Autumn statement 2023 main points for small and medium sized businesses (SME) and employees11/25/2023 Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has disclosed the UK government's fiscal plans for the upcoming year. On November 22, 2023, Hunt presented the Autumn Statement in the House of Commons, likely the last pre-election mini-budget, with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak hinting at a potential election in October 2025 next year.
The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has concurrently unveiled its latest economic outlook for the UK. In response to last week's news of a drop in inflation to 4.6% for the year up to October, Conservative MPs had advocated for broader tax cuts, taking advantage of what was termed as 'fiscal headroom.' Consequently, the chancellor has indeed announced tax reductions in today's statement. The focus now turns to how these revelations might impact small businesses and the self-employed. Read on for key updates affecting this sector:
Despite receiving a little bit of positive feedback, reservations linger about the effectiveness of these reforms in bolstering the strained small business sector. The increase in minimum wages rates for employees will no doubt increase costs for SME's already suffering from high utility bills - and will ultimately mean smart business owners decease the days and hours of staff. The majority of small businesses already had access to small business rates relief so nothing changed there. Finally the much talked about CGT and IHT amendments did not materialise, neither was there any focus on reigning in large energy suppliers sapping the profits out of small and medium sized business to boost their annual profits. And the loss of class 2 NI is a blow for micro businesses and sole traders who needed it to top up their state pension contributions. Overall not impressed at all. By Anni Khan at Tax Affinity Accountants Tax Affinity Accountants are experts Business, Tax and Accountancy. With branches in Worcester Park and Kingston upon Thames and Epsom and Ewell they are considered in the Industry to be expert business accountants and tax advisors for both individuals and small & medium sized businesses (SME's). Helping and supporting both individuals and limited company owners / self employed people throughout the UK and the world, they regularly help clients grow their business providing tailored advice and support. Their support has been considered invaluable by many clients and key to their success. For more information visit www.taxaffinity.com. To read more interesting articles like this visit www.taxaffinity.com/blog. Please feel free to comment and share this with your friends.
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a Tax Accountants Experience and expertise is highly valued in tax planning and hmrc investigations5/22/2023
Tax Affinity Accountants are rated as experts in Tax and Accounting Industry and because of our experience and expertise with Tax we can help clients to both legally minimise their tax and make the best plans for the future. We never recommend breaking any rules but instead using our expertise know that there is more than enough scope with the framework to legally reduce taxes and still have the peace of mind. And because we stay abreast with the latest changes and developments we are are always at the forefront of advising clients when things change. And you know your in safe hand because Tax Affinity are experts in tax law with a good working relationship with HMRC. There to there to help and support clients if they are involved in a HMRC tax or VAT investigation or have a Worldwide Disclosure / Let Property Campaign letter etc to respond to. We are always able to successfully support and guide clients to the best possible outcome. Just ask one of our many happy clients who sing our praises. Below is a list of just some of the things we can help with. If what your looking for is not listed we most likely are still able to do it but just didnt want to make the list too long. Give us a call and have a chat with one of our tax experts or come into one of our high street branches - we will be happy to help. - Inheritance tax planning for landlords with estates between £1million - £250million - Capital gains tax planning - Transferring properties into a limited company - Incorporation - Offshore tax planning - HMRC Tax and VAT Investigations - Code of Practice 8 and 9 investigations - Alternate Dispute Resolution - Tax Tribunals - Forensic Accounting - Worldwide Disclosure Facility - Let Property Campaign - HMRC Check of Self Assessment / Tax - Contractual Disclosure Facility (CDF) - Code of Practice 8 / 9 / 11 / 14 - Section 144 Enquiry - Section 12A TMA 1970 Notice Investigations - Code of Practice 11 (Local Compliance Offices) - Code of Practice 14 Investigation (Company Tax Return Investigations) By Anni Khan at Tax Affinity Accountants Tax Affinity Accountants are experts Business, Tax and Accountancy. With branches in Worcester Park and Kingston upon Thames and Epsom and Ewell they are considered in the Industry to be expert business accountants and tax advisors for both individuals and small & medium sized businesses (SME's). Helping and supporting both individuals and limited company owners / self employed people throughout the UK and the world, they regularly help clients grow their business providing tailored advice and support. Their support has been considered invaluable by many clients and key to their success. For more information visit www.taxaffinity.com. To read more interesting articles like this visit www.taxaffinity.com/blog. Please feel free to comment and share this with your friends. The UK now has a new PM Rishi Sunak after the shock resignation of the previous PM Liz Truss due the GBP (Sterling) stock market crashing after the announcment of her