From the U.K. / Why Keeping on Top of Tax Liabilities Should be High on Every Business’ Agenda

Jeff Nevil for the Technoperative writes:  There has been a lot of media focus on large corporations engaging in dubious tactics to  avoid paying taxes recently. The likes of Starbucks, Amazon and Google have all come under fire for schemes designed to circumvent their tax liabilities and their behaviour certainly doesn’t endear them to the rest of us honest, hardworking business owners. 

These global brands are purposefully exploiting loopholes to gain a competitive advantage 

and boost their coffers by keeping hold of money that should be going to the governments 

of the countries they’re operating in. However, further down the food chain, there are many 

small and medium sized businesses seeking to avoid their tax liability simply because 

they’ve not allowed for it in their budgets.

If the only two things in life that are unavoidable are death and taxes (thank you Ben 

Franklin) then as a business owner one of the very first things you need to be doing is 

planning for your tax liability. It is a fundamental element to any business operation that 

tax is inevitable and you have to be prepared for it. As obvious as that sounds, it is still the 

case that many businesses just aren’t making the necessary arrangements to fully meet 

their liability to tax and it is nobody else’s responsibility but your own to ensure the money is 

there.

Central and local government revenue collections will show no mercy. They will demand 

you pay what is owing and if you haven’t got it, your business will fail and you will face 

recovery action. Therefore the need for stringent financial planning is the cornerstone to 

any successful business. Whatever you think you need to put aside, put aside, and then 

put aside some more. You need to plan for tax and for the unexpected so the more you can 

safely squirrel away, the more prepared you and your business will be for every eventuality.

With this in mind many SMEs are turning to business intelligence software as a reliable 

method by which to effectively plan budgets and cash flow. By recording and monitoring 

every revenue stream and every expense through complex software that was once the 

plaything of only the largest corporations, smaller businesses can keep on top of their 

finances and stay in control.

The proliferation of such software systems for business financial management is largely due 

to the high demand bringing the cost down in a market that has seen increased competition 

in recent years. With more businesses turning to digital solutions to ensure their obligations 

can always be met, the companies trying to avoid paying tax are simply those who don’t 

want to pay it!

Thanks for Reading

I write on a variety of topics relating to business best practises and am a keen technology 

enthusiast. I welcome any comments you may have and invite readers to follow me on 

Twitter - @JeffNevil and keep up with my blog Technoperative.