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Practical accounting, tax and property guidance from our team of ICAEW Chartered Accountants — written for owner-managed businesses, landlords and individuals across Kent and the UK.
The local accountancy landscape is consolidating fast, and many clients of newly acquired firms are noticing the difference: higher fees, less partner time, advice shaped by group targets. Independence lets a firm work differently. Here's what that means in practice — and how easy switching really is.
Between £100,000 and £125,140 the effective tax rate on your income is 60% — and crossing £100,000 can also cost you tax-free childcare and 30 free hours overnight. The fix is often simpler than people think: a well-timed pension contribution. Here's exactly how it works in 2026/27, with worked examples.
Most private companies start life with plain ordinary shares — and many never need anything else. But the right share structure can unlock dividend flexibility, employee incentives and estate planning. Here's what each share type actually does.
If your company rents its premises, vehicles or equipment, your accounts are about to look different. Here's what the 2026 FRS 102 lease changes mean for small companies — framework by framework — with a worked example and a preparation checklist.
It surprises most people: unlike "solicitor", the word "accountant" has no legal protection in the UK. So what do "chartered" and "certified" actually guarantee, what is HMRC's new tax adviser registration regime, and how do you verify the firm you're about to trust with your finances? A plain-English guide.
The company size thresholds rose sharply for periods beginning on or after 6 April 2025, taking thousands of SMEs out of statutory audit. Here's how the new limits work, when a group must still be audited, and who has to prepare consolidated accounts.
A new Prime Minister, a new Chancellor and plenty of speculation. Here's what the government has actually said about tax and spending — and why the much-discussed wealth tax is less likely than the headlines suggest.
Most landlords under-claim. From mileage and agent fees to insurance, training and the repairs-vs-capital rules, here's a checklist of every allowable expense — plus the answer on lease extension costs.
Converting offices or shops into homes? In the wrong structure, the VAT on the works is a straight cost. In the right one, you recover it in full — and the transfer to your letting company escapes SDLT too.
Every year we see the same perfectly legitimate expenses go unclaimed. Here are the ones most owner-managed businesses forget — and the conditions that make them allowable.
Pension contributions can rescue your personal allowance above £100,000, protect your Child Benefit, and save your company corporation tax. Here's how the main benefits work.
A Family Investment Company lets you grow wealth tax-efficiently and pass it down the generations while keeping control. Here's how FICs work, and the role of freezer and growth shares.
A holding company above your trading company can protect assets, move profits tax-efficiently and ease a future sale. Here's how the structure works and who it suits.
MTD for Income Tax is now live for sole traders and landlords earning over £50,000. Here's what quarterly digital reporting means, and how to prepare if you're next.
Sell a trading subsidiary and, if the conditions are met, the whole gain can be free of corporation tax — automatically, with no claim needed. Here's how the Substantial Shareholding Exemption works for owner-managed groups, in plain English.
A higher Business Asset Disposal Relief rate, employer NI at 15% and frozen thresholds: the 2026/27 changes that matter most to UK business owners.
The end of Furnished Holiday Lettings, Section 24 mortgage relief, MTD and capital gains: a practical round-up of where landlords stand in 2026/27.
How should a company director take pay in 2026/27? We walk through the salary and dividend numbers, the employer NIC trap and how to keep more profit.
Selling a second home in 2026/27? With a smaller annual exempt amount, the 60-day CGT window and the new rates, getting this right matters more than it used to.
The letters "FCA" after an accountant's name trace back to a royal charter signed by Queen Victoria in 1880. This is the story of how chartered accountancy was invented, what the ICAEW does today, and why it matters that the firm looking after your accounts is owned and run by a Fellow Chartered Accountant — especially here in Rochester and the Medway Towns.
The flat country between the Thames and the Medway looks empty, but it has carried an extraordinary succession of industries: marsh farming, bricks and cement, explosives, oil, gas and one of Britain's biggest container ports. Here's the working history of the Hoo Peninsula.
Should new buy-to-lets go into a limited company or your own name? The honest answer is 'it depends', so here's how to work out which side of the line you fall on.
Maidstone has been Kent's market place for seven centuries: ragstone shipped down the Medway, paper that carried the world's finest watercolours, beer and hops, toffee and buses. Here's how the county town earned its living — and what that means for its businesses now.
Gillingham gave the world the first Englishman in Japan, trained the engineers who built an empire, and housed the workforce of the biggest industrial site in the South East. Here's how Medway's largest town earned its living — and how that history shapes its businesses today.
Section 24 changed buy-to-let economics overnight. If you're a higher-rate landlord, here's exactly how it hits your tax bill and what you can do.
For two thousand years the Medway towns have made their living from the water — Roman river trade at Rochester, the Royal Dockyard at Chatham, cement and bricks that built Victorian London, seaplanes on the Esplanade. Here's how that story leads to the industrial estates and SMEs of modern Medway.
MTD has been a slow rollout, but the next phase catches a lot of sole traders and landlords. Here's what's happening, when, and what to do about it.
The £90,000 threshold isn't the only thing that triggers VAT registration, and crossing it isn't always bad news. Here's what to weigh up first.
Salary, dividends, or a mix of both? It's the question every company director asks us. Here's how the numbers actually stack up for 2025/26.
Standard, reduced, zero-rated, exempt, outside the scope — the labels matter more than most people realise, especially when you sell overseas. Here's what each one means and where it goes on your VAT return.
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