From 1st April 2008, HM Revenue and Customs are proposing to abolish first year allowances for small and medium sized companies and replace this with an Annual Investment Allowance available to all sized businesses.

Under the proposed Annual Investment Allowance, you will receive 100% tax relief in the year on capital expenditure up to £50,000. On any capital expenditure over £50,000, you will still receive the 100% allowance on the first £50,000, but only a 20% allowance on the remainder.

Therefore, under the current first year allowance system, it is more beneficial for example to purchase items of equipment totalling more than £100,000 before 31st March 2008, whilst smaller purchases of less than £100,000 will actually receive better tax relief if bought under the proposed system after 31st March 2008

The capital allowances for integrated fixtures such as central heating and air conditioning systems is reducing to 10% on a written down value basis which means it will take over 10 years to receive all of your tax allowance.

The main rate of writing down allowance is also reducing from 25% to 20% from 31st March 2008.

If you are thinking of investing in new equipment or replace old items, please speak to your client manager who can advise whether you should buy before 31st March 2008 or after to obtain the highest tax relief.

The Beckham effect: Within 90 minutes of the announcement of David Beckham's move to LA Galaxy being made, one cyber-squatter in the UK had snapped up www.lagalaxy.org, www.lagalaxy.info and www.lagalaxy.co.uk. Meanwhile in the States, www.davidbeckhamgalaxy.com, www.beckhamgalaxy.info and www.beckhamgalaxy.com were all bought up quickly.

The Beckhams are accused of being many things, but they are not stupid when it comes to protecting their brands. Given the amount of money it brings in every year, they are wise to continue doing so for some time yet: under the contract agreed with the LA Galaxy, David is set to earn a basic salary of $10m a year and should double that with the sale of merchandise, such as replica shirts. His portfolio of sponsorships with companies such as Motorola, Pepsi and Adidas is currently worth $20m a year, although this is expected to rise to about $25m annually.

In this day and age it is normal for cyber-squatters / domain name hijackers to try to make money out of celebrities and brand owners alike. Although the goal may be to get the huge organisations to pay big bucks for a domain name - the BBC paid £212,000 for bbc.com in 1999, albeit from a legitimate claimant to the name, there is much to be gained in targeting smaller companies and brand owners, often using fear tactics to get them to buy domain names to allegedly prevent competitors from getting their hands on them. David Beckham has trade mark protection for his name and this will allow him to cheaply and easily prevent use of the cybersquatters' domain name registrations. With a sensible approach to trade marks and domain names, this should be the case for all companies / brand owners.

Have you checked that you are entitled to use / register your company or product name?  Have you been able to register the domain name you would like?  Have you encountered any problems on these kinds of issues?  Should you have any queries on what information is required then please contact either Alison Cole or Nicholas Kirkham on 01732 450055 or maildesk@grahamwatt.co.uk

From 1 October 2007, the National Minimum Wage rate will rise as follows:

• To £5.52 ph (previously £5.35) for adults over 21

• To £4.60 ph (previously £4.45) for 18-21 year olds

• To £3.40 ph (previously £3.30) for 16 and 17 year olds

However, for those readers who are directors of their own companies and do not have a contract with their own company (written or implied), please note that you do not need to comply with the National Minimum Wage legislation on your own salary, as you are technically an “office holder” and not an “employee”.

If you have any queries on these changes, please contact your Client Manager or email a4g@a4gsolutions.co.uk

If you are leaping a ravine, the moment of take-off is a bad time to be considering alternative strategies”

John Cleese