Businesses across the UK are feeling the effects of inflation and doing their best to navigate through these financially challenging times. Amidst the number crunching and budgeting, there are key government support measures available to help small and medium sized businesses.
Let's think back to the Chancellor’s Budget and Spring Statement announcements when an array of tax cuts, allowances and schemes were introduced in an effort to boost productivity and economic growth. Many of these initiatives are now accessible and business owners may be eligible under one or multiple schemes.
What does this mean for your organisation?
It means that there may be opportunities for your business to save and invest through reliefs such as:
- The Business Rates Relief scheme
- The Employment Allowance tax relief
- The Help to Grow: Digital scheme
Business Rates cut
From April 2022, a new temporary relief for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses came into effect. Eligible businesses are able to claim a 50% discount on their business rates bills up to £110K per business for the 2022 to 2023 tax year.
Key points about the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Relief scheme:
- Relief on business rates apply for the 2022-2023 financial year
- Local authorities have implemented policies to determine which businesses qualify and are responsible for granting relief
- If you do not receive this discount and believe you are eligible, you should contact your local council
- Eligibility is assessed and calculated on a daily basis
- Retail, hospitality and leisure properties will need to be occupied in order to be eligible
- Business rate relief will be provided until 31 March 2023 for eligible businesses
Examples of the types of businesses that qualify:
- Retail shops
- Hospitality or leisure businesses
- Restaurants, cafés, bars or pubs
- Cinemas or music venues
Employment Allowance tax relief
Eligible small businesses can reduce their employers National Insurance contributions (NICs) bill each year if their Class 1 National Insurance liabilities were less than £100,000 in the previous tax year. From April, the Employment Allowance was increased to £5,000 which helps SMEs save more.
Key points about the Employment Allowance tax relief:
- Employment Allowance needs to be claimed every tax year
- You can submit a claim at anytime in the tax year, but for a quicker turnaround time it’s recommended to do this earlier on
- How you claim will depend on if you use your own payroll software or HMRC’s Basic PAYE tools
- By accessing your HMRC online account, you’ll be able to see how much Employment Allowance you’ve used
Help to Grow: Digital
Have you looked into the government's Help to Grow: Digital scheme? It is a new program offering small businesses free advice and a discount of up to £5,000 to invest in digital accounting and CRM software.
Key points about the Help to Grow: Digital scheme:
- The business must be based in the UK and registered with Companies House, or a registered society that’s on the Financial Conduct Authorities Mutuals Register
- You must have between five and 249 employees
- Your business must have been actively trading for over 12 months, as well as an incorporation date of at least 365 day prior to your application
- You must be buying the approved software for the first time
How can DSA help?
Government support schemes can be intricate and time consuming, let us help you through the process.
If you have any questions regarding the financial support we’ve mentioned above, or any of the other government schemes available, such as the annual investment allowance or super-deduction, please feel free to book a meeting with our team.
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