The record HMRC expects from a retailer is daily gross takings, split by VAT rate, produced by the till rather than reconstructed afterwards. A single weekly figure cannot be broken back down, and when there is no evidence of the split, the assumption made is not usually the favourable one.

Getting the till set up correctly — the right rate against the right product, cash and card reconciled daily, voids and refunds recorded rather than deleted — costs an afternoon once. Reconstructing a year of it costs considerably more, and that is before any assessment.

A shop selling only standard-rated goods has a simple VAT return. A shop selling a mix — food alongside household goods, say — has a harder one, and there are retail schemes designed for exactly that: apportionment and point-of-sale methods that produce a defensible figure without pricing every transaction individually.

Choosing the wrong one, or carrying on with a scheme after the shape of the business has changed, quietly costs money in both directions. It is worth reviewing when the product mix moves, not only at registration.

• VAT accountant in Enfield
• Restaurants, cafés and takeaways
• Payroll
• Accountants in Harringay
• Accountants in Hornsey

Wood Green is the borough’s main commercial centre, with a Piccadilly line station on the High Road and the council’s Civic Centre. That brings footfall, and footfall is priced in. A unit on the High Road and a unit on a side street two minutes away are different businesses on paper before either has sold anything, because the rateable value and the rent are doing different work.

Rates on a town-centre unit

Rateable value follows what the property could reasonably let for, so a busy frontage is assessed higher — which is the point of paying for it, but only if the trade justifies it. Where this deserves attention is after any change: a revaluation, a reconfiguration, a period when part of the space stopped being used. Bills do not adjust themselves, and an assessment that no longer matches the property is exactly how businesses overpay quietly for years.

Staff on variable hours

Town-centre retail runs on shifts that move week to week, and that makes three things harder than they look: minimum wage compliance when hours and ages vary, holiday pay accrual for irregular workers, and getting the payroll right when somebody works four hours one week and thirty the next. The minimum wage is age-banded and the bands change, so a birthday can put you in breach without anyone doing anything wrong. It is worth a check each April rather than a discovery later.

Most Wood Green retailers now sell through more than one channel, and the accounting problem is not the selling — it is that each channel reports differently. The till gives you gross takings. A marketplace gives you a settlement figure with fees already removed. A card provider pays out net, in batches, on a delay. Three sources, three shapes, and reconciling them badly is how stock and margin stop being knowable.

The fix is to record the gross sale and the fee separately rather than banking the net figure and calling it turnover. It sounds pedantic. It is the difference between knowing your actual margin and finding out at the year end that a channel you thought was profitable was not.

• Amazon, Shopify and eBay sellers
• Accountants in Harringay
• Accountants in Hornsey

For a Wood Green shop or food business, wages are usually the biggest cost after stock and rent, and employer’s National Insurance comes on top. The employer rate is 15% on each employee’s pay above the £5,000 secondary threshold. So adding a part-time member of staff costs more than their hourly rate suggests, even before holiday pay and pension contributions under auto-enrolment.

The Employment Allowance takes the edge off. Eligible employers can reduce their employer National Insurance bill by up to £10,500 a year. For a small retailer with a handful of staff, that can cancel most or all of it. It is not automatic, since it has to be claimed through payroll. It is also not available to a company whose only employee is a single director.

Payroll itself runs in real time. A Full Payment Submission goes to HMRC on or before every payday, so late or missed submissions show up quickly.

Wood Green is Haringey’s main town centre and one of the areas we cover across the borough. Our page for accountants in North London sets out everything we do.

• Accountants in North London
• Payroll services
• Payslip calculator

Wood Green and Turnpike Lane are on the Piccadilly line, which does not connect directly with Finchley Central, so a visit means changing on the way.

You do not have to come in: you can work with us entirely by phone, email and video call, and we respond within one working day.

Wood Green is in the London Borough of Haringey, so Haringey Council sends your business rates bill and deals with premises licences, street trading and planning. None of that goes on a tax return, but rates are a fixed cost that can be relieved or appealed, and licence fees and timings belong in any plan for opening or changing premises.

The N22 postcode is shared between Haringey and Enfield. Wood Green itself is Haringey, and the council’s Civic Centre is on the High Road.

Small business rate relief is set nationally and applied by the council: a business with one property whose rateable value is below £15,000 can get relief, and below £12,000 the relief is 100%. Taking on a second property can take it away from the first, so it is worth checking before you sign a lease rather than after the bill arrives.

• Haringey Council: business rates
• Haringey Council: small business rate relief
• Haringey Council: licensing

The services we provide in Wood Green include personal tax and self-assessment, bookkeeping, VAT returns and registration and year-end accounts and corporation tax. Each has its own page with what is included and how we work.