Its All About Christmas

Christmas decorations are one inseparable part of the Christmas holidays, without which Christmas would lose all its color, spirit, warmth and charm. And it’s also great to get together with all in the family or the whole gang of friends for the Christmas decorations. Isn’t it a joy untold to watch the hand-crafted stars or bells hung up on the Christmas tree or on the wreaths ? Don’t you feel the festive tickle to see Christmas-themed table-spreads, curtains, napkin-holders, or carpets ? Ideas for Christmas decorations are plenty to satiate the festive craving of all and sundry. And the stores dish out a huge array of Christmas decorations too. You can either buy them home or decorate your home yourself with your own ideas and designs. Here’s enlisted a few for you to get started with your Christmas decorations and Christmas planning.

The easiest and simplest of all Christmas decorations—get empty boxes or cartons and wrap them up in red, green, blue colored papers or colorful Christmas wrappers. Tie ribbons around some and leave them sporadically around the base of your Christmas evergreen or on the mantle.

Hanging cute Christmas stockings make good decorations too for your Christmas d?cor. You can cut out papers or fabrics in shapes of stockings or candy canes, have them colored by the kids and stick them all around the room to add that festive touch on Christmas.

Umpteen stores sell battery-operated candles especially for this holiday and these look radiant in and around your home as also on your Christmas tree. Anyone would like to go for these hassle-free Christmas decorations and give their interiors a total face-lift for the occasion.

A fetching idea for your Christmas decorations would be to deck up your house plants with little stars and bells and to place them on window sills.

Get holly boughs and mistletoes home. Hang them around and watch the magic of Christmas unfold before you. These Christmas decorations are traditionally passed down through ages and never fall out of the hall of fame.

How about this ? Take a pin-up board and pin Christmas-related images or messages on them. You can also fix Christmas cards that you get for the year. This Christmas decoration would be best for your office cubicle or room. So bring your colleagues in the spirit of the holidays instantly as they step into your holiday ‘den’.

Now here’s another to rev up your Christmas decorations—take a white table-spread and stick little paper or fabric pieces in shapes of stars, bells, candy canes, gift-boxes, Santa hats and more.

Deck up your halls in Christmas streamers (bought or homemade) or in Christmas wreaths. You can hang a bunch of bells on the doorway too. Won’t it be sweet to hear the jingles every time anyone enters during the Christmas season ?

Decorate white slender candles with red and green ribbons. Tie them into a bow or just spiral it around. They would swell for sure if placed in a cluster on your Christmas dinner table or over the mantle. Don’t forget to leave a bell carelessly at the base. Your friends, folks or sweetie pie would surely love the shine and shimmer of the bell in the candlelight and you may collect few kudos for such thoughtful Christmas decorations.

For outside decorations, get some Christmas lights home. Glowing bulbs or lighted candles that run on battery would just suit fine outdoors. You can place a big cutout of Santa to welcome your dear ones too. Or you can let loose your own festive ideas.

Play Christmas numbers for the background scores to complement the tree, table and hall decorations. Well chosen Christmas songs are just the right fill for the holiday ambience.

Create cute bows for the special day and have them stitched to curtains or tied to door-knobs or around the glasses on the Christmas table. These Christmas decorations won’t take much time and would be fun to do too. So get on with these.

Well then, welcome the season of joy and brace up to make merry with friends and family—it’s Christmastime folks ! The merriest time of the year is here. So leave your worries behind, deck the halls with wonderful Christmas decorations and share the warmth and joy of the season with all far and near.

The rules surrounding what can and can’t be claimed back on tax and VAT when it comes to Christmas entertaining and gifts for staff or clients can be quite ambiguous and often many business owners don’t realise the conditions associated with the rules, so we have put together a straightforward guide covering what you need to know, and the things to beware of!

 1. Christmas Gifts to Clients

The rule:  

Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) allow you to give a gift to a client worth up to £50 in any one tax year.

The conditions:

The gift must be a business-related gift for example a calendar, pen or clock

The gift cannot be alcoholic drink, food or tobacco, or vouchers which can be exchanged for those three things.

The gift must clearly carry an advertisement for your business, otherwise it will be classified as entertainment expenses, and these are disallowed.

Beware:

Gifts that cost more than £50 – and that includes the gift wrap – will be completely disallowed by HMRC – it won’t just be the amount over the £50!

2. Christmas Gifts to Staff

The rule: 

All gifts to staff including Christmas gifts are classed as taxable benefits, although if they are deemed trivial they are exempt from tax.

The conditions: 

Trivial gifts can be things like a bottle of wine or tray of chocolates and these are exempt from tax

Monetary gifts, for example bonuses, must be put through the payroll system and taxed in the usual way

Any non-monetary, non-trivial gifts must be included on form P11D

Beware:

A case of wine or a Christmas hamper does not constitute a trivial gift! Be sure to check what is and isn’t classed as trivial before you buy your staff gifts this Christmas!

 3. Christmas Staff Parties

The rule:

HMRC allows up to £150 per employee for a Christmas party as it is considered a reward for good work or a way of maintaining and improving staff morale.

The conditions:

If non-employees attend the party, i.e. partners or spouses, expenditure is allowable for tax. This is providing the total expenditure for the party, including the non-employee guests, amounts to £150 or less per employee attending.

If you are a small, owner-managed business then you are still able to claim up to £150 per employee for any Christmas party or meal, even if just two or three members of staff attend.

Where VAT is concerned, the expenditure on non-employees is viewed as entertainment which means the VAT on that proportion of the expenditure cannot be claimed back, so you will need to show the split between employees and their non-employee guests.

If the entertainment is limited only to the partners or directors of a business then the VAT incurred is not input tax and cannot be recovered. However, if partners or directors attend staff parties along with other employees, the tax is viewed as input tax and is recoverable.

Beware:

Exceed the £150 per person limit and the entire amount is disallowed, not just the excess over £150!

We hope you have found this guide useful but it does not constitute professional advice on a specific situation so if you are unsure of anything at all you should seek assistance from your bookkeeper, accountant or HMRC.