JAN MCCARD - EXCEEDS HER EXPECTATIONS

Jan McArd, one of our Past President’s exceeded her expectations recently...

I never really thought I would ever run a marathon and had no real desire to do so, after all why would anyone want to run 26 miles 385 yards? That’s about the distance from where “14 gentlemen were engaged in accountancy” at 24 North John Street to Knowsley Safari Park……… and back!

Having started my running “career” in July 2015, I found myself getting swept along by my fellow Wallasey Athletic Club runners to enter the ballot for the London Marathon. Fortunately, I was unsuccessful in the ballots to run it in 2019 and 2020, but in a moment of madness I put my name down for the club ballot, as each affiliated running club gets one London Marathon place.

Imagine my surprise, my I was “lucky” enough to be drawn out in December 2019 (a rude awakening on my return from Qatar having been to the World Club Cup) for the club place at the 2020 London Marathon.

The marathon training started in January 2020 and went well, hitting 18 miles before lockdown forced the London 2020 marathon to be cancelled. I ultimately deferred the place to April 2022 only to find that they moved it to October 2022.

Thinking I would never actually get to the London start line, in my second moment of madness, last year I signed up for the April 2022 Manchester Marathon.

Thinking I would restart the training after Christmas, as a general practitioner, the January tax return madness returned once more, and it was February 2022 before I started in earnest.

After “running every day in February” to raise some funds for Cancer research (https://fundraise.cancerresearchuk. org/page/janm-run-56-giving-page) I had to crack on. Although I usually run twice a week with Wallasey AC, do parkrun, and run on a Sunday, as well has running club road races and crosscountry races, even running in the National Cross-Country Championships at Parliament Hill in London at the end of February, I felt my marathon training was a couple of weeks short of the plan.

I managed two 20 mile runs in March before the tapering started. “How is the tapering going” people asked? Errr just like any other day really, eating sleeping and running!

The big day came and I was transported to Manchester on Sunday 3rd April by my support team of friends and family.

My training runs showed that I should be coming in at 3 hours 45 but as this was my first one, I had no over ambitious target, just to “run as well as I can, in under the magic four hour

mark if possible, not to get injured and not make myself ill.” I was under strict orders from my husband to stop if I didn’t feel well, after all, “it is just a run.”

Taking on board everyone’s advice and fuelled by the previous evening’s pasta, a bagel for breakfast and my obligatory pre-race cake (the shop was out of do-nuts so I think I had an apple turnover) I started the race at 9.46am. I had been advised to try and stick with the 3:45 hour pacers but they were nowhere to be seen so I just settled in front of the 4-hour pacers thinking “if I just stay in front of them then that will be amazing”.

With the excitement of it all, by three miles, which is just around the city centre, I had caught up the 3:45 pacers and edged in front of them, although my thoughts were “this won’t last so we will see how long I can stay ahead of them”

I had a few jelly babies and water on the course, and I fell into the zone and the beats of my music helped the miles to fly by. As did the support which is continuous along the entire course, and it was so nice and encouraging to see my family and friends along the route (as an aside, the tram netowrk lets supporters get around the course very easily).

I knew I was going well when I hit the halfway mark at 1:43:54 but didn’t for one minute think I could keep going at that pace. Everyone had told me that mile 20 is a BIG target. And almost exactly at the mile 20 sign (psychological?), the back and hips started to hurt, but at that point with only 6 miles to go I pushed on. I wasn’t clock watching but when I saw my time at mile 20 I knew I had a fair bit to play with to still get under 4 hours.

The run into the home straight is a bit of killer but the support in the last mile was unbelievable and the euphoria of crossing the line is the strangest feeling ever – you want to laugh, cry, shout to the world, drink, eat, be sick, and the whole body just seizes up . When I eventually composed myself and checked my Garmin, I was absolutely staggered to see the watch face showing 3:32:36. A time that had never been in my wildest dreams, or even on my radar. Would I do it again? Absolutely and that time should give me a “Good For Age” place in the Abbott World Marathon Majors (New York, Boston, Chicago, Tokyo, Berlin and London).

Having already got the place in London 2022 through the running club, I’m looking to be on the start line at Boston or Chicago next year, watch this space!

Flexible Growth Fund (FGF) – (only for Liverpool City Region (LCR) businesses)

The £20m FGF has been designed to incentivise LCR businesses to invest in (primarily) new Capital Expenditure that will help to create new jobs. The funding is available to provide up to 50% of eligible project spend.

• Maximum amount £1m loan value per applicant repayable over maximum 5 years. • Any size of business is eligible (although large SME are less likely to have access to FGF due to relatively cheap funding available from conventional commercial resources). • Interest of 2% above Bank of England Base rate from time to time. • No fees to borrower (e.g. monitoring or arrangement fees). • Initial capital repayment holiday up to 6 months available if needed.

Applicants must demonstrate Social Value; businesses within the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority’s identified priority sectors are preferred:

• Digital, Createch and AI • Advanced Manufacturing • Health and Life Sciences • Professional and business services • Low carbon • Maritime and logistics • Visitor economy, culture and heritage.

To find out more regarding eligibility please visit: https://

growthplatform.org/growing-business/business-growth-

package/flexible-growth-fund/ or reach out to us for further details.

Are you a small or medium business? There’s support for you to train, invest and innovate.

1. Claim up to £5,000 with the Employment Allowance:

The Employment Allowance reduces employers’ NIC for businesses employing at least two people being paid above the Class 1 NIC Secondary Threshold, if the total employers’ NIC bill did not exceed £100,000 in the previous year. In the Spring Statement, the Chancellor announced an immediate increase in this tax relief from £4,000 to £5,000, taking effect from 6 April 2022. This will benefit around 495,000 businesses by up to £1,000 each in 2022/23 at a cost to the Exchequer of £425 million.

