Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
The government should act to help self-employed excluded from Covid support because more than 50% of their income comes from elsewhere.
This deliberate exclusion is unfair and disproportionately attacks women on modest incomes, says the influential Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS).
This is the second time the IFS has waded into the argument about the self-employed in as many days. Yesterday, the IFS published a report calling for the self-employed to pay more tax.
>See also: You should file your tax return by January 31, despite HMRC extension
Over a million self-employed people who have less than 50% of their income coming from self-employment have been excluded from the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS).
The IFS says that it is manifestly unfair that someone who declares profits of 51 per cent from self-employed income can claim the maximum, while those who claim 49 per cent of profits get nothing.
SEISS provides payments once per quarter worth 80 per cent of pre-pandemic profits up to a cap of £7,500 (per quarter) for eligible self-employed workers who have been adversely affected by the pandemic.
The scheme is expected to have cost £28bn by April 2021, making emergency Covid payments to at least
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Government must help self-employed excluded due to 50% income rule
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
The government should act to help self-employed excluded from Covid support because more than 50% of their income comes from elsewhere.
This deliberate exclusion is unfair and disproportionately attacks women on modest incomes, says the influential Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS).
This is the second time the IFS has waded into the argument about the self-employed in as many days. Yesterday, the IFS published a report calling for the self-employed to pay more tax.
>See also: You should file your tax return by January 31, despite HMRC extension
Over a million self-employed people who have less than 50% of their income coming from self-employment have been excluded from the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS).
The IFS says that it is manifestly unfair that someone who declares profits of 51 per cent from self-employed income can claim the maximum, while those who claim 49 per cent of profits get nothing.
SEISS provides payments once per quarter worth 80 per cent of pre-pandemic profits up to a cap of £7,500 (per quarter) for eligible self-employed workers who have been adversely affected by the pandemic.
The scheme is expected to have cost £28bn by April 2021, making emergency Covid payments to at least
Hot Business News Today
MPs give taxman six weeks to sort out Covid payments for freelancers
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
MPs have given HMRC six weeks to come up with solutions for freelancers and others excluded from receiving Covid financial support.
In its report, the influential Public Accounts Committee has asked the taxman to explain why 1.6m freelancers alone have been excluded from Covid help, let alone the 3m excluded overall.
MPs blamed “quirks in the tax system” making groups of workers, including freelancers and the self-employed, ineligible for furlough payments.
>See also: Thousands of self-employed mothers miss out on COVID-19 SEISS payments
Meg Hillier MP, chair of the PAC, said: “As public spending balloons to unprecedented levels in response to the pandemic, out-of-date tax systems are one of the barriers to getting help to a significant of struggling taxpayers who should be entitled to support.”
The PAC MPs are just one group calling for the chancellor to give financial support to freelancers excluded from Covid support.
Meanwhile, former Brexit secretary David Davis has written to chancellor Rishi Sunak asking him to ensure that the newly self-employed are included in the final found of Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) grants.
This could see more than half a million freelancers qualifying for emergency Covid financial support after all. This is because
Hot Business News Today
MPs give taxman six weeks to sort out Covid payments for freelancers
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
MPs have given HMRC six weeks to come up with solutions for freelancers and others excluded from receiving Covid financial support.
In its report, the influential Public Accounts Committee has asked the taxman to explain why 1.6m freelancers alone have been excluded from Covid help, let alone the 3m excluded overall.
MPs blamed “quirks in the tax system” making groups of workers, including freelancers and the self-employed, ineligible for furlough payments.
>See also: Thousands of self-employed mothers miss out on COVID-19 SEISS payments
Meg Hillier MP, chair of the PAC, said: “As public spending balloons to unprecedented levels in response to the pandemic, out-of-date tax systems are one of the barriers to getting help to a significant of struggling taxpayers who should be entitled to support.”
The PAC MPs are just one group calling for the chancellor to give financial support to freelancers excluded from Covid support.
Meanwhile, former Brexit secretary David Davis has written to chancellor Rishi Sunak asking him to ensure that the newly self-employed are included in the final found of Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) grants.
This could see more than half a million freelancers qualifying for emergency Covid financial support after all. This is because
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CDMX bet on hospitalization at home
by Entrepreneur en Español • • 0 Comments
They will provide oxygen and pressure and temperature measurement equipment, as well as permanent medical monitoring and laboratory studies.
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Quarter of a million small businesses set to fold without more Covid help
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
Over 250,000 small businesses are set to close this year without further Covid financial help, according to the latest FSB study.
Five per cent of small businesses surveyed said they do not expect to struggle on beyond 2021.
One in five small businesses made staff redundant between October and December last year. One in seven expect to do so before April.
>See also: Small business calls for multibillion-pound Covid-19 support package
The quarterly Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) Small Business Index (SBI) showed confidence at second lowest ebb in report’s 10-year history.
