With the constant news surrounding the economy, interest rate uncertainty, and high inflation, its difficult not to worry about these issues and lose sight of what’s really important – the health and welfare of you and your loved ones.

Millions of businesses and households are struggling with their energy costs, alongside increases in general taxation, the cost of council tax, water bills and other utilities.

Is it all doom and gloom or can you plan forward and make adjustments in, and to, your business to factor in these changes?

Like many other taxes, inheritance tax (or IHT) allowances have been frozen. This sounds generous of the chancellor at a time when the government is strapped for cash. But it actually means that we are paying more. Data from HMRC has revealed that Inheritance tax collected between April 2022 and February 2023 totalled £6.4bn, which is £900m higher than the same period last year.

The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has launched new online tools for small organisations to help find and fix any cyber security issues.

The Energy Bills Discount Scheme runs for 12 months from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024.

With increasing supplier prices and economic uncertainty, managing your business’s cash and understanding the flow are now vital tools in maintaining resilience and being able to adopt flexible strategies for success.

As the new tax year approaches, we highlight some important employer developments and changes to legislation and allowances relating to UK employer taxes, especially about online P11D submissions.

With continuing inflation in the UK, many of us and our businesses have been put “off track” in the short to medium term. The Bank of England recently increased interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point to 4.25 per cent, despite the turmoil that has engulfed banking in recent weeks. The rise was as expected by economists in view of the latest data showing inflation rising to 10.4 per cent in February and annual food prices spiralling to 15 per cent last month.

Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, will invest up to £250,000 from the Smart Sustainable Plastic Packaging Programme to fund projects that will develop innovative ideas to help with the collection of flexible plastic packaging waste from households.

If you are thinking about buying cryptoassets (“crypto”) you need to know the basics and understand the risks before jumping in. And remember, if you decide to invest in crypto then you should be prepared to lose all the money you have invested.

Royal Mail have added barcodes to their regular stamps. Regular stamps without a barcode will no longer be valid after 31 July 2023. This follows the introduction of a 6 month grace period from the initial 31 January deadline. You can either use up your non-barcoded stamps before this new deadline or swap them for the new barcoded ones.

Last week we saw the Windsor Framework, agreed by the Prime Minister and European Commission President, replacing the old Northern Ireland Protocol, providing a new legal and UK constitutional framework.

The Age-Friendly Employer Pledge is an initiative run by the Centre for Ageing Better to help promote age-inclusive working practices.

Better than anticipated purchasing managers’ index (PMI) data for February indicate encouraging resilience of the economy in the face of headwinds which include rising interest rates, the ongoing cost of living crisis, labour shortages and strikes.

Innovation has generally been recognised as essential for value creation, both for individual companies and for the UK economy. The development of new ideas, processes and technologies and their flow across different sectors is a significant driver of economic growth and productivity. Recently, innovation has also been identified as crucial to the transition of the economy away from fossil fuels and carbon-intensive business activities.

With ever increasing supplier prices, a recent rise in interest rates, and a looming recession, managing your business’s cash and understanding the flow are now vital tools in maintaining resilience and being able to adopt flexible strategies for success.

Cash flows reflect all the cash that is flowing in and out of a business. Owners can look at the direction of the cash flows for insights about the health of specific products or services and overall market patterns.

The government is taking action against unscrupulous employers that use the controversial practice of ‘fire and rehire’, it has announced.

Successful businesses all have two things in common – a thorough understanding of customer needs, and a total dedication to their customers.

The new tax year starts 6 April 2023, so you have a couple of months to consider your options, once we pass this date the majority of the tax planning options for Income Tax and Capital Gains Tax purposes will cease unless actioned before the 6 April.

Below are a few examples of business resolutions; maybe they will help you think about your strategy for success in 2023.