Merry Christmas from all at Clay Shaw Butler

Merry Christmas from David Butler, Ann Thomas, Nigel Roberts and all at Clay Shaw Butler!

The July 'Looking After Business column

Looking after business, the business page column for the Carmarthen Journal (July). By Ann Thomas, senior consultant with Clay Shaw Butler, chartered accountants and business consultants of Carmarthen . . .

They say that charity begins at home – and I’ve got the aches and pains to prove it! Currently, I am in training for a marathon Paris to Swansea bike ride to raise cash for the Maggie’s cancer centre in Swansea.
Getting ready for a 400-mile marathon means you have to spend hours in the saddle getting fit.
Take the aches and pains out of the equation and you can actually get some thinking done on those practice rides. For example, I was thinking about how to make tax-effective gifts.
You can get tax relief on gifts to UK charities if you give:

• under Gift Aid
• through a Payroll Giving scheme, run by your employer, or
• by making a gift of certain shares or land.

In subsequent columns, I’ll look at other issues, but, for now, let’s concentrate on Gift Aid.
If you pay tax, Gift Aid is a scheme by which you can give a sum of money to charity and the charity can normally reclaim basic rate tax on your gift from the taxman, HMRC.
That increases the value of the gift you make to the charity. So for example, if you gave £10 using Gift Aid in 2011/12 that gift was worth £12.50 to the charity.
You can give any amount, large or small, regular or one-off.
If you do not pay tax, you should not use Gift Aid.
How does a gift qualify for Gift Aid? There are three main conditions. You must:

• make a declaration to the charity that you want your gift to be treated as a Gift Aid donation
• pay at least as much tax as the charities will reclaim on your gifts in the tax year in which you make them (tax credits on dividend income will count towards the tax paid)
• not receive excessive benefits in return for your gift.

You should keep a record of payments made under Gift Aid for each tax year. The time limit for claiming tax relief on Gift Aid donations is four years. This time limit applies to the charity and the individual making the gift.
If you would like to help a charity financially, it makes sense to do this in a tax efficient way. We can provide assistance in determining this for you. Please contact us for more detailed advice.
The team at Clay Shaw Butler can be contacted on 01267 228500 or through the website at www.clayshawbutler.com
If you want to sponsor Ann on her bike ride, see the JustGiving website – http://www.justgiving.com/Ann-Thomas27 Or if you want to sponsor Ann directly, call her at Clay Shaw Butler on 01267 228 500 Email -AnnThomas@clayshawbutler.com

Best of luck to our Ann

Best of luck to our Ann Thomas, who will be embarking on a charity cycle ride from Paris to Swansea this week - http://www.justgiving.com/Ann-Thomas27

We'll be at the Pembrokeshire County Show

Our Ann Thomas and Sarah James will be at Pembrokeshire County Show tomorrow. Ring us on 01267 228500 if you want to catch up for a chat.

Good luck to Bradley Wiggins!

Good luck to Bradley Wiggins in the Tour de France today. Our own Ann Thomas will be doing her own mini 'Tour' next month - all for charity!
See our website news page -
http://www.clayshawbutler.com/news.htm

Our Ann Thomas gets to meet Wales captain Sam

Our Ann Thomas gets to meet Wales rugby captain Sam Warburton.

Latest Clay Shaw Butler column from the Carmarthen Journal

Here is the latest Clay Shaw Butler 'Looking after business' column from the pages of the Carmarthen Journal -

By Ann Thomas, leading Consultant at West Wales Chartered Accountants and Business Consultants Clay Shaw Butler
In the words of the Dad’s Army character Lance-Corporal Jack Jones, “Don’t panic!”
When you are faced with the sometimes bewildering array of accounting software packages available for computers, the temptation may be to close your eyes and pick the first one off the shelf.
Here are some tips for making your mind up –
What are your requirements for the software?
For example, if you need a system to replace your basic book-keeping function of cashbook and simple receipts and payments reconciliations then a basic package will suffice. Should you need highly sophisticated stock control, reporting, e-commerce functions etc, then more complex packages will be required.
What are your plans for the future?
Consider the next 12-24 months and whether there will be rapid expansion in the business.
What market sector are you in?
There may be specialist packages which can specifically help run businesses in your industry more efficiently and effectively.
What is your budget for the cost?
Although this should not be your primary reason for choosing a package it has to be part of the decision.
What training will you need?
The skills of present staff members and potential new employees need to be considered.
What hardware and software do you have presently?
Accounting packages, like all software, have minimum hardware requirements. You may need to invest in upgrading current equipment to ensure the system can run the package properly.
What is your plan for implementation?
Installing a new accounting package needs to be planned in detail in order for the minimum disruption to occur to your routine business transactions.
Without wishing to sound like a salesman, Clay Shaw Butler are Sage Business Partners and have a full team of experienced staff who can help you with all aspects of the Sage software packages.
As they say on the BBC, other packages are available!
For more about Clay Shaw Butler, see their website -http://www.clayshawbutler.com
You can contact Clay Shaw Butler on 01267 228500