brexit / 12 posts found
How do we prepare for Brexit when so much is undecided?
It is hardly surprising that Brexit is fast becoming as big a turnoff as tax. How on earth are we supposed to react or adapt to such far-reaching changes when the exact details of our exit are still undecided just a few weeks before the March 2019 deadline? Businesses that buy or sell goods to the EU must be pulling their corporate hair out – just how will their supply lines be affected? A new government website covering possible Brexit consequences The government has already published a bunch of documentation setting out the consequences of a no-deal outcome and they [...]
Travelling to the EU after Brexit
The following guidance was published on the GOV.UK website 20 December 2018. Much of the guidance has been updated on the basis of a no-deal Brexit. UK citizens planning a trip to the EU and EEA before 29 March 2019 are not affected by Brexit changes. The following comments assume a no-deal Brexit and would apply from 29 March 2019 Flying to the EU from the UK Flights should continue as today. Both the UK and EU want flights to continue without any disruption. There will be no impact to direct flights to non-EU countries. Before you [...]
Brexit – the outlook for business
The political upheavals of the last week have done little to resolve the Brexit issue, the underlying political manoeuvrings or settle a growing list of issues for small businesses across the UK. Leaving aside the political considerations we now seem to be at a point where there will be a no-deal, a compromise deal (the so-called Chequers’ plan) or a no-Brexit outcome; all are possible. Those of us working hard to build a business in the UK will be hard put to take much more of this indecisiveness. There is, however, something we can all do while [...]
Are you in training for the Brexit Marathon?
March 2017 was the date we declared we were going to exit from the EU. This set the deadline for our national drawbridge to be raised on the rest of Europe at the 29 March 2019. This is the first time we have separated ourselves from our largest trading partner since we joined the Common Market – the precursor to the EU – 1 January 1973. It is useful, when considering the effective strategies we could employ to weather the changes that this process will likely create, to visualise the exit as running a marathon. The comparison may seem to [...]
Exporting goods to the EU with a no-deal Brexit
We previously considered the effects of importing goods from the EU if a no-deal Brexit occurred. This week we are considering matters that government has published for exporters to the EU. A summary of the comments made in recent announcements is reproduced below. After the UK leaves the EU, in the event of a ‘no deal’ scenario, businesses exporting goods to the EU will be required to follow customs procedures in the same way that they currently do when exporting goods to a non-EU country. Before exporting goods to the EU, a business will need to: register for [...]
Is this a good time to invest?
This article considers the question: should businesses invest in new equipment or other long-term capital acquisitions at this time? In truth, no one knows what the impact of the Brexit will be? Brexiteers believe that the floodgates will open, and the rest of the world will rush to buy our goods and services whereas Remainers, expect recession to return when the EU drawbridge is lifted. No doubt the reality will sit somewhere between these two extreme points of view. With these uncertainties nonetheless present, is this a good time to consider investment in new plant and equipment [...]
Importing goods from outside the EU
Although the Brexit issue is not yet decided it may be salutary for businesses to consider the changes they will need to face if we depart with a no-deal Brexit. We have touched on these issues in past articles posted on this blog, but today we have reproduced the present regulations you will need to consider if you import from outside the EU – with a no-deal Brexit these, or similar processes, will need to be applied to imports from the EU. Within the EU most goods: are in free circulation, can be imported with minimal customs control, have no [...]
Cash is king
If the present wrangling over the terms of our exit from the EU result in terms that disadvantage UK businesses, what can we do now to protect our hard-earned business assets? It is difficult to make this call as negotiations could drift in either direction: a continuing trade agreement or a so-called “hard-Brexit”. No-one can say what trading conditions will be like from April 2019, but it is likely that perception will rule the roost. If uncertainty continues to cloud the debate, and there is no sign of resolution on the political front, opportunists, those brave, and some [...]
Planning or regretting?
As we have outlined in recent posts, change is upon us and come the end of March next year, the combination of Brexit and the advent of Making Tax Digital (MTD) will change much that we have taken for granted. Apart from the cross-border considerations (import VAT, customs duties and the like) MTD will require all affected businesses to link with HMRC by using approved software. The time to figure out the best strategy to survive these changes need to be considered now. Businesses should be taking time out to draw up contingency plans, and if possible, before March 2019. [...]
Customs procedures with a “no deal” Brexit
This week we are paraphrasing, from HMRC’s guidance announcements, the likely changes to customs procedures if the so-called “no deal” scenario becomes a reality. Essentially, the two-way, free movement of goods between the UK and the EU will cease and the raft of changes that firms trading with the EU will need to accommodate are significant. Whilst the political process is deadlocked, or so it would seem, the information shared below is very much the worst possible out come for importers and exporters to the EU from a red-tape perspective. If the government is successful in negotiating a softer version [...]