The closing date for applications has now past – thank you to all interested responses.

Details can be viewed here: Vacancy for Computer Programmer (109)

Generation tariff – the electricity supplier of your choice will pay you for each unit (kilowatt) of electricity you generate.

Export tariff – if you generate electricity that you don’t use yourself, you can export it back to the grid. You will be paid for exporting electricity as an additional payment (on top of the generation tariff)

Energy bill savings – you won’t have to import as much electricity from your supplier because a proportion of what you use you will have generated yourself

Feed-in Tariff exemption from tax

Generally the feed-in tariff is taxable income for the individual or company receiving the income.

There is an exemption that applies from tax year 2007-08 from the tax charge where an individual generates electricity mainly for use in their own home.   The actual exemption wording is found in Income Tax (Trading And Other Income) Act 2005.

The specific details of the exemption and many related issues can be found in our new report “Tax treatment of Feed-in Tariffs (FITs) ” which you can download here Taxation of Feed-in Tariff (231)

The report describes when Feed-in Tariffs are taxable as business income (with capital allowances available); taxable as miscellaneous income or exempt from tax.  The report also gives some information relating to VAT on solar panels and Feed-in Tariff.

Important notice

The above report is given as generally and publically available information not as tax advice.  For specific circumstances it is strongly advised that professional tax advice is obtained prior to taking or refraining from any action.

The work will include specifying and setting up servers, desktop machines and networks; some programming; database work (sql); website work (wordpress); data extraction using various APIs.  The work will include advice and assistance on hardware specification to be purchased and installed over the next month.

This could lead to ongoing work, either on a freelance basis or possibly as a part time position.  However right now this is for only approximately three to five days work.

Please contact David Wilsdon on david@greenaccountancy.com with initial comments.  We will then telephone interested parties to discuss our requirements and your skills further.

In this case the reality of the situation has been found to entirely take precedence over the legal contracts. The contract was entirely overlooked due to it not reflecting the reality of the agreement between the individual providing the work and the entity paying for the work.

The contract contained a clause which provided: “For the avoidance of doubt, as an independent contractor, you are entitled to engage one or more individuals to carry out the valeting on your behalf, provided that such an individual is compliant with Autoclenz’s requirements of sub-contractors as set out in this agreement…”.  In practice it was found that the workers were expected to provide the services personally.

The contract also provided that: “You will not be obliged to provide your services on any particular occasion nor, in entering such agreement, does Autoclenz undertake any obligation to engage your services on any particular occasion.”  In practice the workers were expected to arrange any absence from work.

As a matter of law “no obligations” clauses and “substitution” clauses are inconsistent with contracts of employment or contracts of personal performance It was therefore common ground between the parties that if the terms of the written contract were valid then, as a matter of law, the valeters could not be said to be workers within the meaning of the WTR and the NMWR.

It was decided that the Employment Tribunal had been entitled to disregard the terms included in the written agreement between the parties on the basis that the documents did not reflect what was actually agreed between the parties.

The judgement stated that in the employment context the courts must be alive to the possibility that written documentation may not accurately reflect the reality of the relationship between the parties. Employers may include terms aimed at avoiding a particular statutory result, even where such terms do not reflect the real relationship:  The question in every case is “what was the true agreement between the parties”.

We are collecting old mobile phones for recycling. Each phone that we collect will pay for one tree to be planted at a new woodland called OLLY-Wood.

Land owners on Boars Hill, Oxford have kindly agreed to establish the OLLY-Wood on their land.

The scheme is being run by FoneTwigs. Their charity partners are: Help for Heroes, Against Breast Cancer, NHS Forests and Viva.

All of the trees will be planted in accordance with the Forestry Commission’s Carbon Code.

In addition to carbon absorption, trees offer a multitude of benefits: improved air quality, reduced soil erosion, reduced flood risk and home for lots of wildlife. They also create a place to interact with nature which gives pleasure, provides recreation and is known to have a positive impact on long-term health and happiness.

SO, PLEASE SEND US ANY OLD MOBILE PHONES TO THIS FREEPOST ADDRESS:

Freepost RSRJ-LGUU-CYXA
OxTreeGen Ltd – Ref GA
Park House
Station Lane
Witney
OX28 4LJ

Please let us know by email how many old mobile phones that you have sent.

We will send a certificate PDF file by email recording your assistance in this project. Every old mobile phones that you send will result in a tree being planted. Your support is very much appreciated.

THANK YOU.

Green Accountancy
OLLY-Wood founding partner

The sessions held so far have been Tax and Accounting part 1.  These were held on 8 December 2010 and 27 April 2010.  These sessions covered:
1 What is “self employed”?
2 Trading as a sole trader or limited company?
3 Bookkeeping and record keeping.
4 Business agreements and insurances
5 Tax deductible expenses – general principles
6 Basic payroll and benefits
7 Basic VAT and how to avoid common errors

The next session is “VAT and Payroll” and will be held at Hub Kings Cross.  This will be on 7 June 2011.  This session will cover:

1 VAT registration including voluntary registration.
2 VAT schemes and completing your VAT return.
3 Which expense VAT can be reclaimed?
4 VAT when selling to non-UK customers.
5 Registering and procedures for running payroll.
6 Tax free benefits for employees.
7 Year end payroll forms and procedures including P11Ds.
Session focus: avoiding common tax and business mistakes

These are free lunchtime sessions running from 1pm to 2pm and are open to anyone.

To book your place contact info@greenaccountancy.com or call 0845 478 6346.