For more information visit https://www.gov.uk/claim-

employment-allowance/eligibility

2. Get a discount of up to £5,000 on software, with Help to Grow

As part of the Plan for Jobs, the government have launched ‘Help to Grow: Digital’ that aims to help you choose, buy and adopt digital technologies that will help you grow your business. Eligible businesses can receive a 50% discount on buying new software worth up to £5,000 per SME, alongside free impartial advice and guidance about what digital technology is best suited to boost your business performance.

To be eligible, you must be a UK-based SME, actively trading for at least one year and have a total of between 5 and 249 employees.

The Help to Grow: Management scheme supports senior managers of small and medium sized businesses to boost their business’s performance, resilience, and long-term growth.

The 12-week programme is designed to be taken alongside full-time work through a combination of online sessions and face-to-face learning. The programme is 90% funded by the government so you only pay £750. Delivered in partnership with Small Business Charter, courses are running at leading business schools across the UK.

For more information and to apply, visit Help To Grow on https://helptogrow.campaign.gov.uk/

3. Get up to half off your business rates:

In the Autumn Budget, the government announced several measures to reduce the burden of business rates in England: • introduce a new temporary business rates relief for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure properties for 2022/23, giving 50% relief up to a £110,000 cap per business • freeze the business rates multiplier for a second year, from 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023 • extend transitional relief and supporting small business scheme for 1 year • from April 2022 there will be no business rates due on a range of green technology, including solar panels and batteries, whilst eligible heat networks will also receive 100% relief. • The government will reform the system of business rates by increasing the frequency of revaluations from 5 years to 3 years, starting in 2023.

For more information visit https://www.gov.uk/

government/publications/business-rates-guidance202223-retail-hospitality-and-leisure-reliefscheme/202223-retail-hospitality-and-leisure-reliefscheme-local-authority-guidance

https://www.gov.uk/calculate-your-business-rates

https://www.gov.uk/apply-for-business-rate-relief

4. Invest in your business with Super-deduction and Annual Investment Allowance

The March 2021 Budget introduced enhanced capital allowances for companies investing in qualifying new plant and machinery (P&M) from 1 April 2021 until 31 March 2023 as follows: • a ‘super-deduction’, providing allowances of 130% on new P&M investment that would ordinarily qualify for 18% writing down allowances (WDAs) in the main capital allowance pool; • a first-year ‘special rate allowance’ of 50% on new P&M investment that would ordinarily qualify for 6% WDAs in the special rate pool (e.g. integral plant in buildings).

A reduced super-deduction rate of between 100% and 130% will apply for accounting periods which straddle 31st March 2023.

For more information visit https://www.gov.uk/guidance/ super-deduction

The 100% Annual Investment Allowance (AIA), available to companies and unincorporated businesses, will also be available for qualifying expenditure on P&M up to £1 million until 31 March 2023. The limit will be subject to transitional rules where accounting periods straddle 31 March 2023. The AIA may produce more tax relief for companies than the 50% FYA available for special rate expenditure described above.

As the main corporation tax rate is set to increase from 19% to 25% on 1 April 2023, advancing expenditure to pre 31 March 2023 in order to secure a 100% deduction will result in a smaller amount of tax relief – the tax reduction will come sooner, but it will be given at the lower tax rate of 19%.

For more information visit https://www.gov.uk/

government/publications/annual-investment-allowanceextension/annual-investment-allowance-extension

5. Benefit from the cut in Fuel Duty

The government has cut fuel duty on petrol and diesel by 5 pence per litre for 12 months, effective from 23 March 2023. As VAT is charged on top of the duty, this will reduce tax by 6p per litre in total.

Selling a UK residential property – don’t forget to complete a Capital Gains Tax Return

Since 6th April 2020, HMRC introduced major changes in reporting capital gains tax on the sale of UK residential property. With many people still unaware of the reporting requirements, we at DSG provide a reminder of this aspect of the Capital Gains Tax regime.

Historically, all disposals of UK residential property would be reported on a Self-Assessment Tax Return following the 5th April of the year of disposal. Now, from 6th April 2020, all capital gains made on the sale of UK residential property are required to be reported to HMRC within 60 days and the capital gains tax liability paid in full. For UK residents, the reporting requirement is for gains only, and any losses can be reported later via the Self-Assessment Tax Return. For non-UK residents, all sales of UK residential property must be reported on a Capital Gains Tax Return, regardless of whether a profit has been made.

Properties that fall within the Capital Gains Tax reporting regime are, broadly speaking, any UK residential property that is not a person’s main home, including the following:

• A holiday home • A buy-to-let property • An inherited property

The 60-day reporting requirement applies to all UK residential properties sold on or after 27th October 2021. Prior to that, if you sold a property in the UK between 6 April 2020 – 26 October 2021, you were required to pay and report any tax due within 30 days. If you do not comply with the reporting requirements, penalties and interest will be charged, starting from a £100 penalty for a Return not more than 6 months late and rising to a maximum penalty of £700 or 10% of any tax due (whichever is greater) for a Return that is more than 12 months late.

To report a capital gain you will need to provide HMRC with the following information:

• Details of how much you bought and sold the property for. • The dates you purchased and sold the property. • Details of any associated costs relating to the purchase and disposal of the property. • Details of any capital expenditure work carried out on the property during ownership which has not already been claimed against rental income. • If applicable, any period of time for which the property was your main residence.

The disposal should be reported using the online Capital Gains Tax UK property disposal service and for this you will need to register for a personal tax account if you haven’t already done so.

DSG can help you complete all the necessary steps in reporting your capital gain. If you require any further information, please do not hesitate to get in touch with your usual DSG contact.