The Budget 2015: key points for startups and SMEs
Looks like George Osborne is spoiling us - we already had a budget back in March, but due to the new elected government it’s time for the little red briefcase to make another appearance, and to find out what's next in store for the economy. How it will affect SMEs across the UK? We already asked a variety of our startups what they’d like to see. Now, here are the points every business owner needs to know about.
- 2 million more jobs have been created, and the economy has grown by 3% - and the aim is to create 1 million new jobs over the next 5 years
- Investment in businesses is 31.9% higher than in 2010
- Permanent non-dom tax status will be abolished if you’ve lived in the UK for 15 out of 20 years
- Companies with profits over £20 million a year will pay accelerated corporation tax
- The bank levy is to be reduced
- Increased spending on roads will improve the UK's infrastructure, and a Road Investment Fund will be set up dedicated to this purpose
- Large firms will have to pay apprenticeship levies to ensure apprenticeships are high quality, and a commitment to 3 million new apprenticeships has been announced
- More powers to be devolved to the North and the Midlands, and £30 million to be invested into the transport infrastructure of the North – great news for startups outside of London
- Fewer tax breaks for buy-to-let landlords, but tax relief for renting out a room – a nod to the sharing economy
- £1 million can be passed on without taxation, as inheritance tax is reduced
- The Annual Investment Allowance set at £200k this year and after
- Corporation tax will be cut to 18% by 2020
- 30 hrs free childcare a week for parents of children aged 3-4 from 2017 – good news for entrepreneurial parents
- In 2016 the Tax Free Personal Allowance will be raised to £11k, with the higher rate of tax (40p) raised to £43k – this will see 23 million people paying less tax
- New national living wage of £9 an hour to be introduced by 2020 – compulsory for people over the age of 25. It will rise to £7.20 by next April
- Small businesses will see reduced NI contributions to help offset the cost of a compulsory living wage
Image credit: Flickr Creative Commons
