Monthly Archives: September 2020

Win up to £250,000 of funding for your start-up

Originally written by Nick Ismail on Small Business
Worth Capital are back on the hunt for start-ups with the return of the Start-Up Series.
After a brief lockdown induced hiatus, we’re thrilled to be re-opening the competition doors once again for the September Series. Continuing our usual monthly cycle, the competition is open for entries from 1st to 14th of each month, where we’ll be hunting for ambitious start-ups with the potential to become much loved brands. Regardless of sector or whether you’re a B2B or B2C business, as long as your start-up is eligible for SEIS or EIS HMRC advance assurance, then we’ll consider your application.
Winners will receive up to £250,000 of equity funding, a minimum of two-years expert support from Worth Capital and media coverage on smallbusiness.co.uk and other channels to promote your business and follow your journey.
See how to enter here.
Hayley Etherington, Business Operations Director of Worth Capital, said: “The Start-Up Series has already invested over £4.2M into some of the UK’s most promising start-ups – which makes us the largest seed funding competition in the UK.
“We’re hoping and expecting that the September Series, and beyond, continues to attract the very best UK entrepreneurial talent for our investors to

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Rishi Sunak weighs increasing corporation tax to 24%

Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
Rishi Sunak is eyeing raising corporation tax from 19 per cent to 24 per cent to help pay down Britain’s COVID-19 debt.
Such a move would raise £12bn next year, rising to £17bn in 2023-24, according to The Sunday Times.
Sunak will argue that 24 per cent is the global average tax rate for business and would still be lower than other European economies such as France, Germany, Italy and Spain.
>See also: Bank of England eyes Working Capital Jobs Retention Scheme
The corporation tax hike would be part of a £30bn tax squeeze on businesses, pensions and foreign aid, to help pay off the estimated £391bn the government will spend trying to stave off the economic consequences of Covid in 2020-21 alone.
Increase dividend tax
Meanwhile, the Treasury is also looking at increasing the tax rate for company directors who pay themselves in dividends – currently 7.5 per cent compared to a basic income tax rate of 20 per cent. Such a move would especially hurt sole traders and others who have already missed out on government COVID-19 financial support.
The Tories catcalled a proposal by Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour at the last election to tax dividends in line with

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Business body calls to extend tax-free shopping to EU visitors after Brexit

Originally written by Anna Jordan on Small Business
Retailers in the West End of London want to extend tax-free shopping to EU shoppers after Brexit.
This will help them to get through the slump in sales following a slow recovery from the coronavirus lockdown. Footfall on London’s main shopping streets is down on pre-COVID 19 levels. It rose 12.7 per cent in the week to August 22nd, but this is still down 62 per cent on this time last year. Meanwhile, footfall is down 50 per cent in other regional cities and 30 per cent in outer London, according to Springboard.
A good chunk of this shortfall has been attributed to a lack of international tourists. New West End Company says that it relies on these visitors for over half of its £10bn annual revenue.
The organisation’s chairman, Peter Rogers, is calling for tax-free shopping to be extended to EU visitors once the Brexit transition period ends in December. His letter has signatures from over 70 executives including retail groups like Harrods and H&M.
>See also: How to cope with the slow return to trade post-lockdown
Why would extending tax-free shopping help businesses?
Statistics from NWEC, international tourists spend over £6bn, over half of which is tax-free.

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