Accountants for care homes in Edinburgh.

Yes — welfare services including personal care, nursing care and care accommodation are exempt from VAT under VATA 1994 Schedule 9 Group 7. This means you do not charge VAT on care fees, but you also cannot reclaim VAT on most of your costs. Where you have standard-rated income streams — a hairdressing salon open to the public, commercial catering, or other non-welfare services — you enter partial exemption, and a proportion of your input VAT becomes recoverable. Capital expenditure on care buildings and equipment also needs a partial-exemption analysis to determine how much input VAT can be reclaimed. HMRC's partial-exemption standard method or a special method approved by HMRC applies depending on the scale of mixed activity.

Care home payroll requires real-time RTI submission for every pay run, pension auto-enrolment processing for eligible workers (including part-time and bank staff who meet the earnings threshold), correct calculation of statutory sick pay and holiday entitlement for irregular-hours workers, and DBS check status monitoring. High turnover amplifies the admin burden — starter and leaver processing needs to be timely to avoid incorrect tax codes accumulating. We use cloud payroll software connected to your care management system where possible to reduce manual re-entry, and we manage the auto-enrolment contribution calculations and Nest or NEST-equivalent pension submissions.

The Care Inspectorate (Scotland) does not audit financial records directly, but its inspections include adequacy-of-resources assessments that require you to demonstrate financial sustainability. In practice, this means having current management accounts, cash flow forecasts, and evidence that staffing ratios are funded. NHS Scotland integration authorities — where funded care placements are received — may also require financial information as part of contract compliance. We maintain records in a format that supports these external reviews without requiring a separate reporting exercise.

Yes — beds, hoists, assistive technology, medical-grade furniture and care vehicles all qualify for capital allowances. The Annual Investment Allowance gives 100% relief on up to £1 million of qualifying plant and machinery expenditure per year. Zero-emission vehicles — electric minibuses and care transport vehicles — qualify for a 100% first-year allowance separately. Building works on an existing care home may include integral features (electrical systems, heating) that qualify for the Structures and Buildings Allowance at 3% per year. We identify qualifying expenditure correctly and claim the maximum available relief.