Scopulus Business Newsletter - 17-07-08
Newsletter
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Dear Subscriber
In this issue:
-
Tax news
-
Tax tip
-
Business tip
-
Legal tip
-
Legal news
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Articles watch
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Website updates
Tax News
Over the last few months we keep hearing in the news about the fiasco
regarding the discs
with 25 million individuals personal data being lost by the HMRC. Such was
the outrage that It even sparked a debate in the Houses of Parliament. Now we
learn that this resulted in the resignation of Paul Gray the chairman in
November with a £137,000 lump sum payoff. You can read about his other
benefits
here.
Tax Tip
Car parking fees can get very
expensive for employees when they park at or near work. The employer can
choose to pay for this cost either directly or by reimbursement to the
employee if they pay for it. This is tax free for both the employer (employers
NI) and employee (NI and PAYE).
But what is the meaning of "at or near the employee’s
workplace". As this is not specified this is said to be what is reasonable in
the location and does not necessarily need to be the nearest car park as that
may be full, closed or unsafe at the time of parking.
Speak to your accountant first to
get it right. Another perk to keep the troops happy.
Business Tip
It seems at
times that we need a password for everything - the computer, banking, shopping
online, most programs we use, some websites we use and therefore having a secure
and memorable password is crucial.
There are a number of approaches for picking
passwords. A few years ago when we only had a few to contend with, we would
think of memorable passwords. Now we have many, it is impossible to remember
them all and need systems to keep track of them. As in the article watch below
its all about security and picking a password that cannot be guessed is key. We
have a number of password tools in our
Useful tools section that can
help you create hard to break passwords.
Legal Tip
Employers from time to time have problems with employees when
they leave, especially in the service industry where confidential information
and client details are paramount to success. Nobody wants their secrets taken to
the competition or client revenue taken away. Communication and dialogue is key
to keeping the peace and protecting the business. When an employee leaves it is
a good idea to have a termination agreement where all concerns are agreed on
subjects of contention by both parties. This is a useful document for personnel
to keep on file.
You can
get one here.
Legal News
Data sharing of your information
has been a subject of a review by Richard Thomas, the Information
Commissioner, and Dr Mark Walport, the Director of the Wellcome Trust. For
some, this is a sore subject and fears are based around organisations that
seem to think they can do what they want without taking into account the law,
common sense and a little consideration for privacy. You can read what they
found and their recommendations
here
The Information Commissioner’s
Office (ICO) on the 15th July 2008 served enforcement notices against HM
Revenue and Customs and the Ministry of Defence following the recent high
profile reports of data breaches.
Articles watch
Everything these days is password
protected. We need a password to do most things and most of us have far more
then we thought we would ever have five or ten years ago. The whole purpose of
a password is security.
Security of Passwords ISO27001
Website Update
In conversations with the Treasury and HMRC we have learned that Money
Laundering Regulations
are changing or at least the interpretation of who falls under
it. They have asked us to wait until the new updates have been published before
they can give us some answers on how to proceed with ventures.
Kind Regards
The Scopulus Articles Team
Web www.Scopulus.co.uk
Email
info@scopulus.co.uk
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Article Published/Sorted/Amended on Scopulus 2008-07-21 13:34:45 in Newsletter
