Irish Sash Windows

Now that may sound like a bridge too far for most but just think about it for a while after all DIY does stand for “Do it yourself” right! You’ve probably done most other home improvements around your home so why should you be afraid to replace your own sliding sash windows and more importantly why on earth would you consider paying someone else to do it, when you could easily replace your own windows if you put your mind to it. DIY double glazing, ok lets run through the basics firstly you must measure your existing window to make sure the one you are replacing it with will actually fit even if you measured it originally to place the order. Always check your sizes before you rip-out the old window. Ok your new window will fit you are now faced with the task of taking out your old window. The Rip-out The first thing to do is remove all the opening sashes depending on the window type in your home, you will probably be left with one or two fixed panes of glass these will also need to removed to do this simply cut through the frame section around the glass and remove allowing you to access the glass pane, once removed you will be left with just the outer frame, cut the outer frame out and your ready to fit your new window. Ok I know there’s a little more to it than that but that is the basics. The Fit The fit is the easy part, just make sure your frame is nice and level and plumb although if you live in a very old house your walls or your internal plaster lines may not be level or plumb in which case it is sometimes better to fit your window slightly out of square to make it look right in the opening. You may think this would make the opener catch and you would probably be right depending on how much out of square the whole thing was, but there is way to combat this and make sure your window never catches the procedure for this is called toe & heeling which is paramount when glazing side hung sashes. Glazing Glazing can be tricky but is very easy to master as is the toe & heeling procedure once you know how of course I not going to go into too much detail here on this but the rick is to firm and precise when tapping home the glazing beads. I see too many fools really hammering the beads far too hard then loosing their heads when the beads won’t go in, they won’t go in because the bead as been kinked on the back edge from being hammered in too hard so be aware of this when glazing upvc double glazing. Sealing Sealing is an art in itself but can be easily mastered the most simplest trick to keep the sealer straight on the frame is to use masking tape but the tape won’t stop the bumps bubbles or gaps you may create that’s all in the application.

Finding a Tax Consultant for Small Businesses

Finding a tax consultant can sometimes be a difficult process if you have not had to engage an tax consultant previously.  Many small and new businesses make the mistake of completing their own tax returns in the early years.  Often a Tax consultant can save tax in areas that individuals would not be aware of – this is money well spent.

There are few things more stressful than not having a good grasp on your finances and feeling unable to approach your tax consultant. So its important to get a good one; here are some tips on choosing an tax consultant for your business:

1)   Try and choose a tax consultant before you start your business as they will be able to add value at the early stage.

2)  Don’t accept a bad service from your tax consultant. You deserve better. If you change tax consultants your new tax consultant will deal with the handover so if you are getting bad advice or service then change.

3)   Ensure your tax consultant works with small business clients and has experience in various sectors.

4)   Ask what other services the tax consultant provide – do they provide business advice, can they do accountancy or have they contacts to help grow your business?

5)   Get a fixed fee, paid monthly with unlimited telephone support so you won’t be afraid to call them when you need to them.

6)   Go with your gut feeling, if you don’t think you will be able to get on with the tax consultant after the initial meeting then you probably won’t.

7)   Ask for testimonials. A good tax consultant won’t mind if you talk to other clients.

8)   Make sure your tax consultant keeps in regular contact with your business – not just at year end!  They can hep and advise on capital purchases throughout the year.

9)   Sometimes its best to have an tax consultant who has a smaller practice as they understand what it’s like running a small business also they won’t be tempted to pass your work onto the junior staff.

10)  Make sure your tax consultant is fully qualified, for example as a certified or chartered tax consultant.  Ask them what qualification they hold and check with the qualifying body.

McNamara Associates are Accountants and Tax Consultants based in Dublin.  They offer a full service practice.

European Union VAT

Invoicing to other EU customers is fairly simple; however there are items that must be put on European invoices.  If this is done correctly it will save time and money trying to reclaim VAT from other European authorities.  Firstly an overview of how VAT works intra-community – i.e. between European Union member states:

When one company in one member state provides goods or services to another company in a different member state, the seller does not add VAT to the invoice but instead zero rates it and registers £0.00 for VAT.  It is the job of the buyer to pay the correct local VAT rate for the purchase directly to the authority which handles VAT in their country and this is done through their VAT declaration.  For example:

You sell something to someone in Germany for €1,000. On the invoice, the figures would be as follows:

• Sub total: €1,000.0
• VAT (at 0%): €0.00
• Total: €1,000.00

The client declares this to their local VAT authority and, in Germany for example, they would pay the local rate of VAT to them.  They would then pay the VAT €160.  At the end of the quarter or year, this figure is balanced against a credit for the same amount (and their other inputs and outputs) and they would receive it back, essentially meaning that they never paid it.  The way this is done is probably different in each member state, but this does not affect the seller.  Buying is another matter.

