What are the opening hours?

Monday 9am - 5pm Tuesday 9am - 5pm Wednesday 9am - 5pm Thursday 9am - 5pm Friday 9am - 5pm

Smart Bookkeeping Ltd

Smart Bookkeeping, the Pembrokeshire based bookkeeping specialists, take the stress and time out of bookkeeping.

We will tailor-fit our service to your requirements whether that be at your premises or our Haverfordwest based office. We understand how important your time is to your business so let our expertise help you run your business more efficiently. At Smart Bookkeeping we follow the highest level of professional standards, and we do our job to make yours easier.

02/11/2026

Claiming Employment Expenses

This section applies equally to employees and could be included below. However, it is included here as it impacts the obligation to complete Self-Assessment tax returns.

Currently, if an employee wants to claim expenses under £2,500 for a tax year, this can be done via an online tool. However, this claim must be via a Self-Assessment tax return if the value is £2,500 or
over.

UK Budget 2026 announced that the £2,500 threshold will be removed from April 2028, i.e. tax year 2028/29. This will have two effects:
1. More taxpayers will be able claim non-reimbursed expenses through PAYE (opposed to
completing a tax return); and
2. Online claims will require more supporting evidence before HMRC approves them andprovides tax relief via a tax code adjustment

The Overview of Tax Legislation and Rates (OOTLAR) document says that this measure will not be part of Finance Bill 2026/27 (but will be legislated by Regulations). Further, this will be kept under
review to see if there is a case for mandating the use of the PAYE route for taxpayers solely claiming employment expenses.

02/11/2026

Mileage Allowance Relief (MAR)

The UK Budget announced an increase to the approved rate above 10,000 miles from tax year 2027/28. This will increase from 25p per mile to 35p.

02/11/2026

Paternity Leave from April 2029

The ‘Everyday fixes to make life easier for millions of Britons’ announcement ahead of the UK Budget said:

Extending parental pay to more than 150,000 additional parents per year, including self-employed dads and partners who have previously missed out, giving eligible parents two weeks of support
currently worth up to £194 a week so they can spend more time with their child

The UK Budget Red Book expanded on this and said:
The government is extending parental pay to eligible self-employed fathers, partners and adopters in Great Britain from April 2029.

Those who are recently employed or unemployed, or with a
broken or irregular pattern of employment, and therefore do not qualify for statutory paternity or adoption pay will also benefit providing they have sufficient work and earnings history.

There are no further details on how this will work, however, entitlement or non-entitlement to Statutory Paternity Leave stems from employment law, the reason Great Britain is mentioned rather than the UK (as employment law is devolved to Northern Ireland).

There is no indication that the employers of the self-employed will be involved in this so we look forward to how, presumably, claims will be made for the payment. We are also unsure how this will be
monitored, as the right to Statutory Paternity Pay only comes if an individual takes the leave.

02/11/2026

Modernising the Correction of Errors in Tax Returns

UK Budget 2026 announced that Finance Bill 2026/27 will introduce a general obligation that will require taxpayers to correct inaccurate tax returns and documents. Where the taxpayer is aware of an
error but does not take corrective action, for the purposes of penalties, this will be treated as deliberate.

From 01 April 2028, HMRC will also be allowed to issue a Customer Correction Notice where it has reason to suspect a document is inaccurate and require the taxpayer to respond.

This new power seems to change the nature of the inaccuracy (from careless to deliberate), thereby impacting the
penalty that can be imposed.

02/11/2026

Self-Employment and Assessment
The Trading Allowance

The UK Budget announced that Finance Bill 2026/27 will increase the Trading Allowance from £1,000 to £3,000. This Allowance is, perhaps, most relevant to individuals who earn from small-scale self
employment or casual services. HMRC’s policy paper says the intention is that the increase will ‘support for small-scale entrepreneurship’.

Along with this measure, the Income Tax Self-Assessment reporting threshold will also increase to £3,000. A consequence of this is that this will reduce the number of individuals required to calculate
taxable profits and submit a Self-Assessment tax return.

Overall, the two measures are to be welcomed. They will take effect from tax year 2027/28 and
onwards

02/11/2026

VAT and PAYE Return Liabilities by Direct Debit

Between 03 June and 16 August 2026, HMRC consulted on mandating businesses to pay Value Added Tax (VAT) and Pay As You Earn (PAYE) return liabilities by Direct Debit.

A response to the consultation was published with the UK Budget and confirms that businesses with these liabilities will be required to set up a Direct Debit instruction from April 2029. This will not apply to businesses that are exempt. Until April 2029, businesses will be able to use their current payment method.

ICB agrees that mandation of the Direct Debit payment method will allow businesses time to prepare ahead of 2029. Note that HMRC’s consultation response says they recognise banking and financial
services technology advances quickly and, possibly, Direct Debit will be superseded by another payment method we are yet to be aware of. Therefore, HMRC will keep this under review, however,
clients should be aware of future mandation

02/11/2026

Bookkeeping Highlights from the Budget

Making Tax Digital for Income Tax Self-Assessment (MTD ITSA)

For taxpayers joining MTD for Income Tax in April 2027, the UK Budget announces another penalty ‘soft landing’ and there will not be penalty points for late submission of the first four quarterly updates (for tax year 2027/28).

Note that the soft landing penalty easement for those that joined from April 2026 has not been extended, it is new joiners only

09/09/2026

National Payroll Week 2026 is from September 7th to September 11th, 2026 in the UK and is celebrated by organizations like the Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals (CIPP).
It's a time to acknowledge the expertise and precision required of payroll professionals such as our Deborah at Smart Bookkeeping. She has been qualified and full member of CIPP since 2002.

On behalf of Smart and all our payroll clients Deborah, we would like to thank you for your dedication, expertise and patience.

01/09/2026

This is Tom he will have been with Smart a whole year on the 9th September - time flies..... We feel lucky to have him as part of the team, he is hard working, conscientious and always wants to do his best for our clients.
Tom has also just passed his AAT (Association of Accounting Technicians) Level 2 Accounting with flying colours. Congratulations you smashed it and we are so proud of you, now onto Level 3!

12/08/2026

Lovely evening with family at the Pendergast Solar Eclipse event run by Haverfordwest Town Council and one of our favourite clients Pure West Radio. Definitely a successful community event. Hope you Had a lovely evening too.

Address

Haverfordwest
SA611SB

Opening Hours

Monday	9am - 5pm
Tuesday	9am - 5pm
Wednesday	9am - 5pm
Thursday	9am - 5pm
Friday	9am - 5pm

Website

http://www.smartbookkeepingltd.com/contact-us/

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