SMEs – Benefit from financial support for your business
The Government has announced a range of financial support available for small to medium sized businesses. Here’s a summary of tax relief that you could claim or discounts available enabling you to benefit from savings to help your business.
Claim Employment Allowance
If you’re a business and your employer Class 1 National Insurance liabilities were less than £100,000 in the previous tax year you are eligible to claim up to £5,000 as part of the Employment Allowance is a tax relief scheme.
This in effect gives nearly half a million SMEs a tax cut of £1,000.
Find out if your business is eligible to reduce your National Insurance contributions (NICs) bills each year.
Learn new skills with Help to Grow
Help to Grow is a government backed scheme that aims to help businesses grow, providing new skills and helping to increase profits.
Help to Grow: Digital is UK wide and provides free online support and guidance to helping businesses choose digital technologies for their business. Eligible businesses can also receive up to 50% discount towards buying new software worth up to £5,000.
The Help to Grow: Management scheme offers a 12-week course offering one to one support from a business mentor and enables development of a bespoke business growth plan. This programme is 90% government funded through leading UK business schools.
To be eligible, you must be a UK-based SME, actively trading for at least one year and have a total of between 5 and 249 employees.
Business rates reduction
Small retail, hospitality and leisure businesses have had a tough few years and the latest government scheme will see 400,000 eligible properties benefit from 50% off their business rate bills.
Business rates usually rise with inflation each year but the method in which they are calculated has been frozen for another year from April 2022.
There will also be no business rates due from April 2022 on a range of green technology, including solar panels and batteries. Heat networks will also receive 100% relief.
Super-deduction and Annual Investment Allowance
Tax breaks are available for companies wishing to invest in their business. These include:
The super-deduction – for every pound a company invests in qualifying machinery and equipment including computers, some commercial vehicles and office furniture, taxes are cut by up to 25p.
The Annual Investment Allowance – the period for this has been extended to March 2023. Businesses can invest up to £1 million on qualifying business equipment and deduct the full cost before calculating taxable profits.
Fuel Duty cut
From March 2022, fuel duty on petrol and diesel has been cut by 5 pence per litre for 12 months. The cut equates to savings of around £200 for van drivers and £1,500 for the average haulier.
Working with McKenzies Accountants
If you feel you require additional support in managing your management accounts or would like further advice on the initiatives and schemes available so that your business benefits from tax breaks, discounts and investment opportunities, we have the expertise to help guide you through your financial journey. You can book an initial hour-long free consultation in the first instance.