You need to do the following:

*       Make the invoice from Your Company Ltd at the company’s registered address (in the country of origin).

*       Below the address, include your company’s registration number and prefix it with a two digit country code (for the UK, this is ‘GB’, i.e. For a company with a UK company number of 01234567 this would be GB-01234567).  In Germany these numbers are known as CIF (Company Fiscal Identity) numbers.

*       Put the client’s address in and also include their CIF number (this could be the buyer’s national insurance / social security number if they’re an individual or their company’s registration or fiscal number, if they represent a company).

*       Itemise the invoice in pounds or Euro, whatever is agreed.  It is easier to use Euro for all countries that use this currency and pounds or Euro for any others.

*       Include sub-total, then VAT at 0.00 Euro/pounds and the total.

*       Your bank details for making the payment (try to avoid cheques if possible as they are often extremely slow to process; and rules on a cheque’s acceptability can vary between countries greatly).  For the bank details you should include at least the account name, the name of the bank and an IBAN (International Bank Account Number); see below for bank details. If the client does pay by cheque, make sure it’s in either pounds or Euro and also sign the back of the cheque before sending it to the bank to be paid in.  Cheques can take a long time (around 4 weeks) to clear between two EU states.

Bank details for receipt of payments

Theoretically, to make life easier, it is a good idea to have a current accounts in both pounds and Euro.  Give the euro account details if the billing and payment is in Euro and the sterling ones if it is in pounds.  That way all the figures correspond and accounting is made easier.  There are, however, drawbacks of so-called currency accounts, such as not having on-line or telephone banking facilities with them.

To receive the payment you need give your customer your IBAN (International Bank Account Number).  The IBAN number is formed by prefixing a international code to your bank sort code and account number. The format is CC-NN-BBBB-XXXXXX-YYYYYYYY, where CC is a country code (in this case GB), NN  is a number identifying the bank, BBBB also identifies the bank, XXXXXX is your sort code and YYYYYYYY is your bank account number.  Here’s an example:

We phone our bank, Big Banking Corporation, and they give us the IBAN prefix of GB-31-BIGC, meaning.

• Our sort code: 12-34-56
• Our account #: 12345678
• Our IBAN: GR-31-BIGC-123456-12345678

You are obliged to declare to HM Revenue & Customs any monies you receive for payment against EU invoices.  This is added to the VAT Return in box 8 – purchases made from other states go in box 9.  If you complete this box, HM Revenue & Customs will then send us an EU Sales List, which you will need to complete and send back to them.

Purchases

You should be eligible to pay no VAT in member states, giving your VAT number, but only if the final destination of the goods is the UK. In this case, we would then let HMRC know.

However, the final destination means that if I buy myself a new computer while living in Germany, where it will be used, I cannot claim a zero VAT rating as the final point of sale is Germany and German VAT applies, even though my company is a UK company.  I then have no way of getting this money back unless I become self-employed in Germany, in which instance I have to pay social security and even then, it won’t be my company that pays for it, but myself, or rather me as fiscal entity in Germany.  To get the money out of my company, I’d have to invoice them for it, which means I’d have to charge German VAT.

For more information on European VAT and how to make a VAT Reclaim of European VAT contact Global Tax Reclaim.

Wet Rooms in the UK

I was having a conversation with someone last week and they were telling me about the wet room they have planned for their house.  I was stumped, I had no idea what a wet room was.

Well now I know.  A wet room is just like a walk in shower, or really it is a walk in shower.  Now I know and it can be added to my 43 things.  I have just come back from holiday, and we liked staying in Holiday Inns – their bathrooms are like this.  They have tiled under-floor heating, a drain in the floor – so that water can run anywhere while you are using the bath or shower.

Wonder if my landlord would spring for this?

Medical Tourism From this Little Isle

One of the things about my job is you get to know a little bit a loads of things.  For instance the phrase “medical tourism” – well I had not come across it before a few short weeks ago.  And the definition for you and me – simply going on holiday and combining that with medical treatment.

This as we know is becoming ever more popular. While it gets very expensive in Ireland for dental treatment – people have been travelling to Northern Ireland for a long time to get the expensive procedures. Well this has now expanded, and it seems like we have all become potential medical tourists.

Just book a holiday, catch a plane, lie on the beach and get your teeth done, or a face lift, or whatever you want – really.

But is it that simple? For most the answer appears to be yes, however, how do you arrange who to see? How do you know if they are any good? Who checks this for me?

