Monthly Archives: August 2021

Hot Business News Today

Failings revealed in Covid Recovery Loan Scheme

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By Anna Jordan on Small Business – Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs

A number of problems have been exposed with the government’s Covid Recovery Loan Scheme.

The Times reports that lenders are warning of weak demand for the scheme post-pandemic from small businesses. There are also issues with firms that want to access the state-backed funding.

One banker told the newspaper that the previous Covid-19 emergency funding, totalling around £74bn, had been “too generous”.

The RLS is intended to bridge the gap between the emergency Covid-19 financial support and more normal credit conditions. RLS provides credit up to £10m and comes with an 80 per cent government guarantee for lenders – less generous than the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) and the Bounce Back Loan scheme (BBLS).

>See also: Recovery Loan Scheme up to £10m will replace CBILS and BBLS

However, there is evidence pointing to other issues with the scheme, namely too few accredited lenders and a high number of application rejections. Only 18 providers are accredited by the British Business Bank to distribute the loans.  

Mr Bounce Back, a website discussing Bounce Back Loans, Recovery Loans and the Recovery Loan Scheme, has had “message after message” from firms

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Hot Business News Today

Make December 31 end of tax year, says small business

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By Timothy Adler on Small Business – Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs

Small business owners are overwhelmingly in favour of changing the tax year to the end of December to simplify the system.

In a survey of 500 small and medium-sized businesses, 91 per cent supported moving the date for filing tax affairs, according to accountancy firm BDO.

Companies said that the transition would have to be planned carefully, with longer deadlines to accommodate the change, but they supported the inevitable short-term disruption as it would make the UK tax system fit for the 21st century.

>See also: Nearly 300,000 sole traders face increased tax bills

The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) told the Financial Times that moving the small business tax year could simplify the accounting process, but cautioned that care should be taken to ensure the adjustment did not encumber companies with extra bureaucracy.

Paul Falvey, a tax partner at BDO, told the Times: “Businesses are hoping that a rethink of the tax system can help them to flourish following the challenges of Brexit and Covid-19. Changing the tax year to December 31 is supported by businesses of all sizes and will be particularly helpful for those with international connections.”

The

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