Small business news
The Register - Business: Small Biz
Small business news feed from The Register
- HMRC issues CD-rom alert to employers
Quaint system to be replaced in 2011
HM Revenue and Customs has warned employers who use its Employer CD-rom to update it immediately to avoid miscalculations.…
- Online sales hit £5bn a month
Even better if you've got a shop too
Online retail sales hit £5bn in the month of July thanks mainly to rubbish UK weather pushing people onto the internet to book last-minute holidays.…
- ECJ ruling puts VAT on salary sacrifice schemes
Could cost biz £150m
Drugs giant Astra Zeneca should pay VAT on retail vouchers given to staff that form part of a salary sacrifice scheme, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has said. The ruling could derail some similar schemes.…
- Taxman warns on phone fraud
Look this gift horse in the mouth
Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs is warning people not to fall for unsolicited phone calls claiming to be offering tax rebates.…
- Google to allow trade marks as keywords across Europe
Other UK changes afoot too
Google will let companies use competitors' trade marks as keywords to trigger search adverts in all European countries for the first time. The move will test the interpretation of a number of EU and national court rulings on the controversial practice.…
- Watchdog rules on Hull Daily Mail 'porncoder' exposé
Mild wrist slap for smut website scandalmongery
The Press Complaints Commission has issued a mild wrist slap to the Hull Daily Mail for its coverage of Paul Smith - the man behind local news site HU17.net who was discovered to have a bit of previous form knocking together smut websites.…
- NatWest sets lawyers on student site
Don't speak of us without our permission
A student finance website which offers summaries of bank accounts available for the feckless unwashed masses has been hit with a copyright infringement claim by NatWest.…
- Imitate Real Ale quaffers, save the economy, says biz prof
'And I don't even like beer'. Weirdo
Top economics'n'biz brainboxes, having performed a detailed analysis, have announced that the way for the UK economy to revitalise itself is for us all to emulate beer-swilling real ale drinkers.…
- Small biz stays nervous on recovery
Cost-cutting is focus, not chasing sales
Small businesses in the UK remain focused on cost-cutting rather than expanding sales to secure their futures.…
- EU pledges huge spend for small biz R&D
Biggest ever investment
The European Commission has pledged €6.4bn for research investments across Europe in various areas for both academics and small businesses.…
- Job sites slam domain name land grab
Dot-jobs plan 'reeks'
Dozens of job sites have stuck the boot into plans to effectively create tens of thousands of new employment boards under the .jobs internet top-level domain.…
- Bidding for rivals' AdWords can be infringement, sometimes
Ads origin must be clear
A company can stop other companies using its trademarks to trigger search engine adverts if those adverts do not allow a web user to tell which company is behind the ads, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has said.…
- Business guru tries to silence bloggers over 'misleading' mailshot
ASA aware and investigating
A marketing mailshot, similar to one described as misleading by the Advertising Standards Authority in April, is reappearing in British offices across the country - and bloggers who complain are getting hit with threatening legal letters.…
- Online trading not anti-competitive for small biz
OFT report gives thumbs up, behemoth warning
Small and medium sized (SME) companies do not face major anti-competitive barriers when trying to sell goods or services online, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has said.…
- IT recruiters warn over migration caps
Skilled foreigners needed
The government's plan to cap the number of non-EU economic migrants allowed into the UK has attracted criticism from IT recruiters, who claim some skills cannot be sourced here.…
- OFT to disqualify unwitting directors to deter competition abuses
Innocence won't make you innocent now
Directors who should have known that their companies were breaking competition laws will be just as likely to be pursued for disqualification as those who actively committed offences, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has said.…
- Visa tightens rules for small sellers
You have 24 hours to comply
From tomorrow small businesses that take credit card payments will be obliged to enrol in the credit card industry's Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) compliance programme.…
- Microsoft quietly readies small biz version of Office 2010
Screenshots: Emerging markets-flavoured suite coming soon
Microsoft looks set to release a small business version of Office 2010 for emerging markets, but is currently remaining silent on the issue even though alleged screenshots of the software package have appeared online.…
- Budget to cost over a million jobs: Official
Double-dip recession feared
Figures from the Treasury suggest the UK economy is likely to shrink by 1.3 million jobs.…
- Billionaire's betting exchange backs Android
Apple's a bit uptight
Irish billionaire and betting man, Dermot Desmond, is looking to Google's Android to boost the fortunes of his core business, Betdaq, not least because it's impossible getting a gambling app in the iStore.…
- Dell in late payment Hall of Shame
Small biz suffers from corporate sloth
Direct computer seller Dell has been entered into a late payments Hall of Shame for unilaterally adding an extra 15 days to the time it aims to settle invoices.…
- Laid-off public sector techies better get flexible to survive
Ain't no tea trolley in the real world
Ex-government developers and other tech staff will need to accept the different culture of working in the private sector if they want to find jobs.…
- Chinese ecommerce comes to US
Linking suppliers and sellers
Chinese small business trading site Alibaba has made its first US acquistion - buying Vendio Services which provides eBay listing tools, ecommerce and online selling platforms for small firms.…
- Small biz grits teeth over Bloody George's budget
Vintage Thatcher, and not in a good way, says union
