Originally written by Anna Jordan on Small Business
Retailers in the West End of London want to extend tax-free shopping to EU shoppers after Brexit.
This will help them to get through the slump in sales following a slow recovery from the coronavirus lockdown. Footfall on London’s main shopping streets is down on pre-COVID 19 levels. It rose 12.7 per cent in the week to August 22nd, but this is still down 62 per cent on this time last year. Meanwhile, footfall is down 50 per cent in other regional cities and 30 per cent in outer London, according to Springboard.
A good chunk of this shortfall has been attributed to a lack of international tourists. New West End Company says that it relies on these visitors for over half of its £10bn annual revenue.
The organisation’s chairman, Peter Rogers, is calling for tax-free shopping to be extended to EU visitors once the Brexit transition period ends in December. His letter has signatures from over 70 executives including retail groups like Harrods and H&M.
>See also: How to cope with the slow return to trade post-lockdown
Why would extending tax-free shopping help businesses?
Statistics from NWEC, international tourists spend over £6bn, over half of which is tax-free.
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Rishi Sunak weighs increasing corporation tax to 24%
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
Rishi Sunak is eyeing raising corporation tax from 19 per cent to 24 per cent to help pay down Britain’s COVID-19 debt.
Such a move would raise £12bn next year, rising to £17bn in 2023-24, according to The Sunday Times.
Sunak will argue that 24 per cent is the global average tax rate for business and would still be lower than other European economies such as France, Germany, Italy and Spain.
>See also: Bank of England eyes Working Capital Jobs Retention Scheme
The corporation tax hike would be part of a £30bn tax squeeze on businesses, pensions and foreign aid, to help pay off the estimated £391bn the government will spend trying to stave off the economic consequences of Covid in 2020-21 alone.
Increase dividend tax
Meanwhile, the Treasury is also looking at increasing the tax rate for company directors who pay themselves in dividends – currently 7.5 per cent compared to a basic income tax rate of 20 per cent. Such a move would especially hurt sole traders and others who have already missed out on government COVID-19 financial support.
The Tories catcalled a proposal by Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour at the last election to tax dividends in line with
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Business body calls to extend tax-free shopping to EU visitors after Brexit
by Anna Jordan • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Anna Jordan on Small Business
Retailers in the West End of London want to extend tax-free shopping to EU shoppers after Brexit.
This will help them to get through the slump in sales following a slow recovery from the coronavirus lockdown. Footfall on London’s main shopping streets is down on pre-COVID 19 levels. It rose 12.7 per cent in the week to August 22nd, but this is still down 62 per cent on this time last year. Meanwhile, footfall is down 50 per cent in other regional cities and 30 per cent in outer London, according to Springboard.
A good chunk of this shortfall has been attributed to a lack of international tourists. New West End Company says that it relies on these visitors for over half of its £10bn annual revenue.
The organisation’s chairman, Peter Rogers, is calling for tax-free shopping to be extended to EU visitors once the Brexit transition period ends in December. His letter has signatures from over 70 executives including retail groups like Harrods and H&M.
>See also: How to cope with the slow return to trade post-lockdown
Why would extending tax-free shopping help businesses?
Statistics from NWEC, international tourists spend over £6bn, over half of which is tax-free.
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Bank of England eyes Working Capital Jobs Retention Scheme
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
EXCLUSIVE: The Bank of England is eyeing payroll finance technology as a possible successor to the furlough scheme, which ends in October.
The coronavirus jobs retention scheme will cost the government £60bn in total but industry is braced for millions being made redundant when the scheme closes on October 31.
PwC estimates that without any extension one in five of those now on furlough will be made redundant. The Bank of England itself estimates that unemployment will almost double to 7.5 per cent by the end of the year, as things stand.
>See also: What do SMEs think is the best business bank account? – survey
Called the Working Capital Jobs Retention Scheme, the ground-breaking payroll technology is the brainchild of David Brown, fintech entrepreneur and chief executive of Hi55. The WCJRS would enable the banks to fund up at least £4,300 per employee risk free, throwing businesses another working capital lifebelt.
This is because EU law stipulates that all European governments must still cover payroll for a fixed period should their employer go bust. The Employment Rights Act has been law since 1996.
In the UK the government must step in and pay each employee £538 for each
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Only 43% of businesses plan to claim £1,000 furlough bonus
by Anna Jordan • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Anna Jordan on Small Business
New figures reveal that almost half of businesses aren’t going to take up the £1,000 furlough bonus scheme.
The latest British Chamber of Commerce (BCC) Coronavirus Business Tracker was carried out around two weeks after the Chancellor’s Summer Statement, gathering responses from over 500 companies.
The intention of the scheme is to give employers confidence in retaining and hiring employees. Plans also include a subsidy to cover some of the pay for young people and grants for apprenticeships and trainees.
Even fewer businesses want to take part in these other schemes. A substantial 56 per cent of businesses said they didn’t intend on using the Kickstart scheme, a further 31 per cent hadn’t even heard of the scheme and 8 per cent want to use it but are not eligible.
Measures are insufficient in protecting jobs with almost a third of businesses expecting to cut workforces in the next three months, according to the BCC. Some firms say the coverage from the bonus scheme isn’t worthwhile as it’ll still be too costly to bring employees back.