mini budget just weeks ago. So the new Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced a raft of reversals listed below that seem to have temporarily reassured the markets and IMF etc. But what are they in a quick short read - well see below: 1. Cut to Corporation tax down to 19% from 25% - cancelled 2. Removal of 45% higher rate tax - cancelled 3. Personal Income tax cut from 20% to 19% - cancelled 4. Alcohol duty freeze - cancelled 5. VAT free shopping for overseas visitors - cancelled 6. National Insurance reverse of 1.25% - retained 7. No stamp duty on first £250,000 - retained 8 First time buyers no stamp duty on first £425,000 - retained 9. IR35 rules reversal - cancelled 10. Removal of bankers bonus cap - retained 11. Freeze on energy bills for 2 years - amended to 6 months only now By Anni Khan at Tax Affinity Accountants Tax Affinity Accountants are experts Business, Tax and Accountancy. With branches in Worcester Park and Kingston upon Thames and Epsom and Ewell they are considered in the Industry to be expert business accountants and tax advisors for both individuals and small & medium sized businesses (SME's). Helping and supporting both individuals and limited company owners / self employed people throughout the UK and the world, they regularly help clients grow their business providing tailored advice and support. Their support has been considered invaluable by many clients and key to their success. For more information visit www.taxaffinity.com. To read more interesting articles like this visit www.taxaffinity.com/blog. Please feel free to comment and share this with your friends. UK Chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng announced a series of tax cuts & changes in his mini-budget on 23rd Sept 2022, and yesterday did a U-turn on cancelling the drop from 45% to 40% on the highest tax rate. A quick list of how the mini-budget will affect tax payers is listed below: 1. Income taxes The top rate of income tax for those earning more than £150,000 per annum was reduced from 50% to 45% by a previous Chancellor in 2013 this was planned to be lowered to 40% but has now been cancelled by the government U-turn and will remain at 45%. From 6th April 2023 the rate of income tax on income between £12,571 & £50,270 per annum will be reduced from 20% to 19%. 2. National Insurance reversal Chancellor confirms the 1.25 percentage national insurance rise introduced earlier this year by the previous Chancellor will be cancelled from 6th November 2022 i.e. from December’s payslip onwards. 3. Stamp duty cut Before there was no stamp duty to pay on the first £125,000 of a property’s value. It has now been doubled to £250,000. The no stamp duty threshold for first-time buyers will rise from £300,000 to £425,000. The max property value for first-time buyers’ stamp duty relief will rise from £500,000 to £625,000. 4. Corporation tax stays at 19% Corporation tax rises have been scrapped, the previous Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced that the rate of corporation tax would be increasing from 19% to 25%, from 6th April 2023. So now businesses with profits below £50,000 will stay at the 19% rate, as well as businesses with profits over £250,000 that were meant to pay 25% rate ie everyone stays at 19%. 5. Changes to IR35 From 6th April 2023, the previous IR35 rules introduced in 2017 and 2021 have been reversed. Allowing individuals to contract instead of work as employees again ie self employed off-payroll working through a limited company. The changes mean its up to the contractors themselves to make sure they have the right status and are paying the right amount of tax instead of putting the burden on employers. 6. Strikes legislation The government says it will legislate to stop “militant trade unions” from closing down key infrastructure through strikes. The laws will require unions to put pay offers to a member vote, to ensure strikes can only be called once pay talks have genuinely broken down, he says. 7. Investment zones The government confirmed that almost 40 investment zones will be created with tax breaks for businesses. Areas included are the West Midlands ,Tees Valley, Norfolk and the west of England etc. 8. Energy Bills Freeze household energy bills at £2,500 for a typical household and a price cap on energy bills for commercial properties also. 9. Investment (AIA) Annual investment allowance, the total amount a company can invest tax free, stays at £1 Million. New & start-up companies are able to raise up to £250,000 under a scheme giving tax relief to investors in their business Share options for (PAYE) employees doubled from £30,000 to £60,000 10. Bankers’ bonuses Chancellor confirms the bankers’ bonus cap will be scrapped. By Anni Khan at Tax Affinity Accountants Tax Affinity Accountants are experts Business, Tax and Accountancy. With branches in Worcester Park and Kingston upon Thames and Epsom and Ewell they are considered in the Industry to be expert business accountants and tax advisors for both individuals and small & medium sized businesses (SME's). Helping and supporting both individuals and limited company owners / self employed people throughout the UK and the world, they regularly help clients grow their business providing tailored advice and support. Their support has been considered invaluable by many clients and key to their success. For more information visit www.taxaffinity.com. To read more interesting articles like this visit www.taxaffinity.com/blog. Please feel free to comment and share this with your friends. The government's records for the past 12 months to March 2022 showed that consumer prices have risen as much as 13.4% in some sectors. This is much higher than the 9% reported a few weeks ago. It is therefore prudent to assume when bad news is highlighted by the government or a corporate entity it will most likely be understated.