Reaction to George Osborne's emergency Budget is mixed this morning, with most business leaders accepting the need for higher VAT and welcoming the cuts in corporation tax, while unions condemn him for a "vintage Thatcher" budget.…
- Osborne hands out tax cuts - for companies
VAT up 20% Higher rate tax threshold frozen
ToryDem chancellor George Osborne handed a massive tax boost to business today in his first budget.…
- Chancellor's cuts should spare small biz
Pretty please with a cherry on top
Ending tax relief for small business will send thousands of small companies into administration, the Chancellor is warned today.…
- ConDems shelve Equality Act timetable
Likely to enact favourite bits
The Government Equality Office (GEO) has withdrawn the timetable that detailed which parts of the recently passed Equality Act would come into force when. Some elements were due to come into force in October.…
- Big Blue shrinks 'Westmere' Xeon towers
More oomph for SMBs
IBM continues to round out its System x and BladeCenter x64-based server lineup, and today, it kicked out two more machines: a pair of System x tower boxes aimed primarily at small and medium businesses or the remote offices of larger firms.…
- Currency moves cost small biz dear
Time to hedge
Small business owners in the UK blame currency movements for threatening their ability to export goods - or at least to export goods profitably.…
- Lone workers will like being tracked, says Orange
It makes me feel safe when you watch me sleep, Edward
Orange is pushing out research claiming that UK lone-worker staff would love to be tracked using GPS, for their own benefit of course.…
- Business leaders call for health cuts
No more ring fences
Small business leaders the British Chamber of Commerce is calling for an end to protecting health spending and overseas aid.…
- Trend Micro lays down bread for humyo cloud service
Japanese sec firm likes taste of UK hosting startup
Trend Micro has bought UK-based consumer and micro business cloud storage service provider humyo, with the target's file synchronisation technology apparently the cherry on the cake.…
- Small biz quakes as Budget shadow looms
Nightstalker Osborne is not your friend
Business expenses are already going up - even before expected tax rises in the emergency Budget come into effect.…
- BP targets Twitter to clean up oil spill
More PR brilliance
BP has complained to Twitter about one of the very many parody feeds mocking its efforts to clean up the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.…
- CBI calls for other people to suffer cuts
Bosses blame public sector
Lobby group the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) is urging Chancellor George Osborne to make cuts to the public sector rather than increasing the tax burden on its members.…
- Is your office World Cup sweepstake legal?
Spot the balls-up
Many of the sweepstakes being run at workplaces ahead of next week's football World Cup are likely to be illegal, according to an expert in gambling law. Sweeps with informal tickets and even those where some proceeds go to charity can be illegal.…
- Vince Cable: Feel my mighty SME love
Pledges red-tape slashfest, bank-loan bonanza
New Coalition government biznovation minister Vince Cable has set out his stall in a speech given yesterday at a business school in London. He pledged to cut the red tape stifling small businesses, and said he would compel banks to lend to SMEs.…
- Osborne pledges simpler biz taxes
No actual numbers here
Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne told the CBI last night that he wants a simpler corporate tax system and lower rates.…
- Microsoft TechNet blogs go into stasis for revamp
Redmond: One-week freeze to add web-2.0 cool factor
Microsoft has disabled comments on its TechNet blogs for the next week while it upgrades the system.…
- Foreign IT pros in USA get paid more than Americans - study
H-1Bs 'can't be driving down US pay' insist analysts
Foreign IT professionals working in the States on H-1B visas don't cause a reduction in pay for Americans, according to a new study - because they actually get paid more than US citizens with similar qualifications, not less.…
- Fewer titsup firms, more titsup people
Insolvency service reports
Fewer businesses went into insolvency in the first quarter of 2010 than last year, but a record number of individuals were declared insolvent.…
- UK small biz gets sterling boost, no thanks to banks
Not drowning but waving
Demand from home and overseas customers is helping UK small and medium manufacturers, but getting credit from banks is still a nightmare.…
- EMC's Mozy saunters into the UK
Cloud backup for home and office
EMC's Mozy cloud backup service has arrived in the UK.…
- UK IT job outfit punts 491 private email addys
Yeah, I'll just stick the database in the 'To:' field
UK IT recruitment outfit ecrm people has pulled off a bit of blinder by exposing the email addresses of what appears to be its entire mailing list of potential candidates for a Senior Web Developer post in London.…
- Citrix buys stake in virtual desktopper
Hedges bets on SMBs
Citrix Systems has just bought a little insurance in its ongoing battle against VMware and others over virtualizing corporate desktops by investing in a startup called Kaviza.…
- Tories may scrap IR35 tax rules for contractors
Fairer for freelances
The Conservatives have pledged a "fundamental review" of the IR35 tax regime if they win the election, claiming it is unfair to freelance IT workers.…
- Small biz suffocated by employment red tape
Not waving but drowning
Britain's small businesses are struggling with the constant flow of employment red tape emitted by Westminster.…
- Intel pitches Atom storage platform
It ain't Xeon X86 but it's cheaper
Intel is pitching an Atom processor platform for storage boxes in home networks and small office/home office applications.…
- Ofcom wades into UK 'Net Neutrality' row
BBC tech boss says web is 'primary outlet for future Beeb content'. What's that now?
Ofcom has reportedly warned broadband providers that it plans to probe how they manage their web traffic and give “preferential” treatment to some media owners.…
- Acer predicts end of cheap PC era
Consumers get bitten in the ASP
PC buyers, especially small businesses, should get used to paying more for their kit, after Acer predicted that ASPs would rise this year, for practically the first time in PC industry history.…