Press Room.

Grant Thornton News

Return to press room

 

Budget: small businesses to benefit as ir35 abolishment is on the cards

Chancellor George Osborne provided small businesses with some encouraging news, including a reduction in the small profits rate and a national insurance contribution holiday for small start-ups in certain regions. But the big news is that IR35 may be abolished soon, according to Grant Thornton.

"The review of small business taxation has taken seven years and the hoped-for abolition of IR35 looks very much on the cards," says Francesca Lagerberg, Head of Tax at Grant Thornton.

"The IR35 rules have created problems for over a decade for entrepreneurs using personal service companies and have led to hundreds of tax cases, many of which have been lost by HMRC."

"Further incentives for small businesses include an overarching review of the way that they will be taxed in the future. But in the short term we have some immediate tangible measures that will help them."

"The NICs holiday provides welcome support for start-ups outside of London and the South East. This exempts the first £5,000 of class 1 employer NICs due in the first 12 months for each of the first 10 employees hired. This relief will last for three years and will be very useful as it encourages business to take on their first staff when they might not otherwise be able to afford it."

"More good news is the reduction in the small companies rate of tax which falls 1% to 20% from next April. This reverses the recent trend of increasing taxation."

For more information please contact:

Alex Wessendorff, press office for Grant Thornton UK LLP, T +44 (0)20 7728 2048, E Alex.Wessendorff@gtuk.com.

Notes to editors:

Live Webinar

We will be running a live interactive internet seminar (webinar) at 4.00pm on June 24, with a panel of experts who will be commenting on what the announcement means for the UK economy, taxes and the public sector. Viewers will be able to email questions in to the live discussion.

Grant Thornton UK LLP is a leading business and financial adviser with offices in 28 locations nationwide. We are a member firm within Grant Thornton International Ltd, one of the world's leading international organisations of independently owned and managed accounting and consulting firms. Clients of member and correspondent firms can access the knowledge and experience of more than 2400 partners in over 100 countries and consistently receive a distinctive, high quality and personalised service wherever they choose to do business.

Copyright (©) 2010 Grant Thornton UK LLP. All rights reserved.