FreeAgent Update - Release 'Venezuelan Beaver Cheese'

Ed Molyneux
Founder

Our last software update of 2007. We've come a long way, baby.

This is Release 'Venezuelan Beaver Cheese'.

VAT Fuel Scale Charge

We've added support for the VAT Fuel Scale Charge. This is sometimes used if your company buys you fuel for private use but you don't want to bother with recording business and private mileage.

You need to do a fair number of private miles to make it worthwhile (ask your accountant for details). Anyway, all you need to do is edit the details of the VAT returns in FreeAgent, where you want to include the Fuel Scale Charge, to reflect the CO2 rating of your car.

By default this is set to 'None' - no Fuel Scale Charge - so existing Returns aren't affected.

You can check out your car's CO2 rating from the VC5 Registration Certificate.

This works accurately for VAT returns after 1 May 2007 (previously it was based on engine type and size) but once you've included it, future automatically-created VAT returns will too.

Updated Advisory Fuel Rates

Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs have updated the fuel prices used to calculate how much VAT you can reclaim from your personal mileage expenses.

The new rates take effect from 1 Jan 2008 and all journeys after this date which you enter will reflect the revised amounts. Boring but essential.

Create Invoice of Individual Timeslips

You can now create an invoice which includes individual timeslips for each item. Just select the 'One line per timeslip' option.

Performance Improvements

Like the proverbial graceful swan, we've been paddling madly under the surface to improve the speed of FreeAgent. With this release we've brought in a number of enhancements, which you should immediately notice especially if you have a lot of data already.

The Overview and VAT returns screens are particularly improved (page loading times are approximately halved for our test accounts) but any accounting calculation will be faster now.

'Latest Timeslip' Changes

We use your 'latest timeslip' to fill in some details for new timeslips you create. Previously we used the latest-dated one, but now we use the last-created one (a subtle difference, I know) which is what many people have told us they are expecting. Hey, who are we to argue?

Company Accounts: Retained Profit

If you're a Limited Company, FreeAgent will now correctly calculate and carry forward the Retained Profit from year to year. Retained Profit is what's left over after you've paid Corporation Tax and your Dividends, and is crucial to know what size of dividend can be declared for this year.

Looking forward to 2008

We've got a huge list of exciting and cool things lined up for next year. Keep the feedback coming, it's essential!

Merry Christmas, and best wishes for a prosperous 2008!