Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
Small business minister Paul Scully is trying to help the 1.6m owner-directors shut out of coronavirus government business support schemes.
Although Treasury has said that owner-directors of small businesses could furlough themselves through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, as a company director you can only pay yourself up to £800 through PAYE – which means you have to take the balance of salary as dividends.
For somebody earning £800 per month through PAYE, this would equate to a monthly income of £640.
Mr Scully, speaking during a webinar hosted by accountancy software firm Intuit on Wednesday, he wanted to get money “asap” to owner-directors who “are falling between the cracks” of government coronavirus schemes.
However, the problem is, according to Mr Scully, that the tax system doesn’t differentiate between dividends as part of pay and dividends earned as passive investment income from shares.
There is also a public perception issue as government would not want to be seen to be rewarding company directors who already pay less tax than those paying in through PAYE. Basic tax on dividends is 7.5 per cent; the basic income tax rate is 20 per cent on top of national insurance contributions.
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Government launches business Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
Chancellor Rishi Sunak has announced a Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme to protect small business jobs.
Any PAYE-qualifying small business employee will qualify for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, which will cover 80 per cent of a regular salary up to £2,500 a month, just above the median income.
>See also: How to get the government’s £10,000 cash grant for small businesses
Small business owners must apply to HMRC and the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme will be backdated to March 1 to cover a three-month period.
Sunak said there was no limit on how much this job-retention scheme might cost, which will be financed through the national debt.
The government expects the first job-retention grants to be payed before the end of April.
Sunak also announced that small businesses would be able to defer next quarter’s VAT, a direct injection of £30bn of cash-flow support for SMEs.
>See also: How do I apply for a Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan?
Sunak called his latest package “unprecedented in the history of the British state … you will not face this alone”.
This package of measures “will protect jobs and strengthens the safety net”, the chancellor reiterated.
Sunak said: “The government is doing its best to stand