According to Zoopla, UK house prices continue to show modest growth, up 1.4% year on year in June 2026, supported by easing mortgage rates and resilient demand in many regions.
Zoopla adds that the desire to move home remains strong but higher borrowing costs and wider uncertainty have led some buyers to take longer to commit. Across June, sales agreed were running about 7% below last year, while buyer enquiries were down around 15%.

RightMove says that house prices in Tunbridge Wells have an overall average of £557,365 over the last year. The majority of properties sold in Tunbridge Wells during the last year were flats, selling for an average price of £288,821. Overall, the historical sold prices in Tunbridge Wells over the last year were 3% up on the previous year and 1% down on the 2022 peak of £564,550.

Here at Lewis & Co, we provide accountancy support to a number of estate agents. If they are owner-managed, then many of them face similar challenges to other small businesses. However, they also have to cope in an industry which suffers from both peaks and troughs. This can make creating and sticking to a business plan tricky at times but we are there to support our clients through this.

We also work with some letting agents. While they might benefit from a more stable income overall, the letting market can also be unstable – particularly at the moment with landlords pulling out of the market, primarily due to changes in the Renters’ Rights Act.

Some estate agents and letting agents are required to hold client money (such as deposits, rents or service charges) and are expected to provide an independent accountant’s report confirming client funds have been handled correctly. If that’s the case, we are able to help with those requirements.

The estate agent might be an owner-managed business or it could be that our client has made the decision to buy into a franchise. Here at Lewis & Co, we have worked with a number of franchisees over the years – helping them to secure their particular franchise and supporting them as they build their business.

Franchising can be attractive to entrepreneurs who want to own and operate their own business but want the support and guidance of an established brand. It provides a way for businesses to expand their operations, without the financial and logistical challenges of perhaps opening a new location for themselves.

If you own an estate agency or a letting agency business and would like to work with an accountant who understands your needs, then call us for a chat. Tel: 01892 513515 or email: info@lewisandco.biz

According to The Tech Nation 2025 report, the UK tech sector was valued at £892.5 billion last year, making it the ‘leading tech ecosystem’ in Europe; and CompTIA figures suggest the sector employed 2.18 million in 2024. IT as a sector is vast, ranging from technical support and web development through to cyber security and, of course, artificial intelligence (AI).

Here at Lewis & Co, we support several small businesses involved in IT from one person working alone providing IT support to small businesses providing IT security. We also work with computer stores, selling all manner of IT related items. Retail, of course, comes with its own challenges, such as cash flow, and this is something we support our clients with.

Some of our clients are self-employed IT contractors, who support a variety of clients or are taken on to work on a project-by-project basis.

If an IT contractor is VAT registered, we often suggest that they might benefit from the Flat Rate Scheme, which will see you pay a fixed rate of VAT to HMRC. This is a way of providing smaller businesses, such as those involved in IT, with a simpler way of calculating their VAT liabilities.

To join this scheme, your VAT turnover must be £150,000 or less. The flat rate you use usually depends on your business type and you get a 1% discount if you’re in your first year as a VAT registered business. This is something we can advise you on at Lewis & Co.

Under the standard VAT scheme, you calculate how much VAT you have charged on invoices during each quarter, then subtract any VAT you have paid on any services or products you have purchased via the company during the same period. The difference is then payable to HMRC.

Under the Flat Rate Scheme, you apply a fixed-rate percentage (of 14.5% for IT contractors) to your turnover, and pay this amount to HMRC each quarter, rather than working out your precise tax liability. The scheme was designed to make VAT accounting simpler for smaller firms, particularly for those, such as IT contractors, who have few costs and therefore not much in the way of input VAT to reclaim if they were not using the scheme.

If you’ve got any questions or need any help, please call our team on: 01892 513515 or email: info@lewisandco.biz

Lewis & Co would like to wish you, your friends and families a very Merry Christmas for 2025.

We look forward to continue working with you all again next year.

We will once again be making a donation to our charity of choice this year rather than sending out gifts.

Stay safe, have a relaxing break and here’s to a prosperous New Year!

