In merry old England and the rest of the United Kingdom, a capital allowance is basically a tax-deductible expense. A business owner can claim the value of a capital expenditure...like for equipment, machinery, any type of vehicle, research and development, patents and renovations to a building used for business.
Just like depreciation, the business owner can write off the cost of the asset over a period of time and subtract the amount from the company's profits. There is no approved list of what is deductible and what isn't, but all are regulated by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs. Capital allowances available to businesses include an Annual Investment Allowance (allows a deduction of the full value of most items up to the limit of 200,000 pounds) and a Writing Down Allowance (can deduct a percentage of the value of an item). Her Majesty hopes to encourage investment by businesses by offering these tax deductions.
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Finance: What is a Current Asset?16 Views
Finance, a la shmoop. What is a current asset? Current yeah it's kind of a [Picture of a currant on a plant]
socialist raisin there, you know they all look about alike but that's a [Soldiers marching in front of Stalin with currants for heads]
currant and has nothing to do with current as cur-rent remember it like
your rent comes due soon, you rent a place for a year or less usually or at [Guy sticks his head out of pile of overdue bills]
least that's how long, you know lock in your rental rate. So if your [Someone signing a contract]
asset is current then it can be turned into cash within a year. That's how we
remember it here around Shmoop. Examples? A bond coming due in a year or less. [Bond document]
Companies store their cash all the time in short term paper like certificates of
deposit or Bank CDs which come due in less than a year. that's a current asset. [List of short-term paper]
And companies buy these kinds of bonds so they get a little more interest than
from their banks you know checking account. They buy stocks as well, shares [New interest rate is very small]
of goog can be easily converted into cash quickly. Shares in Google are a [Current asset stamp]
current asset. Ounces of gold, yep easily a current asset. All right you get the
idea, so what's not current well fourteen thousand acres of solar panel land that [Huge fields full of solar panels]
your company owns. If you ever had to sell it while there are very few buyers
and it likely would take more than a year just to figure out all the [Calendars popping up]
regulatory restrictions on selling it. A big old factory well can't sell that on [Red cross appears on a factory]
Amazon or Ebay, definitely not current. Your brand equity
in your corporation like the relationship you've developed with your
consumers, yeah it's another non-current asset you can't exactly go to the bank [Guy going up to the bank and pleading]
and convert brand loyalty to USD. So that's it current assets they live here [Arrow pointing to current assets on a balance sheet]
on this side of the balance sheet way up top in the good view seats high on the [Current assets in a tree]
vine of the tree. So put down those currants, stop ranting about the [Stalin holding a currant]
proletariat and for God's sake just buy some raisins. [Guy pointing to a box of raisins]
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