Bristol Chartered Accountants - Burnside

Burnside are proud to support Vision 2011

Craig — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 10:49:22 +0000

Vision is a two day event which aims to help creative businesses grow through a series of thought provoking, inspirational and motivational sessions.
With an enviable line up of visionary business people and leading lights from across the industry giving a series of Keynotes, Workshops, Seminars and Master classes over the two days. We think you cant afford to miss it. You can find out more at visionbristol.com.

Reduce your National Insurance Contributions. Save up to £50,000

Craig — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 09:33:26 +0000

Setting up a new business and already need a holiday?

Well, look no further than a possible National Insurance contributions (NICs) saving of up to £50,000! It’s not quite the same as a sun lounger in the Seychelles but still well worth putting in your holiday form.

HM Revenue & Customs’ Employer NICs Holiday Scheme is available for new businesses starting up between 22 June 2010 and 5 September 2013. It is a regional scheme based on local authority areas, and many areas of the South West have made it on to the list including City of Bristol, Bath & NE Somerset and Gloucester. Even if you’re a little further afield there is a good chance you may still qualify, and you can check whether your business is in a qualifying region.

Like all schemes, there are conditions to be met before you can take advantage of the holiday, but if you meet those conditions – and it is surprisingly easy to meet them – you can claim a deduction against your PAYE liability of up to £5,000 of employers NIC for each of the first 10 employees you recruit. ‘Employees’ even includes a director of a limited company.

Clearly a relevant employee must be paid over the NIC thresholds – you can only claim a deduction if a liability arises in the first place. In the current tax year, 2011/12, the employers NIC threshold is gross pay of £136 per week, so as soon as an employee’s pay exceeds this, you as employer will be paying NIC at 13.8% on the excess. For example, an employee being paid £300 gross per week would normally cost you a little over £22 per week in employer’s NIC. Whilst this may not seem much, over a year it equates to a saving of £1,176 based on just one employee being paid £15,600 gross per year.

The scheme only runs for an individual business for 12 months from the date the business was set up, and whilst time is of the essence in applying to join the scheme so that you do not have to pay over any unnecessary NIC, you can retrospectively apply to join and claim a refund of any NICs paid which do qualify for a deduction.

We would be more than happy to help you to check whether your business qualifies for the scheme and submit an application if required, or with any other PAYE/NIC queries you may have.



Boing Boing Burnside
Craig — Thu, 19 May 2011 10:48:06 +0000

After three years of deliberation Burnside finally took the plunge and purchased season tickets at West Bromwich Albion for the 2010/11 season. Why West Brom? – A desire to watch premiership football, the closest premier league ground to Bristol and the fact that the Legend David Burnside played for the Baggies between 1957 and 1962.
Good seats on the edge of the six yard box in the West Stand, car park across the road and good pasties in the ground all added up to an enjoyable experience off the pitch. Finding a pub and somewhere to eat local to the ground though proved an adventure.
For the first home game against Sunderland, on the advice of the local stewards we took an ‘excursion’ into the centre of West Brom in search of a pub serving food. Two miles and several layers of wet clothes later and we found a converted hotel. Absolutely packed to the rafters and little prospect of reaching the front of the queue for food! We were advised by the locals that this was not the closest to the ground – but was the best!
For the Spurs game we headed in the opposite direction. The pub was the size of a front room at home, with just enough room to house the queue to the bar. Once drinks were purchased we had to head outside to drink them, watched by the local constabulary from the comfort of their riot vans! No sign of any food though.
For the Birmingham game we tried the local golf club. Having got in safely we managed to upset the club captain by wearing the wrong attire! A quick coffee and cheese roll later we had to make a hasty exit before they closed the barriers – obviously to avoid an intake of thirsty baggies fans in search of a drink.
After giving up and making do with a pasty and coffee for the next few games we then stumbled across ‘The Vine’ – or as we now affectionately refer to ‘The Curry Pub’. What a dream – a few drinks and a curry before the game – marvellous!  Poor old Stevie Burnside finds the curries a bit hot bless him, but at least he got to try a Goat Tikka Massala!
The final home game of the season against Everton could have proved a little tricky, with a 12.45 kick-off. However, a bit of strategic planning from the Burnside crew resulted in a drink before the game, chips for Uncle Len in the ground and then at the final whistle a stroll back to The Vine, a seat in front of the telly just in time for the F.A. Cup final and a curry to come – marvellous! One member of the party celebrated in style with a Goat Vindaloo and Green Chilli Nan !!
On the football side a good season for the Baggies. Some brilliant football under Di Matteo before Christmas but a very leaky defence led to his dismissal. Roy Hodgson arrived, put the emphasis on defence but they continued to score goals and ensured survival with three games to play.
Player of the season – Peter Odemwingie
Match of the season – West Ham – 3.0 up at half time, lucky to get a 3.3 draw
Goal of the season – James Morrison v Man United

Quote of the season – ‘If Carson (the keeper!) had scored then Dad that would have been his first goal of the season’
So an enjoyable season even though we had to learn the local lingo and tolerate a very knowledgeable  8 year old Brummie sitting behind us who drowned out the masses behind the goal – favourite phrase ‘ come on Wingie show us yer magic!’ – priceless!
Now we have been engrained in the local culture – well ‘The curry pub’ anyway we may even do it again next season.
Boing Boing!
 
 



Burnside goes to The Scillies
Craig — Thu, 19 May 2011 10:28:59 +0000

After months of preparation, both on and off the water, Stephen Burnside and a great bunch of guys from Clevedon Pilot Gig Club competed in the 2011 World Pilot Gig Championships in the Scillies. They travelled over and lodged on The Matthew, the replica ship of John Cabot’s America discovering vessel.
Setting sail on Friday morning from Newlyn, Cornwall they arrived in the Scillies after 9 hours under sail and motor.  Later that night the Vets race was scheduled to start. This was to be the inaugural competitive race in Clevedon’s brand new Gig, ‘Watch and Pray’.  The sea was larger than anything they had seen in the Bristol Channel. The crew of six rowed out to the start under strict guidance of their cox Mike. After much anticipation they were off on their very first race. Every member came past the finish line 20 or so minutes later all hero’s. What a race! What an experience!
Saturday saw a long qualifying race and a shorter race. These bundled all Gig’s into groups depending on where they finished in these two races.  Whilst ‘Watch and Pray’ was in the slowest group, they had already taken some scalps and beaten well know Cornish Gig’s.  The next day saw a final qualifying race and then in the afternoon the Final. The crew rowed with all their might and bravely came in 123rd in the World. They were not last!!
It was such an amazing weekend, giving all Clevedon members attending the greatest of adventures. Sailing on The Matthew, rowing in the World championships, rowing in huge sea swells and choppy waters, sleeping in authentic bunks on The Matthew and of course a great kangaroo court session with Judge Dread in the galley. Roll on the next Gig event.



Burnside are going places
Craig — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 05:28:13 +0000
We have been at 8 Pipe Lane, just off Bristol City Centre for over 6 years now. However, things change and it is time for us to move on. We are currently refurbishing our new offices at 61 Queens Square and we are looking forward to moving in at some time towards the middle of June. We will keep you posted every step of the way.
It’s an exciting step for us as we need larger offices to support our growing client base.

Here’s to a prosperous 2011 for all of our existing and future clients.