Alistair Darling presented his third Budget on Wednesday 24 March 2010. Having acknowledged that the country is emerging from deep global recession and needing to provide a route to long term prosperity he announced a number of new measures. Main Budget proposals: Entrepreneurs’ Relief limit doubled to £2 million Annual Investment Allowance doubled to £100,000 […]

Good business advice is invaluable. This is why you cannot afford to be unaware of the South East Business Link – the indispensable business skills and training service which helps companies across the UK to maximise their potential and develop their skills. The service is free, impartial and objective; with the sole aim being to […]

Close companies, generally meaning family and owner managed companies, are subject to special rules in relation to loans or advances made to participators and their associates. Participators primarily means shareholders. Where such loans are written off or released an equivalent amount is treated as a deemed net dividend for income tax purposes. This aspect remains […]

In 2009 the government announced changes to employer supported childcare and HMRC have now issued further guidance on the changes. The amount of tax free childcare vouchers and directly contracted childcare for employees joining an employer’s scheme will be restricted in cases where an employee’s earnings and taxable benefits are liable to tax at the […]

The government has announced the latest employment statistics which show the number of people in employment has dropped by 54,000. Ian McCafferty, CBI Chief Economic Adviser, reacting to the latest statistics said: “Although the fall in unemployment is welcome, the figures also show that the number of people actually in work continued to fall, which […]

Fit notes will be brought into effect from April 2010 and are a replacement for sick notes. The information that doctors will be asked to provide means that instead of giving patients a sick note saying they are too ill to work, they will be able to advise whether a person may be fit for […]

HMRC are advising businesses that from 1 April 2010 all cheque payments by post will be treated as being received by HMRC on the date when cleared funds reach HMRC’s bank account. This change does not affect any cheque payments made by Bank Giro. Affected businesses will need to ensure that they allow enough time […]

At present the Stamp Duty Land Tax rate is 1% for residential property purchases where the consideration is more than £125,000 but does not exceed £250,000. Legislation will be introduced in the Finance Bill to give relief from SDLT where the consideration is more than £125,000 but not more than £250,000. This relief will apply […]

It was a real surprise to learn from the Budget that the flat rate of capital gains tax (CGT) of 18% is not changing – although there is a view that it will increase in due course. Just as big a surprise was the dramatic doubling of the valuable entrepreneurs’ relief on gains made on […]