Large accountancy firms do a lot of

talking about the level of service and advice

they offer as part of their fee. Frankly I

never received any of this so-called useful

advice, yet I was still paying massive fees.

Let’s just say the accountants in question

were charging an hourly rate much greater

than mine. I met Tracy at a business

networking event and I loved her refreshing

down to earth approach. It was a no brainer.

I moved my accounts to TI Payroll and I now

tell everyone about her. you’ve got to love

it when you get smiley face emails from

your accounts person.”

for more information about Brightspark

marketing, please visit

www.brightsparkmarketing.com

if you would like to feature in our client

focus please feel free to contact us on

01229 490343

“On behalf of Barrow Golf Club I confirm the bookkeeping and accounting work undertaken byTI Payroll & Accounting Services for the Club has always been

professionally and accurately completed to the required timescales in an efficient

and friendly manner. I would have no hesitation in recommending other

organisations to employ them for the provision of these services.”

PHT Cole, Barrow Golf Club

“

”TI Payroll and Accounting Phoenix Business Centre

Phoenix Road Barrow-in-Furness

Cumbria LA14 2UA

tel. 01229 490343

email. tracy@tipayroll.co.uk

web. www.tipayroll.co.uk

payroll administration

bookkeeping services

construction industry scheme

self employed limited companies

tax returns

SAGE training

bespoke social media training

secretarial services

If you would like to receive this newsletter posted direct to you on a monthly basis please visit

www.subscribe.tipayroll.co.uk and fill in the online form, or

ring Tracy on 01229 490343

payroll andaccounting