Apprenticeships have been around for decades, but they’re more common now than ever before. This is due to colleges and other educational facilities offering apprenticeships in pretty much any career you can think of.

Apprenticeships are beneficial to both employer and employee. From the employer’s perspective, they’re getting an enthusiastic, ready to learn employee who’s both being taught on the job in exactly the way the employer wants, but also often learning through a related college course. This course offers the support and knowledge that some businesses may be unable to offer themselves.  This gets the apprentices both real world experience, as well as a qualification and know-how at the end of it, where hopefully they will continue to work at the company they did their apprenticeship with full time, by which point they’re fully trained and ready to go.

This is great for the apprentice as well as the employer. Many people who take on apprenticeships are younger and want to find their opening into the working world. An apprenticeship is a great way for them to learn and grow while still having the full working life experience and earning some money at the same time.

Speaking of money, hiring an apprentice can be less costly than hiring someone the traditional way, as some apprenticeship programs offer a grant, which can be as much as £1,000 per apprentice. This isn’t always the case though, and it’s important to remember that an apprentice is still an employee, so you will have to follow all of the same rules and regulations as hiring someone outright.

Here at Chilvester Financial, we have taken on multiple apprentices over the years, many of whom have gone on to stay with us to this day. Managing Director Andrew Tottman had this to say about apprenticeships:

“Hiring apprentices gives businesses the opportunity to introduce young people into the sector and gain a new perspective. We especially appreciate this here at Chilvester, working in a sector largely dominated by older males it’s refreshing to gain a younger perspective into how and why we do things. Apprenticeships have allowed us to grow various aspects of our business, including marketing, management, and administration! The courses provide a strong support system and learning structure that we as a small business are unable to deliver, ensuring our apprentices make the most of every opportunity available to them and learn a whole range of skills. This is beneficial for both apprentices and businesses, as whilst the apprentices gain valuable work experience they also learn new skills and ideologies that they can bring back to help grow the business.”

While an apprenticeship may not fit every single business, it can be a great way to ensure you are hiring young, enthusiastic individuals who will gain a wealth of knowledge, both on and off the job thanks to the college courses that are often associated with apprenticeships. If you want to find out more about how apprenticeships work and if they’re right for your business, then click here to be redirected to a summary courtesy of the gov.uk website.

Alternatively, why not get in touch with us here at Chilvester Financial? Our experts in business can discuss your business with you and give you just the advice you need to help find out if an apprenticeship is the right thing for you. Contact us today for your free consultation.

Stamp duty is something that most people will have to pay in their lifetime. For those who don’t know, Stamp Duty, or Stamp Duty Land Tax is a tax on new properties, whether they be for private or commercial use. We’ve already published a blog on Stamp Duty for private properties which can be found here, so today we will be focusing on Stamp Duty on commercial properties.

The percentage of Stamp Duty that you’ll need to pay depends on the value of the property. If the property is £150,000 or less, you won’t have to pay any Stamp Duty at all, however you will still need to send off a return, regardless of if you have any Stamp Duty to pay or not.

For any commercial property with a value between £150,001 and £250,000, you will be required to pay a 2% Stamp Duty rate. But only for any value left after the initial £150,000 is taken off. For example, if your property is worth £250,000, you would have to pay 2% of the remaining £100,000 over the initial £150,000 value. This would come to £2,000.

For any property over £250,000, you will have to pay an extra 5% Stamp Duty tax rate. As with the previous rate though, this would only apply to any value over the previous cut off point of £250,000. This means that if your property had a value of £350,000 for example, you would pay the aforementioned £2,000, plus 5% of the leftover £100,000’s worth of the value of your property. This comes out to £5,000 in this case. What this means is that for a property worth £350,00 you will be paying a total of £7,000 in Stamp Duty Land Tax.

This is a slightly more confusing system than if you were paying Stamp Duty on a private property, but as long as you know the percentages you need to pay for the value of your property, it is relatively simple to work out.

What about if you only own a leasehold property? In this situation, where you only own the property for a fixed time period, you are still required to pay Stamp Duty, the rates are slightly different, however.

You will still have to pay the above rates for commercial properties, but alongside that you will also need to pay the net present value of the annual rent. This value is 0% up to £150,000, 1% for value between £150,001 and £5,000,000, and 2% for anything higher than that. Once again, if the value of this is over £5,000,000, you will have to pay both the 1% and 2% tax rates.

If you’re looking to purchase a property for commercial purposes and are still unsure of how Stamp Duty Land Tax works, or if you need help with any aspect of setting up your business for the first time, then why not get in touch with us here at Chilvester Financial? Our business experts will be more than happy to give you just the advice you need. Contact us today for your free, no obligation-consultation!