Now that the ONS has issued more accurate figures its important medium to small sized businesses know the exact figures when it comes to costs to make sure they can budget correctly and choose to either absorb or pass on costs. So the business owner can safely steer the business through a recession or downturn. A quick list of UK inflation figures is below and it is advised that business owners plan and manage these as soon as possible:
Tax Affinity Accountants are rated as the number one business advisors for medium to small businesses. So if your a business owner who is effected by the inflation rises and need expert guidance and support then get in touch today and we will be happy to help you plan a strategy to steer your busines to growth and success. By Anni Khan at Tax Affinity Accountants Tax Affinity Accountants are experts Business, Tax and Accountancy. With branches in Worcester Park and Kingston upon Thames and Epsom and Ewell they are considered in the Industry to be expert business accountants and tax advisors for both individuals and small & medium sized businesses (SME's). Helping and supporting both individuals and limited company owners / self employed people throughout the UK and the world, they regularly help clients grow their business providing tailored advice and support. Their support has been considered invaluable by many clients and key to their success. For more information visit www.taxaffinity.com. To read more interesting articles like this visit www.taxaffinity.com/blog. Please feel free to comment and share this with your friends. HMRC relishes the idea that tax payers will make errors in their tax returns and then they will pay higher taxes or be fines for making errors. The number of errors by members of the public doing their own self assessments has been rising steeply in the last few years and HMRC has been raking in fines for errors. So its very important to try to ensure you make none.
Why? - Well simply mistakes on your tax returns could cost you a lot of hard earned money. Solution? - Avoid HMRC penalties and charges by making sure you don’t commit these mistakes during tax return time by getting an expert like Tax Affinity Accountants (one the most highly recommended accountants in the UK) to do calculate and submit the return for you and sleep easy at night knowing you paid the least tax and everything was correct according to HMRC rules. Key things to keep in double check:
A good tax accountant should save you much more in tax than what he/she charges. And having a Tax Affinity accountant calculate your personal and business tax situation will lead to zero mistakes on your return and a lower tax bill first time every time. Fill out our contact us page to find an office near you and we will be happy to help you sleep easier at night. By Anni Khan at Tax Affinity Accountants Tax Affinity Accountants are experts Business, Tax and Accountancy. With branches in Worcester Park and Kingston upon Thames and Epsom and Ewell they are considered in the Industry to be expert business accountants and tax advisors for both individuals and small & medium sized businesses (SME's). Helping and supporting both individuals and limited company owners / self employed people throughout the UK and the world, they regularly help clients grow their business providing tailored advice and support. Their support has been considered invaluable by many clients and key to their success. For more information visit www.taxaffinity.com. To read more interesting articles like this visit www.taxaffinity.com/blog. Please feel free to comment and share this with your friends. We have noticed that a lot of tax payers are missing out on claiming the 4th Self Employed grant and wanted to let everyone know not to miss out.
The Self Employed (SEISS) 4th and 5th grants were announced in March 2021 and are supposed to run to the end of Sept 2021. The 4th grant (April to June) is the same criteria as the previous ones (up to max £7500 of 80% of profits). While the 5th grant (July to Sept) will be banded with those who have seen a greater than 30% reduction in income eligible for 80% and those who have seen income fall less than 30% receiving a grant of only 30% (up to max £2,850). The cut off date for eligibility was 2nd March 2021 so the 19/20 tax return had to be submitted by then. And both will take into account 2019/20 tax returns figures filed. You still need to qualify with over 50% of your income coming from self employment rather than other sources. Many tax payers are hesitent because they are applying for mortages and remortgages where the lenders are unfairly saying to them they look unfavourably at the grants coming in. And this leads to tax payers being unfairly restricted on eligible grants or many other personal reasons such as divorce or employment. And because our company vision is to improve the financial life of every person in the world we are here to help anyone who needs help in this matter. So feel free to Contact Us via our online form. By Anni Khan at Tax Affinity Accountants Tax Affinity Accountants are experts Business, Tax and Accountancy. With branches in Worcester Park and Kingston upon Thames and Epsom and Ewell they are considered in the Industry to be expert business accountants and tax advisors for both individuals and small & medium sized businesses (SME's). Helping and supporting both individuals and limited company owners / self employed people throughout the UK and the world, they regularly help clients grow their business providing tailored advice and support. Their support has been considered invaluable by many clients and key to their success. For more information visit www.taxaffinity.com. To read more interesting articles like this visit www.taxaffinity.com/blog. Please feel free to comment and share this with your friends. UK GDP rises slightly in Quarter 4 of 2020 showing positive signs of economic growth according to the ONS UK (Office of National Statistics). This is despite a huge drop in GDP since the start of the covid 19 pandemic, cornavirus lockdowns and Brexit.
