Carter Collins & Myer

24/10/2026

We’re pleased to support Upward Frog Yoga Studio Stockport with the production of their 2025–26 Impact Report.

As accountants, we work with a number of charities, community organisations and social enterprises. We see first-hand the difference they make, often with limited resources and a great deal of commitment.

Upward Frog Yoga provides accessible yoga classes for older adults, people living with serious mental illness and communities that might otherwise miss out.

By covering the cost of their Impact Report, we’re helping them demonstrate the value of their work while keeping more of their income available for the people who benefit from it.

We’re grateful for their kind words about CCM, but the real credit belongs to the people at Upward Frog Yoga who do this work every day.

We’re pleased to play a small part in helping them continue it.

Looking for expert accounting services in the UK? Meet your new accountants. Our expansive range of services can help you, no matter your request or sector.

22/10/2026

I once spent an entire morning dealing with things marked urgent. Emails, telephone calls, a client wanting something immediately and a colleague needing a decision. By lunchtime, I’d dealt with twelve separate matters and hadn’t touched the report I’d actually intended to finish.

The report was worth £2,500 in fees. Most of the interruptions could have waited until the afternoon, and several could have been dealt with by somebody else. Yet I’d given them priority simply because they arrived demanding attention.

I’ve noticed that genuinely important work rarely makes much noise. It just sits there, patiently waiting while everything else shouts.

21/10/2026

A client came to us with a business turning over about £2 million. It was still trading, wages were being paid and money was coming through the bank. Nothing looked particularly dramatic.

Then we put the numbers together. Debtor days had moved from 45 to nearly 70, margins were down six points, two suppliers had shortened their terms and HMRC arrears were starting to build. We tightened credit control, reviewed pricing and costs, built a proper cash-flow forecast and opened discussions with HMRC before the position got any worse.

None of those four problems was the problem. The problem was that, until we put them on the same piece of paper, nobody had realised they were all saying the same thing.

It took the best part of a year to get the business back on track. He is now on top of the numbers and more in control than he ever was when everything still appeared to be fine.

20/10/2026

The most expensive time to tell HMRC about a problem is often after HMRC has found it.

A missed VAT registration, unreported source of income or failure to notify a Corporation Tax liability may result in penalties as well as the underlying tax.

HMRC considers why the failure happened, whether it was deliberate, how much help you provide and whether you came forward before being prompted.

Waiting for the brown envelope rarely improves any of those answers.

20/10/2026

Are you an American living in the UK?

You could live and work here for decades, pay all your British tax, and still have ongoing obligations to the IRS. Because the US taxes based on citizenship, an everyday financial decision in Britain can quickly become an American tax nightmare.

For example, a British ISA might be tax-free here, but the IRS certainly does not see it that way. The same goes for taking a tax-efficient salary and dividends from a UK limited company or drawing a tax-free pension lump sum.

Rob Newman breaks down the biggest financial traps for US expats and explains how to avoid paying tax twice in our latest guide.

Read the full article here: https://uk-ccm.com/blog/us-citizens-living-in-the-uk-tax-traps/

20/10/2026

A director was putting £500 a month into his pension personally. His company was profitable, and he asked whether there was a better way of doing it.

We looked at making the contributions directly from the company instead. The same £6,000 going into his pension could potentially save the company £1,500 in Corporation Tax, assuming relief at 25%, without creating an Income Tax or National Insurance charge for him.

It's surprising how many directors spend years taking money out of their companies, paying personal tax on it, and then putting some of it into a pension. Sometimes the money simply takes a rather expensive route to the same destination.

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This is one of the practical points covered in 91 Tax Tips for Small Business Owners 2026/27. If you'd like a copy, PM me.

19/10/2026

Today I heard that a client had died by su***de, leaving behind people who loved them.

I won’t share their circumstances, and I don’t know what they were facing. But it has stayed with me, and I wanted to say this.

I’ve been in dark places myself. I know how difficult it can be to see beyond what is hurting you, or to believe that things could ever feel different. They can. There is life beyond that darkness, even when you cannot see it yet.

If you’re struggling, please reach out. Speak to your GP. Call Samaritans on 116 123, free, day or night. Or message me. I’m not a counsellor, but I will listen and help you find the right support. You don’t need to know how to explain it before starting the conversation.

And if money is part of what’s weighing on you, I won’t pretend the pressure isn’t real. I’ve spent my working life dealing with it. But money is still pieces of paper with pictures on. It is not the measure of your worth, and you matter far more than any debt, business or balance sheet.

You do not have to face this alone.

19/10/2026

An overseas bank account does not put the income beyond HMRC's reach.

Neither does an overseas property, foreign pension or investment held outside the UK.

UK residents generally need to consider their worldwide income, although exemptions, the Foreign Income and Gains regime and double-tax relief may affect the final position.

Make a simple list showing the country, type of income and approximate annual amount.

The account may be abroad. The owner usually knows where they live.

19/10/2026

A client came in quite certain there could not be a US tax problem.

“I pay more tax in the UK than I would in America, so there’s nothing to file.”

He wasn’t trying to avoid anything. Years earlier, someone had explained that UK tax and foreign tax credits meant he was unlikely to owe US tax.

What he remembered was the conclusion: nothing to pay.

What got lost was the distinction between paying tax and filing a return.

For US citizens living in the UK, foreign tax credits may reduce the US tax bill to nil. But a US filing obligation can still remain, depending on income and circumstances. Separate reporting requirements may also need checking.

By the time he contacted us, the practical issue wasn’t a large tax bill. It was several missing years, incomplete records and the need to coordinate the UK figures properly with his US adviser.

That coordination matters. Our role is to get the UK tax and Self Assessment position right, identify where it interacts with US reporting, and help ensure the right information reaches the US specialist.

“No tax to pay” is the outcome of a calculation.

“No return to file” is a separate conclusion.

16/10/2026

A director came to us after putting £75,000 of his own money into his business over eighteen months. He'd remortgaged his house to keep the wages paid and suppliers happy. His view was that the business just needed another good quarter.

We reviewed the management accounts and built a thirteen-week cash-flow forecast. Even with the extra money, the business was still losing around £8,000 a month. The problem wasn't a temporary shortage of cash. The business was spending more than it could earn, and his savings were disguising it.

He'd spent eighteen months protecting the company from its creditors. Nobody had stopped to ask who was protecting him.