Monthly Archives: July 2021

Hot Business News Today

Government ‘should write off’ £1.7bn of Covid loan debt

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

The government should write off £1.7bn worth of Covid loan debt if thousands of small businesses shopkeepers are not going to go to the wall.

Independent high street businesses now owe four times as much as they did a year ago, with firms owing a total of £1.7bn, said Bill Grimsey, ex-boss of supermarket chain Iceland and DIY chains Wickes and Focus DIY.

According to Grimsey, small shops have survived the pandemic by borrowing, but are now faced with the task of paying it back. He called for a government “forgiveness scheme” to write off taxpayer-backed loans for viable small businesses.

>See also: HMRC to go easy on small business strangled with Covid debt

Unless the government steps in, the UK could face a “tsunami” of shop closures this autumn, the veteran retail boss said.

Grimsey pointed out that France is working on ways to help its small businesses get out from under the mountain of Covid debt.

Former chancellor George Osborne has also said the government should just write off small business Covid-19 financial support, while the Federation of Small Businesses said Bounce Back Loan debt should be converted into

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Hot Business News Today

New EU VAT regulation – how accounting software can help

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By Alice Feilden on Small Business – Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs

In the age of the pandemic, online shopping significantly increased. Businesses small and established alike took to e-commerce and shipping overseas, with the advent of social distancing and the closure of non-essential shops. But, the new EU VAT regulation could cause challenges for these businesses.

On 1st July, the European Union made changes to the way VAT is reported and paid. While the UK is no longer a member of the EU, the changes could impact businesses selling products and services online to customers.

The change to EU VAT reporting, which is designed to simplify tax reporting, increase online cross-border transactions and promote e-commerce, should help small businesses new and old operate in a post-Brexit, post-pandemic world.

What changes have been implemented?

Since 2015, the EU has been working to simplify VAT obligations for goods and service providers. In short, the EU made to ensure each country was benefitting from the correct taxes on goods arriving from elsewhere. The changes have been implemented in stages, with the 1st July introduction concluding the process.

One of the main changes to take note of is that for sales to consumers, VAT is

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