Kind regards

Gary, David, Adam and Lorraine

Please note that our office will be closed from 12.30pm on Wednesday 24th December 2025. Normal service resumes on Monday 5th January 2026.

This is a reminder to everyone who receives income from self-employment or property (or both) and usually fills out a Self-Assessment tax return, that Making Tax Digital (MTD) is set to become mandatory, in phases, from 6 April 2026 next year.

Here are the dates for MTD:

– April 2026, if your qualifying income is over £50,000 in the 2024 to 2025 tax year.

– April 2027, if your qualifying income is over £30,000 in the 2025 to 2026 tax year.

– April 2028, if your qualifying income is over £20,000 in the 2026 to 2027 tax year (the government has set out plans to introduce legislation to lower the qualifying income threshold to this level).

When your turn comes, you must source compatible software, authorise it and sign up for MTD. However, here at Lewis & Co, we would recommend that, even if you haven’t reached the qualifying income of £50,000, it is worth considering moving onto MTD, simply so you are ready when it does apply to you.

HMRC has stated ‘once you start using MTD for Income Tax, new rules around late submissions and payments will apply – including updated penalties’.

The current regulations do not cover partnerships but they are likely to also be included in the future.

Please do get in touch if you’d like to advice about compatible software for MTD. If you’ve got any questions at all, please call our team on: 01892 513515 or email: info@lewisandco.biz

From our base in Southborough, near Tunbridge Wells, we not only support our local clients, we also enjoy working with clients based further afield and also some who live overseas. In fact, we’ve noticed an increase in enquiries recently from clients asking us about the tax implications of moving their businesses abroad, often to countries such as Spain or Portugal.

Currently, around 5.5 million people from Britain live overseas. According to the international movers comparison website, Compare My Move, an estimated over half a million British people left the UK in 2023. There are many reasons for making the move, including cost of living, change of lifestyle, family reasons, work and education, etc.

From a practical point of view, how many of us have noticed that working remotely is much easier than it used to be. There’s even a group of people described as digital nomads, who leverage technology to work remotely overseas.

Compare My Move, states that the top five countries British people moved to in 2023 were Spain, the USA, Australia, France and Italy. Coming in at number seven was the United Arab Emirates and, if Instagram is anything to go by, it’s likely that this country might be heading up the list. For example, Rio Ferdinand and his family moved from Bromley to Dubai in the summer of 2025.

If you relocate overseas, this doesn’t automatically mean that you stop paying tax in the UK. Your tax obligations will depend on your residency status; the UK has specific rules to determine residency status, including factors, such as the number of days spent in the UK and your ties to the country.

The chances are, however, that you’ll still be required to fill-out a tax return in the UK, particularly if you still have an income tied to the UK in some way and that includes income from renting out your UK property.

If you live or work between countries, your tax position can quickly become complicated. Residency and domicile status affects your liability for UK tax on income, capital gains and assets held abroad – and the rules can be difficult to navigate.

If you remain a UK tax resident, you will generally be liable to pay UK income tax on your worldwide income. However, if you become non-resident, you may only have to pay UK tax on certain types of UK-sourced income. The UK has tax treaties with many countries to prevent double taxation. These agreements usually determine which country has the primary right to tax specific types of income, and mechanisms (such as tax credits or exemptions) to mitigate double taxation.

Here at Lewis & Co, we help individuals, expats and non-domiciled (non-dom) clients understand their UK tax obligations and plan efficiently. We can deal with HMRC on your behalf and handle queries or disclosure where needed. After all, getting it wrong can mean unexpected tax bills, double taxation or penalties.

If you are looking to move abroad, then do get in touch with us on 01892 513515.

From 1 September this year, HMRC now has two advisory fuel rates for fully electric cars, depending on where they are charged. It seems that the Government has acknowledged that charging at home can be significantly cheaper than on a public charger. Previously, the rate was 7p a mile and now it’s 8p for home charging and 12p for public charging.

There is no change for hybrids, which continue to be treated as either petrol or diesel cars for advisory fuel rates.

If you’ve got any questions, do call our team on: 01892 513515