The Chancellor’s Autumn Statement wasn’t all doom and gloom. There is some heartening news for small businesses, despite his assurances of continuing austerity measures.
Changes in Business Rates
The vexing question of rates for small businesses has been addressed, with small retailers reaping the most benefit. They will receive a £1000 discount in the next two years. A 50% discount has also been announced for anyone moving for trading purposes into a property that has been left vacant. The small business rate relief scheme is to continue beyond 2014, and you will be able to pay in 12 monthly instalments. All business rate rises will be capped at 2%.
Checking the Rising Cost of Using Your Car
Other areas helpful to the small business include the freezing of fuel duty again in 2014. And the Chancellor took the opportunity to emphasise that without this and his previous decisions not to increase the duty, petrol and diesel could be around 20p higher per litre.
Young Persons’ National Insurance Contributions Scrapped
The government wishes to encourage employers to recruit young people so, if you employ anyone under 21, from April 2015, there will be no national insurance contributions due for them. This has been criticised for making life harder for 21 year old job seekers, and for not encouraging young people to gain more skills before taking full time employment. It is, however, good news for workers who will be in the right age bracket, and it may slightly reduce the financial burden on employers, who will also be eligible for the £2,000 Employment Allowance that will come into effect in April 2014.
Responding to Regulatory Change
Every time regulatory changes are introduced, small business owners must take note and make the appropriate administrative changes. If you know that your outsourced bookkeepers can be trusted to deal with all of them, it can take a load off your mind. Without this kind of assistance a good part of a number of working days could be taken up with sorting out what adjustments you will have to make – time that could otherwise be usefully put to your core business activities and developing them further.
Pretty well everything announced by the Chancellor has a future start date, and these dates can easily be missed when you are busy getting a firm foothold in the markets. That’s when having proactive outsourced bookkeepers can really pay dividends. You can get on with your everyday business life knowing that you won’t have any compliance issues and all your financial responsibilities will be taken care of at the right time.
