STANTA Community Update
`Read the STANTA blog here: smallbizguru.wordpress.com
In this issue all the latest events, dates and details:
- Legal and financial surgeries
- What help would you like?
- Networking opportunities
- Training
- The STANTA Community – how do I become a member?
NEWS
Are you keeping your books up-to-date? watch out for the tax man:
Inland Revenue has announced that they will be starting a new programme of inspections not as part of their normal random selection of businesses for full tax audit but just to check if they are meeting the requirement to keep books. If not, an immediate fine may be applied. So if you are not fulfilling this requirement, get started now - it is easy money for the tax man - a few minutes visit delivering a significant fine.
- And are you trading legally?
HMRC launches 'web robot' to search out tax cheats
Meanwhile, HMRC is to launch a new wave of tax evasion campaigns using "cutting edge" measures to identify people and businesses who are not paying the right tax. The new measures include "web robot" software that will trawl the Internet for information on those who are trading without telling HMRC. So far, some £600 million has been raised through campaigns inviting people to disclose unpaid tax voluntarily or risk greater fines if they are caught out later. Industries to be targeted in forthcoming campaigns include private tutors and coaches and those trading through e-marketplaces.
Improve your search engine presence:
If you have not visited St Albans District Business Directory, here's the link
Improve your web presence - Click here and make sure you are listed FREE on The St Albans District Business Directory.
Workspace:
There are a variety of offices/workshops at St Albans Enterprise Centre, ideal for businesses requiring storage or workshop space as well as offices. Ground floor, upper floor units and 1 one person office available. Click on the premises tag for price details.
Don't forget to visit the St Albans shopping website: www.shopstalbans.co.uk. This initiative from St Albans Chamber of Commerce will help both shoppers and retailers. Help us make the site a success by logging on yourself and telling all your friends and contacts about the site.
Useful Sites:
Tax payment a problem? Call HMRC's business payment support line for advice: 0845 302 1435.
Finance: look at the Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme on Business Link: www.businesslink.gov.uk
Looking at supplying the public sector? Click on Supply2.gov.uk.
Need Specialist Help with Legal or Financial Issues?
Surgeries are free to Community members. See below to find out how to join. Here are the key dates:
- Our next Free Legal Surgery is Wed 20th July. The surgery is one-to-one and is held at STANTA Business Centre provided for STANTA Community members by S A Law. Please contact us if you would like to book a slot of up to 1 hour. (Surgeries are usually held on the second Wednesday morning of each month and are booked up quickly).
- Our next Free Finance Surgery will be set based on demand. Contact us if you are interested. It will be at STANTA Business Centre, provided for us by Lloyds TSB Bank. You can talk personally on a one-to-one basis to a banker about any area of business finance.
- St Albans Credit Union – the Credit Union can provide small (up to £5,000) personal loans to STANTA clients for their business and are happy to talk to STANTA Community members at STANTA Business Centre about how to go about securing a loan from any source, and all issues around business and personal finance. By appointment.
For any of the above, call Ginny at STANTA on 01727 837760 or e-mail advice@stanta.co.uk
What Business Help would you like?
If you have not already done so, let us know by completing the online questionnaire (our thanks to those of you who have). It will only take a few minutes and we are using this to look at how we might change our services to better meet your needs.
Want to get better-connected ?
Then STANTA can help with contacts with many local networking groups, and especially the St Albans Chamber of Commerce and St Albans Business Womens' group (which is administered by STANTA’s Ginny Cooper). Events coming up:.
- St Albans Chamber Networking Lunch - Fri 24th June 12.30pm Bar 62.
- St Albans Chamber Business Breakfast - Wed 6th July at The Marchmont Arms, Hemel Hempstead. Details of all forthcoming events and to book on to any of their events, log on to the Chamber website: http://www.stalbans-chamber.co.uk/.
- The next St Albans Business Womens Group (SABWG) event is on Wednesday 6th July - an afternoon outing to The Wallace Collection, London, followed by dinner at The Arch Hotel, Marble Arch. For details about future events or how to join this networking group with a small annual membership costs, e-mail Ginny on: ginny@stanta.co.uk or call 01727 837760.
