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Spring Budget 2017 – A mixed bag for SME's?

Spring Budget 2017 – A mixed bag for SME's?

Wednesday 8th March was an important date for the Chancellor and more so for UK businesses. The spring budget has been dubbed a ‘mixed bag’ for SMEs, particularly after the Chancellor announced a rise in national insurance and then performed a swift U-turn on issue.

It has been announced that tax-free dividend allowance will be reduced from £5,000 to £2,000 from April 2018. The measure is thought to reduce the tax difference between the self-employed and those working through a company.

In other budget news, the Chancellor has pledged that landlords and small businesses who come under the VAT threshold (currently £83,000) will have an extra year to prepare for making tax digital.  This will allow more time to prepare for the digital record keeping and the quarterly updates which making tax digital will bring.

The announcement will potentially lessen the financial strain on small businesses to invest in accounting software and training for making tax digital, scheduled to start in April 2018.

Making tax digital is set to change the way businesses report to HMRC. Announced in the March 2015 budget, businesses will soon have to transfer records to compliant digital software and update HMRC quarterly, rather than the traditional once a year reporting.

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