You know those sorts of days. Long, tiring, but with a sense of achievement at the end of it. These days, it is generally accounts, tax or personnel issues.
But in years gone by, I recall going on peat cuttings. The peat banks were 5 peats deep with black peat at the base. If you know peat, you’ll understand. These were old-fashioned peat cuttings where the physical effort was only matched by the amount of food (and other refreshments!) consumed during the day. I was cutting with a group of old farmers who took it in turn to cut each other’s banks. 4 hard days every year and I enjoyed every one. I enjoyed the tusker, but the real physical challenge was forking out the cut peat.
Mind you, once on the hill, they cut no matter what the weather, so I have vivid memories of being out in torrential rain and wading through the puddles below the peat bank. But what memories!
But today, my day started in our Cathedral office in Elgin, and I was soon on a train to my meeting. Then, early evening, back to Elgin. And tomorrow is our second office Xmas party. Last Friday was the offices in Elgin and Inverness coming together at the Glenmoriston Town House in Inverness. Tomorrow is the Thurso and Kirkwall offices coming together in Kirkwall. It’s just as well we don’t have more offices. I don’t think I could stand the pace.
But that’s one of the joys of this time of year. Yes, there is no shortage of work to be done and plenty of it, but it’s not all serious, and we can have a bit of fun and Christmas jumpers along the way.
It does not seem that long since we were welcoming in 2025, and soon it will be consigned to history, and all that will be left is to do our annual accounts to 31 December. All those long hours, all that hard work consigned to a handful of sheets of paper with numbers on them.
But that is what it is like if you are in business. Have you looked back at your old sets of accounts recently? We have ours on the computer back to when Helen and I started in 2001. We’ve certainly grown in that time, but arguably had a lot of fun along the way. In the last few years, we’ve even managed to get some time off and have a few holidays.
In a few weeks, the scales will be groaning, and we will be in the tax return silly season. But what will 2026 have in store? I know some of the things because I already have the tickets but what else. Well, there is the excitement of MTD and quarterly reporting. If you were confused by the tax system before, it’s not going to get any better.
Then, there is the opportunity being presented to most people to pay more tax and won’t that be good! It’s going to be a busy year in the tax world, either keeping up with all the changes or making plans to reduce tax, legally of course. But I joke! If you are a small company, you may have seen your tax payments rise by about a third year on year, with the main rate of Corporation Tax rising from 19% to 25%.
If you are self-employed or employed, then the freezing of personal allowances and rates will be taking their toll. Obviously, the budget was an odd mixture of UK and English, and we will have to wait until January to see what is going to happen to Scottish rates and bands. More excitement for the New Year!
Still, we are well into December, and this is likely to be my last newsletter for the year. The scales are already creeping upwards, but that cannot possibly be the mince pies or Christmas cake, can it? I’ll worry about that in January.
Anyway from all of us, we hope you have a great break over the Christmas holiday and come back suitably refreshed and more than likely a couple of kilos heavier.
The New Year is just around the corner, and that blank page is just waiting for you to write your next chapter. Do you have your storyline roughed out and ready?
If you have enjoyed our newsletters in 2025, then remember it is not just me. I do the easy bit. It is Lauren and Katie at Adder Business who do the technical stuff in the background and get everything formatted and sent out, and without them, it would not happen. I should also add that they are very patient when I miss my deadlines. Thank you girls!
See you on the other side of the New Year. Merry Xmas and we hope that you have a happy and prosperous 2026.
Alan E Long
The Long Partnership
07770 738770