The ONS reported a rise of 0.97% from 498,000,000 Quarter 3 to 504,000,000 in Quarter 4 after massive 20% drop from 529,000,000 to 426,000,000 in Quarter 1 to Quarter 2 in 2020. Why is GDP important and why does mainstream media not report it? - Well the short answer is they are journalists not economists so they dont understand it as well as what a certain celebrity is wearing to the oscars etc. And the its easier to focus on nonsense that sells than statistics and fact that fly over the head of most readers. But business owners and directors and CEO's need to know what is happening to be able to plan and steer their businesses successfully through the current turbulent times. Importantly, quarter 1 2021 figures (ie January to March 2021) are yet to compiled these undoubtedly show a truer picture of the economy in its most recent state especially after Brexit on the 1st of January with their backlogs at the ports and problems with shipping in and out of Europe. British politicians were quick to report the 0.97% increase (without stating the figures, obviously) and say that their goverment support policies were helping but this hardly cover the 20% drop previosuly and what Quarter 1 GDP 2021 will show. Certainly there was pent up sales demand due to the lockdown and as soon as the lockdown was eased, UK shoppers returned in their droves to high street stores, pubs and gyms. But with the looming end of government furlough support in September 2021 the number of unemployed is likely to jump up again denting GDP towards the middle to end of 2021. Nonetheless all things considered this is positive sign that the UK may have bypassed a recession and having a complete wash out for 2021 like for 2020. By Anni Khan at Tax Affinity Accountants Tax Affinity Accountants are experts Business, Tax and Accountancy. With branches in Worcester Park and Kingston upon Thames and Epsom and Ewell they are considered in the Industry to be expert business accountants and tax advisors for both individuals and small & medium sized businesses (SME's). Helping and supporting both individuals and limited company owners / self employed people throughout the UK and the world, they regularly help clients grow their business providing tailored advice and support. Their support has been considered invaluable by many clients and key to their success. For more information visit www.taxaffinity.com. To read more interesting articles like this visit www.taxaffinity.com/blog. Please feel free to comment and share this with your friends. The UK Chancellor announced one-off top up grants for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses worth up to £9,000 per property to help businesses through to the Spring.
Businesses are advised to contact their local authority for discretionary grants and Local Restriction Support Grants worth up to from £1300 to £3,000 a month and extension of furlough scheme. This follows the Prime Minister’s announcement that business will be closed until at least February half-term in order to help control the coronavirus. The cash payment is accepted by the local authority is provided on a per-property basis to support businesses through the latest restrictions Chancellor Rishi Sunak also said: A further £594 million pounds is also being made available for Local Authorities and the Devolved Administrations to support other businesses not eligible for the grants, that might be affected by the restrictions. Businesses should apply to their Local Authorities as soon as possible. The new one-off grants come in addition to grants worth up to £3,000 for closed businesses, and up to £2,100 per month for impacted businesses once they reopen. The government has also provided 100% business rates relief for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses, £1.1 billion existing discretionary funding for Local Authorities, the furlough scheme now extended to April and 100% government backed loans, extended until March. More information
By Anni Khan at Tax Affinity Accountants Tax Affinity Accountants are experts in Tax and Accountancy. With branches in Worcester Park and Kingston upon Thames and Epsom and Ewell they are considered in the Industry to be expert business accountants and tax advisors for small and medium sized businesses (SME's). Helping and supporting limited company owners and self employed people throughout the UK, they regularly help clients grow their business providing tailored advice and support. Their support has been considered invaluable by many clients and key to their success. For more information visit www.taxaffinity.com. To read more interesting articles like this visit www.taxaffinity.com/blog. Please feel free to comment and share this with your friends. Only 20 working days left until HMRC self assessment deadline.
Did you know this year over 2700 people did their tax return on Christmas day this year according to HMRC. Those that did know that they have to get it done before the deadline of 31/01/2021 and that there is only 20 working days left (as of today 31/12/20). So if you have not had your 2019/20 (6.4.19 to 5.4.20) tax return completed then you urgently get in touch today as the number of working days are fast decreasing and before you know it the time will be gone and you may end up facing a fine by HMRC for missing the deadline. By Anni Khan at Tax Affinity Accountants Tax Affinity Accountants are experts in Tax and Accountancy. With branches in Worcester Park and Kingston upon Thames and Epsom and Ewell they are considered in the Industry to be expert business accountants and tax advisors for small and medium sized businesses (SME's). Helping and supporting limited company owners and self employed people throughout the UK, they regularly help clients grow their business providing tailored advice and support. Their support has been considered invaluable by many clients and key to their success. For more information visit www.taxaffinity.com. To read more interesting articles like this visit www.taxaffinity.com/blog. Please feel free to comment and share this with your friends./ |
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