Over half of firms (55 per cent) have reported a slight or significant decrease in their cash flow since June 2020. Another
Hot Business News Today
Only 43% of businesses plan to claim £1,000 furlough bonus
by Anna Jordan • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Anna Jordan on Small Business
New figures reveal that almost half of businesses aren’t going to take up the £1,000 furlough bonus scheme.
The latest British Chamber of Commerce (BCC) Coronavirus Business Tracker was carried out around two weeks after the Chancellor’s Summer Statement, gathering responses from over 500 companies.
The intention of the scheme is to give employers confidence in retaining and hiring employees. Plans also include a subsidy to cover some of the pay for young people and grants for apprenticeships and trainees.
Even fewer businesses want to take part in these other schemes. A substantial 56 per cent of businesses said they didn’t intend on using the Kickstart scheme, a further 31 per cent hadn’t even heard of the scheme and 8 per cent want to use it but are not eligible.
Measures are insufficient in protecting jobs with almost a third of businesses expecting to cut workforces in the next three months, according to the BCC. Some firms say the coverage from the bonus scheme isn’t worthwhile as it’ll still be too costly to bring employees back.
Over half of firms (55 per cent) have reported a slight or significant decrease in their cash flow since June 2020. Another
Hot Business News Today
Nearly a quarter of small businesses cut jobs despite furlough scheme
by Anna Jordan • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Anna Jordan on Small Business
The latest research from the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) shows that 23 per cent of firms had already cut jobs in the last quarter, which is an all-time record for the survey.
This is predicted to become even more of an issue as the furlough scheme starts to taper off next month. The scheme has covered the wages of over 9m workers since it was introduced in April. But starting August 1st employers will need to start paying national insurance and pension contributions for furloughed staff, putting a further financial strain on bosses.
Begbies Traynor have carried out research of their own showing that an increasing number of small businesses are in distress. In fact, the number has risen by 16,000 since the end of March this year, now totalling 52,000 businesses. By ‘in distress’, Red Flag means that a businesses has had a minor County Court Judgement (of less than £5k) filed against them or that they’ve been identified in Red Flag’s credit scoring system as having a key or marked deterioration in key financial indicators.
The firm’s latest Red Flag report shows that this Q2 was the seventh consecutive quarter showing an increase
Hot Business News Today
Nearly a quarter of small businesses cut jobs despite furlough scheme
by Anna Jordan • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Anna Jordan on Small Business
The latest research from the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) shows that 23 per cent of firms had already cut jobs in the last quarter, which is an all-time record for the survey.
This is predicted to become even more of an issue as the furlough scheme starts to taper off next month. The scheme has covered the wages of over 9m workers since it was introduced in April. But starting August 1st employers will need to start paying national insurance and pension contributions for furloughed staff, putting a further financial strain on bosses.
Begbies Traynor have carried out research of their own showing that an increasing number of small businesses are in distress. In fact, the number has risen by 16,000 since the end of March this year, now totalling 52,000 businesses. By ‘in distress’, Red Flag means that a businesses has had a minor County Court Judgement (of less than £5k) filed against them or that they’ve been identified in Red Flag’s credit scoring system as having a key or marked deterioration in key financial indicators.
The firm’s latest Red Flag report shows that this Q2 was the seventh consecutive quarter showing an increase
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Why the Government’s new insolvency bill is bad news for sole traders
by Simon Dolan • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Simon Dolan on Small Business
Earlier this month, aviation millionaire Simon Dolan, who is worth £200m according to the Sunday Times Rich List, lost his bid to bring a High Court challenge against the Government over the coronavirus response. He is appealing against the against the decision denying him permission to bring a judicial review over lockdown.
When I first initiated legal proceedings against the Government over the introduction of lockdown, the last thing I thought I would be talking about is the changes to the Insolvency Act, and yet these changes are fundamental, regressive, and without doubt will lead to far more issues – all in a vain attempt to prop up the economy for a few more weeks.
Yet, as an accountant with over 30 years’ worth of experience in the industry, I have looked on in horror over the last few months as the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act breezed through the Commons and Lords without any adequate scrutiny and became law two weeks ago.
>See also: How to deal with a furloughed employee who refuses to return to work
What the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act means
In the round, the introduction of the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act
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How to cope with the slow return to trade post-lockdown
by Stuart Crook • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Stuart Crook on Small Business
July 4 marked the most recent phase of coronavirus restrictions easing in the UK, which allowed for pubs, restaurants, and private events to return to trade post-lockdown. Engineering, construction, and non-essential retail had already re-opened, however many are discovering that it isn’t simply a case of “business as usual”.
The Government has offered many different forms of financial aid during the pandemic to help businesses weather the economic freeze, including the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) and Bounce Back Loans (BBL), which have all been greatly received. However, even with businesses opening their doors to the public again, there are new rules and restrictions in place which must be followed which will impact on the bottom line of businesses and squeeze margins.
So, the challenge now isn’t so much restarting operations, but finding a way to do so profitably.
>See also: A quarter of entrepreneurs don’t use social media for their small business
Demand for sales
The Government was praised for its £330bn war chest at the beginning of lockdown to help businesses survive and protect the nation from mass unemployment. The idea was that it would protect the economy and ensure