Well now there are companies filling this need in the market. They act as a third party and arrange everything for you, giving you more security and peace of mind when it is needed. So you can have them book your dentist in Prague, or your laser eye surgery in India, or Poland or almost where-ever you want.

Ring of Kerry

The county of Kerry is known colloquially as the Kingdom and it is found in the extreme south-west of the island in the province of Munster. Kerry is the fifth largest of Ireland’s counties and it shares boundaries with just Cork and Limerick. It remains as one of Ireland’s premier tourist destinations boasting such breath-taking natural attractions as the Lakes of Killarney (within Killarney National Park), the Ring of Kerry scenic drive, and the spectacular Dingle Peninsula.

The tip of the Dingle Peninsula is the most westerly point in both mainland Ireland and Europe. This area was selected as the set location for the award-winning classic film Ryan’s Daughter. Immaculately clean beaches, such as the Inch Strand, beckon visitors along with an often surprisingly mild climate. Visitors can investigate many other surprising attractions such as Valentia Island (accessible by road), Daniel O’Connell’s birthplace and even Charlie Chaplin’s favourite holiday resort of Waterville.

The county town is Tralee, the home of the eternally delightful and unique Rose of Tralee festival. Nearby, Fenit, the port of Tralee, can claim to be the most westerly commercial shipping port in Europe. Other interesting towns within Kerry include Abbeydorney, Anascaul, Ardfert, Ballybunion, Ballyduff, Ballyheigue, Ballylongford, Beaufort, Brosna, Cahirsiveen, Castlegregory, Castleisland, Causeway, Cromane, Glenbeigh Gneevgullia, Kenmare, Kilgarvan, Killorglin, Knightstown (on Valentia Island), Listowel, Lixnaw, Milltown, Newtownsandes Moyvane, Rathmore, Sneem, Spa, and Tarbert.

Thinking about moving to Ireland or maybe wondering where to go and stay on a visit to the Emerald Isle? Irish County Guides to help with tips and places to go in order to make your stay in Ireland more pleasurable and to suit your needs.

Nursing Home for Me?

When I am old and cranky and I can’t look after myself no more – please stick me in a nursing home.  Now don’t get me wrong I don’t want this anytime soon – I think I have a good few years left before being put out to pasture, also some would argue that I may be cranky enough if not old enough.  In addition I want one of these places where I have my own front door, living room, kitchen, etc – but with 24 hr help close by – more the type of thing I see in the UK nursing homes.

And rightly you may ask, why the hell am I writing about this just now?  Bloody good question, as one would hope that I am 30 or more years away from this.

I spent the weekend in Prague, while there we visited the other half’s parents.  A seniors community living would be great for them – the type of thing that I describe for myself – however it seems that the Czech market for nursing homes is not yet as advanced as Ireland or the UK.  Now I know there are other that would consider their way is better with older people being looked after by their family – sorry people but if you think this still you are living in wonder land.

All of Europe has become so busy that the life style of having time to look after older parents has changed – both in most marriages work, and work too long and late into the day to have the time to spend with their own children and look after their parents.

I reckon by the time I am ready to be carted off we might have something more like the various options they have in the sates – I so hope so.

Travel Ireland

Budget travel packages give you an estimate of your costs before you start your journey. It includes everything from airfare to accommodations, and food to sightseeing tours. Ireland offers adventure tours, water sports and other services to meet your vacation requirements. You can also go for rental cars and go on a drive with your partner.

The travel budgets are flexible and can stretch to meet your needs. You are given a prearranged list among which you can make a pick on the type of travel budget you want to opt for, along with the different facilities and requirements you would like to have during the trip. The tension-free trip rejuvenates your senses and let you take full pleasure of your precious time out with your family. So if you are planning a trip to Ireland to admire its splendid beauty, all you need to do is take your pick of travel budgets and know that everything else is taken care of. Then you just have to sit back during the trip and enjoy the day and nights of your vacation.

The best holidays in Ireland are walking in ireland holidays.

I used a long lens for this photo, it was taken from the Dublin Mountains on the way home from Glendalough.  I usually travel back into the city by way of Sally Gap, for me it is the most scenic, then I get to where this photo was taken and know that I will be home shortly.

Wicklow Hills

Spring has just burst out – again.  I sat on the steps outside this morning with my morning coffee and it was warm.  I mention this only because it has been so cold recently – like a six month winter.

So today I walked in the hills and got some sun and color – great.  Most of the winter we have not walked much, a combination of too tired and too busy – that does not make for good health.

But tonight I am now soooo tired.  I love the Wicklow Hills, they are my own little bit of paradise.

I will learn soon how to up load photos and share all my great photos from the hills of Ireland.