And the cohort expecting profits to fall in the first quarter this year hit an all-time high, with exporters having to deal with EU red tape as the UK-EU trade deal shakes down.
Mike Cherry, chairman of the FSB, said that although small business has welcomed the Covid help lifelines thrown to the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors, the government must realise that the small community is wider than that.
Nothing has been done for company directors, the newly self-employed and those who do not use commercial premises, Mr Cherry said.
>See also: Which small businesses can stay open in national lockdown?
Last week, the FSB published a five-point plan
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Which small businesses can stay open in national lockdown?
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
Which small businesses can stay open during the national lockdown? Here is the partial list of what businesses can remain open with different rules for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
England
Prime minister Boris Johnson announced a third national lockdown for England on Monday, January 5.
This third national lockdown is expected to last until March 31 as the coronavirus vaccines are rolled out and the population becomes immunised.
Small businesses that must close in England
non-essential retail, including clothing and homeware stores, vehicle showrooms (other than for rental), betting shops, tailors, tobacco and vape shops, electronic goods and mobile phone shops, auction houses (except for auctions of livestock or agricultural equipment) and market stalls selling non-essential goods
hospitality venues such as cafes, restaurants, pubs, bars and social clubs; with the exception of providing food and non-alcoholic drinks for takeaway (until 11pm)
accommodation such as hotels, hostels, guest houses and campsites, except for specific circumstances
leisure and sports facilities such as leisure centres and gyms, swimming pools, sports courts, fitness and dance studios, riding arenas at riding centres, climbing walls, and golf courses
entertainment venues such as theatres, concert halls, cinemas, museums and galleries, casinos, amusement arcades, bingo halls, bowling alleys,
Hot Business News Today
Which small businesses can stay open in national lockdown?
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
Which small businesses can stay open during the national lockdown? Here is the partial list of what businesses can remain open with different rules for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
England
Prime minister Boris Johnson announced a third national lockdown for England on Monday, January 5.
This third national lockdown is expected to last until March 31 as the coronavirus vaccines are rolled out and the population becomes immunised.
Small businesses that must close in England
non-essential retail, including clothing and homeware stores, vehicle showrooms (other than for rental), betting shops, tailors, tobacco and vape shops, electronic goods and mobile phone shops, auction houses (except for auctions of livestock or agricultural equipment) and market stalls selling non-essential goods
hospitality venues such as cafes, restaurants, pubs, bars and social clubs; with the exception of providing food and non-alcoholic drinks for takeaway (until 11pm)
accommodation such as hotels, hostels, guest houses and campsites, except for specific circumstances
leisure and sports facilities such as leisure centres and gyms, swimming pools, sports courts, fitness and dance studios, riding arenas at riding centres, climbing walls, and golf courses
entertainment venues such as theatres, concert halls, cinemas, museums and galleries, casinos, amusement arcades, bingo halls, bowling alleys,
Hot Business News Today
Small business calls for multibillion-pound Covid-19 support package
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
Small business has asked the chancellor for a multibillion support package to help get it through to the other side of the pandemic.
Mike Cherry, national chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses, has written to Rishi Sunak outlining his proposed small business support package.
Measures include a second round of £10,000 grants, a new German-style reimbursement scheme for lost trading, improved terms for state-backed Bounce Back Loans and income support for the newly self-employed.
>See also: Rishi Sunak urged to help self-employed company directors
Small businesses with fewer than 50 employees account for 99 per cent of all businesses in the UK. SMEs account for three fifths of all employment in the private sector.
In particular, the FSB has called for:
Small Business cash grants – a second round of one-off grants of £10,000 through the Small Business Grant Fund (SBGF), plus targeted grants of up to £25,000 for small firms in retail, hospitality and leisure
Revenue Loss Scheme – a German-style scheme to reimburse small businesses for the financial impact of a significant loss in custom, whereby the government would cover a percentage of lost revenue compared to the same time last year. The German version of this
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Turn Covid emergency debt into shared ownership, urges small business
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
The government should consider converting “unmanageable” levels of Covid debt into shared company ownership, the Federation of Small Businesses has urged.
Four out of 10 small businesses called their level of debt “unmanageable” in a FSB report published over the weekend.
Nearly half of those surveyed used personal finance products such as personal credit cards, overdrafts and loans to keep their businesses going.
Shared ownership means employees owning shares in the businesses they work for. Famous employee-owned businesses include John Lewis and, most recently, Richer Sounds, which was taken over by its employees in May last year.
Currently, 370 UK companies are categorised as employee-ownership SME businesses, 61 per cent have changed ownership in just the past five years.
Employee-owned businesses in Britain are currently worth £20.1bn between them, employing 178,000 people.
The FSB told The Times that emergency Covid debt could be assigned to an employee ownership trust in return for the trust getting preference shares in the business of the same value, plus an option to acquire 10 per cent of the business when there is a future change of control. Turning Covid debt into shared ownership would move the debt off the company’s balance sheet, the