Government still persists in encouraging people to save for their retirement through pension schemes. It is still pressing ahead with auto-enrolment for employees, albeit the timetable may be slipping.  But with gilt yields through the floor and life expectancy continuing to improve, does the logic stack up?

Annuity rates fell over 9% between June '09 and December '12.  Getting 4% on a Single Life policy is an achievement, getting it on ...

When Northern Rock collapsed in the summer of 2007, we knew we were in for trouble.  What we didn’t know was either how much, or how long.  I’d say on both counts we’ve all been proved wrong – it’s a brute of a recession, it’s already over 4 years old, and current best reckoning is we’ve still got another 3 or more years to run before GDP recovers to pre-crisis levels.

Time we did something!

We certainly can’t fight the constant drip, ...

We've been using Twinfield online accounting for over 5 years at GJ. Now our friends at Twinfield have put together a video explaining online accounting the Twinfield way. Keep up the good work chaps.

We've known for some time that in future employers will be obliged to provide a contributory pension scheme for employees, and that rather than opting in, employees will only be able to opt out.

We've known that the timetable for implementation of this scheme depends on the number of employees on the payroll, that very large employers are caught from next October, large ones from 2013, medium-sized from 2014, and all employers by 2016.

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In the past the penalties for the late filing of a personal Tax Return were no real deterrent. The maximum automatic penalty of £200 or the lesser of the tax outstanding or a very late Return does not appear to have been too much of a deterrent.

It has now all changed. Even when there is no liability, if a Tax Return is filed more than 12 months late, there are provisions for penalties of up £1,600. Should a there be liability the penalties ...