- St Albans Networking Cooperative on Monday 20th June at 7.15pm at the White Hart on Holywell Hill, then the following one is Monday 18th July . To find out more see the St Albans networking co-operative under groups on Linked-in or e-mail sabra@cercocommunications.com.
Other Events:
Federation of Small Business meet on the first Thursday of each month at the County Constitutional.
Contact Patricia Rowe on 07739 807755. E-mail: pmrowe@virginmedia.com
Don’t forget, seminars can also be networking opportunities - see Seminars section below.
- For details of other networking groups across the district, visit our website www.stanta.co.uk and click on the networking page.
Let's Talk Starting in Business
FREE business start-up and planning workshop run by STANTA in conjunction with Barclays and the National Federation of Enterprise Agencies. This is suitable for anyone who is thinking of, or has just started running their own business. These run from 9.15 am to 3.30 pm and cover the following topics:
- Sole trader vs limited company
- How to write a good business plan
- Sourcing finance
- Managing cash flow
- Taxation and VAT
- Marketing
The next Let's Talk training seminar is on Tuesday 19th July in the boardroom above Barclays branch in St Peter's Street, St Albans..Contact Ginny at STANTA on 01727 837760 or e-mail advice@stanta.co.uk to book a place.
A wide range of FREE training courses for small businesses are available through Business Link - all details on www.bookevents.org or call 0845 601 1000. Course titles include:
Delivering Excellent Customer Service
Appraisal Skills
Presenting for Impact
Employee Engagement
Teams & how to build them
Positive communication works
Closing the Sale
PR for Virgins
An introduction to email Marketing
Internet marketing - free/low cost ways to attract more customers
How to turn your website into a customer magnet
An introduction to online selling
An introduction to pay-per-click advertising
How to make search engines love you
Employment law update
An introduction to equality and diversity
How to pitch for Finance
Understanding Finance for Business
Tendering for private sector contracts
Planning Your Financial Future - Making business ownership work (Free!)
Tuesday 5th July at Stanta Business Centre.
Blogs, Pods and Wikis - The Next Generation at the County Constitutional Club, St Albans. No dates planned at the moment.
Worried about the year end return, or handling payroll, or self-assessment? Tax doesn’t need to be taxing! And to prove it HMRC run a number of free workshops to help you get it right:
Newly Self-employed Venue Becoming an Employer How VAT works Fri 24th June Luton Business Expenses & capital allowances for the Self Employed
Call 0845 603 2691 to check dates and availability and book.
There are also workshops on International Trade, The Construction Industry Scheme, Calculating National Insurance for Directors, Paying Expenses and Benefits, Statutory Sick Pay and Statutory Payments.
How you can join the STANTA Community
Clients who bring STANTA a Business Link voucher automatically become a member of the Community for 12 months which entitles you to use the free advice service as you need it and to the other benefits of community membership.
These vouchers help fund our free service and are currently only available for businesses in their first three years of trading. As STANTA no longer receives income from any external source for any other support given, there does need to be a basic charge for others wishing to start or continue to use our advice and other services.
In order to ensure that in particular our one-to-one advice service can be available as required and not rationed, we intend to keep this to a single payment of £100 per annum for membership of the STANTA Community. And we are adding as many new benefits as we can for our members as you can see in this newsletter - free legal and financial surgeries, discounted training opportunities and low cost seminars. We will try to add other services: your feedback from our research (see “What Business Help would you like?” above) will help us decide what we offer in the future.
Stanta is an acronym for St Albans Enterprise Agency Ltd (Reg No 1789726), Stanta Services Ltd (Reg No 2202645) and St Albans Property Services Ltd (Reg No 4952442 - VAT No 842690024). All three companies are registered at Companies House Cardiff. Stanta, Suite 19 Stanta Business Centre, 3 Soothouse Spring, St Albans, Herts, AL3 6PF. Tel: 01727 837760. Registered Office: Gloucester House, 72 London Road, St Albans, Hertfordshire AL1 1NS.
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