The FreeAgent Blog

January is a great month to take stock and plan out your goals for the rest of the year - you’ve got the whole year ahead of you, and it’s too dark and cold outside to do anything else. This week, we’re looking at tips and ideas for planning your 2013:

So, what are your plans for 2013? Any big goals that you’re already plotting? Let us know in the comments, or tell us on Twitter! Have a great weekend and happy planning!

Back in November we wrote about the forthcoming changes to the way employers report Pay-as-you-Earn (PAYE) information - from April 2013 payroll information needs to be sent electronically every month into the HMRC’s new RTI system. It’s a big change to the PAYE system but it’s a change for the better we reckon.

It also requires big changes to FreeAgent's current Basic Payroll tool, to revise the way payroll is managed and also to handle the RTI submissions themselves. But we're pleased to report that work is well underway and we're on track to deliver in time for everyone to file for their April payrun. We’re really sure that having a built-in payroll system, one that really feels part of FreeAgent, makes a big difference to our customers.

As we mentioned before, we’re extending our API to allow other payroll software providers to push payroll accounting data into FreeAgent, so if your payroll needs are more complex than our Basic Payroll handles you’re still covered. We’ll make a separate announcement soon about which products will be available.

So if payroll floats your boat (and we’ll be honest, it floats ours) we’ll give you a peek under the covers of the changes to FreeAgent Basic Payroll as the deadline gets closer. Can’t wait!

They say you shouldn't leave things until the last minute, but what do they know? Our new Self Assessment area has arrived just in time, if you've still got to nail that tax return.

New Self Assessment Area

The first thing you'll notice is the redesigned interface for 2011/12 and 2012/13 Self Assessment returns. The information has been laid out in a similar way to the official forms, making it easy to copy the numbers across when you fill in your tax return online.

Previous years will retain the original interface and calculations, and this is just for Sole Traders and Limited Companies at the minute - we'll be supporting Partnerships in the future.

Not just a pretty face

The second improvement we've made is to the calculations that power our Self Assessment Tax projections. The previous forecasts were fine for many people, but weren't as accurate as they could be for some of you.

We've now bolstered and refined our underlying calculations, to improve overall accuracy, which means that you may notice a slight difference in the projected Self Assessment tax liability figures for 2011/12.

There are more improvements coming soon, including support for payments on account.

Need a little more help?

Our new Self Assessment area should make filing your tax return a breeze but if you're still struggling, we've put together The Self Assessment Checklist: a handy guide you can download, containing useful tips that should help you find a happy place with your tax return.

More FreeAgent Mobile

We've been blown away by the response to the mobile version of FreeAgent we launched in November, and it seems more and more of you are taking to managing your accounts on the go.

We've been steadily improving this, recently launching new mobile view for Estimates, Banking and Timesheets lists and creating Bills.

Stay tuned for more updates coming soon, including a start/stop timer for creating timeslips.

And finally

If you've added a BIC or IBAN number to your bank account you can now choose to display these on any invoice. Simply select this from the More Options section when you create the invoice.

Until next time,
Roan and the team at FreeAgent

We're only a couple of weeks into 2013, but that means we're right in the danger zone when it comes to New Year resolutions. So if you're one of the millions of people who tend to break their pledges just two weeks after making them, how do you make sure you keep your resolutions on track?

Have you set any New Year's resolutions for your business? Or do you have a trusty method of ensuring you keep your pledges that you think we should know about? Hit us up on Twitter or leave a comment and let us know. And have a great weekend!