Monthly Archives: October 2019

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It’s time for a modern tax system that works for the self-employed

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Originally written by Chris Bryce on Small Business
The self-employed are one of the UK’s great economic success stories. As their numbers have shot up in the last ten years – from 3.8 million to almost 5 million – so too has their economic contribution (including tax).
Self-employed workers contributed £275bn to the economy in 2018 – enough to fund the NHS twice over. They also provide businesses across the UK with vital flexibility and specialist expertise.
Despite the crucial contribution of freelancers, however, the fact is that today they are being stifled by a tax system that just doesn’t work for them. The analogue and outdated tax system in the UK was built with just two groups in mind: employers and employees. And as the number of self-employed has grown, tensions have increased in this creaking system.
The problem is that instead of redesigning the tax system to work for the self-employed, successive governments have just tried to patch it up and retrofit it. The result is confusion and heavy-handed, damaging policies like the off-payroll working rules aka ‘IR35’.
The latest iteration of this cumbersome tax law is basically designed to force non-employees into the employee tax system. It’s a crude policy that has

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NatWest adds another £2.2bn to its Brexit Growth Fund

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Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
NatWest has added another £2.2bn in capacity to its £6bn Brexit Growth Fund to help small businesses.
The NatWest Growth Funding initiative, designed to help scale-ups, fund green initiatives and navigate current Brexit uncertainty was doubled this year to £6bn.
So far, NatWest has committed £5.6bn of the £8.2bn available, removing any cap on amounts which can be borrowed.
The bank says it has identified several thousand customers likely to suffer most from Brexit uncertainties and plans to contact them directly.
>See also: Cashplus plans to lend £400m to small business from next year
In addition, NatWest is holding a roadshow across the UK answering questions from small and growth business about Brexit means for them. The next two events will be held on October 21 in Birmingham and October 222 in Milton Keynes, where the focus will be on four areas: importing and exporting, supplying services to the EU, employees, and using and transferring data. To find out more, go to the NatWest Brexit Hub.
Paul Thwaite, MD commercial banking, said: “During a time of such uncertainty, it is imperative that we do all we can to support our customers. Our business customers are extremely busy, and there

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