Small Business Matters

Small Business Expert – Reflections on Emergency Budget

Gordon Archer, retired engineer and top Intuit Community contributor shares his thoughts on the UK Emergency Budget and what it means for small business owners:

“The unprecedented step of releasing information 24 hours ahead of the Budget statement was a big surprise, but the new rate of VAT at 20% has been the main headline. This does not take effect until January 2011, so watch out for all those ‘beat the VAT rise deals’ then.

“Interestingly, the tax on businesses is being reduced year on year, which can only be good as long as the retail economy holds up. It’s supposed to attract inward investment but we’ll have to wait and see! 
 

Osborne has spoken!

At 12.30pm today the long anticipated emergency budget was announced. As the first budget under the new Coalition Government, and due to the current financial situation the UK is in, it comes as no surprise that George Osborne, the Chancellor, has delivered a hard-hitting budget.

In order to address the highly publicised economic challenges Osborne, as expected, has revealed significant public spending cuts and tax increases, including raising VAT from 17.5 per cent to 20 per cent.

 
With the VAT rate change set to come into effect from 4th January 2011 it is fair to say that the next few months will create a number of administration headaches for UK small businesses, something they are familiar with having already had two budgets and VAT changes within a year.  With this in mind Small Business Britain needs to make sure they have the agility to succeed in this changing environment. One of the most basic ways to do this is to make sure they have crystal clear insight in to the finances of their business. Not only will this help them to stay on top of cash flow, it will also allow business owners to tackle the latest changes to VAT and therefore allow them to focus on running and enjoying their business.

Budget 2010: What’s in store for small businesses?

The budget date is set for Wednesday 24th and we’re all wondering what strategies Darling will have in store to reduce the growing £178bn fiscal deficit. Having experienced some of the most turbulent times on record, small business owners will be calling for the Chancellor to restore confidence in the UK economy and asking for the needs of small businesses to be taken into immediate account.

According to research conducted by YouGov and commissioned by Intuit, the driving force behind Small Business Britain, over 45% of British small business owners want banks to offer better rates for their small business customers, 35% want interest cuts to be passed on in full and 40% believe that a reduction in employers’ national insurance contributions are essential.

However, while these are the issues that matter the most to small businesses, many are questioning whether Darling will actually be able to address them with the General Election looming:

“We need a clear plan from government on spending and taxes, but this will only be clear after the election.”  (Julian Lewis, MD of Positive Computing)

This month’s budget looks set to be an interesting day, especially as the nation starts to look beyond the recession.  We’ll definitely be tuning in on budget day and reporting on the issues that concern UK small businesses, so be sure to check out the blog.

If you’re a small business owner with a view on the Budget why not get involved with our discussion at www.smallbusinessbritain.co.uk