HMRC paid Amazon £11 million for web hosting services in 2018, more than six times the £1.7 million than Amazon’s main UK business paid in corporation tax.

A new report from the GMB union reveals that Amazon received more than £460 million worth of public contracts in the last four years.

The Government offers a range of loans, services and tools to help small businesses grow and improve productivity.

If you have just set up a new business, or are looking at ways to expand, then Government support is often the best (and cheapest) way to realise your goals.

In this blog post, we look at some of the schemes that can help small businesses achieve specific targets.

Did you struggle filing your tax return last month? Xero’s acquisition of Instafile promises to make tax preparation much easier next time around.

Instafile, which is only available through Xero Partners like CloudAccountant.co.uk, automates tax filing and reporting by connecting small businesses directly with tax authorities like HMRC.

If you are self-employed, you can claim back expenses against your income to reduce your overall business profit and the amount of tax you pay.

For example, if you earn £40,000 through self-employment and claim back £5,000 in allowable expenses, your profit will be £35,000, so you will only pay tax on this.

Many of these allowable expenses are obvious. And if you have been self-employed for a few years you will know most of them. But there are certain less obvious expenses that you might not have claimed for.