What are your thoughts on today's budget?

[Amalie Smith]

Hi everyone,

If like us, you've been following the Chancellor's Autumn Statement today, chances are you're already thinking about how it will affect you and your business.

We'll be posting an article covering all the main points and the impact on small business, so keep an eye out for that in the next 24 hours. But we'd also like to share some insights from the community, to help paint a picture of what it means for real business owners.

So, what does the autumn budget mean for you and your business?

Share your thoughts below...

 

[Thinehost]

Hi everyone,

If like us, you've been following the Chancellor's Autumn Statement today, chances are you're already thinking about how it will affect you and your business.

We'll be posting an article covering all the main points and the impact on small business, so keep an eye out for that in the next 24 hours. But we'd also like to share some insights from the community, to help paint a picture of what it means for real business owners.

So, what does the autumn budget mean for you and your business?

Share your thoughts below...

Hi - well, as a pensioner now, it suits me to see the increase to pensions. As a semi-retired trader, I think I would have felt more enthusiastic about the "Growth" budget had the chancellor increased the threshold for VAT up to £100,000 ... It's a pet peeve of mine!

 

[fisicx]

Makes almost no difference to me or my business.

 

[Mark T Jones]

Minimal impact on my own business

My hospitality customers are mostly seeing net-zero, with concessions balancing out wage increases

They would really like to see a hospitality special VAT rate

 

[Peter Cooper]

Employees get a bit more in their pocket from January (though we increase salaries then anyway) but at a higher business level, absolutely nothing. Full expensing is a complete charade - very few businesses use up their entire £1M AIA as it is, yet it's being painted as a big tax cut "for businesses." Yes, huge businesses (as in huge businesses, not just those of us considered big businesses for 25% corporation tax reasons).

 

[Newchodge]

For my business and for me personally it does nothing other than to increase my poension in line with the agreement on pension increases. Waste of time.

Sorry, forgot, as a payroll bureau the change to NI rates in January adds enormously to my tasks. Thanks guys.

 

[Byzantium]

If you're anywhere near retail, every full time employee just cost £3000 more from April as a factor of minimum wage hikes and associated demands from staff not on minimum wages but within sight of NWM.

10 staff ? then now you're paying for 11

Nothing for small to medium businesses. I don't know anyone who couldn't expense 100% of any capital allowances in any year they chose.

Business rates need scrapping, not tinkering with or continuing near subsidies against.

Cut NI for employees but sweet FA for employers.

We are low hanging fruit, to be picked at every opportunity.

Now I've got the spend the weekend creating price tables for 2024 with significant uplifts - again !

 

[Peter Cooper]

100% with you, Byzantium.

Also, isn't it funny they put up the dividend tax rates along with NI a couple of years ago, but they don't put them down 2% now to match? There is actually no benefit to the dividends route now versus salary at a certain point (in fact, it could even be worse to take dividends since they didn't count for things for furlough and require more explaining when applying for mortgages, etc.)

 

[IanSuth]

I think the bigger issues with this budget are 18mths + down the line - the assumptions around public expenditure don't match reality.

There is no fat left to trim (on average) in public services. Up and down the country councils of all colours are in or nearing bancruptcy. every week there is another story of a council losing in court as they have failed to provide x y or z statutory service (often SEN educational provision) and having to make big payouts.

So either public expenditure will be far higher (so the sums don't work and it all has to be reworked) or anyone who has public sector as clients needs to start looking at other income streams now (and that includes people running cafe's nr the council offices etc)

Remember a lot of councils budget goes on things like social care, a lot of that is spent on labour, labour at min wage so labour that just went up in cost.

Also add in the rise in the housing benefit rate which will eat up a load more state £

 

[Byzantium]

100% with you, Byzantium.

Also, isn't it funny they put up the dividend tax rates along with NI a couple of years ago, but they don't put them down 2% now to match? There is actually no benefit to the dividends route now versus salary at a certain point (in fact, it could even be worse to take dividends since they didn't count for things for furlough and require more explaining when applying for mortgages, etc.)

The real kick in the teeth started a few years ago when there began calls to "outlaw" the benefits owners of businesses received by taking income as dividends because it was "unfair" by comparison to those on PAYE.

Of course, this gained huge traction and a great many column inches in the press were devoted to the cause but no-one working on PAYE ever puts their own money into their employer's business, they don't give out guarantees for their employer's liabilities and they do not, in effect, go "all in" every day at the roulette table that is small business in the UK.

So we have more and more equalisation between the taxation of incomes received through dividends or PAYE which makes a farce of the risks we take.

As to mortgages, yes, you can be forced to artificially declare profits and pay taxes on them which you could otherwise shield from taxation. There are some lenders who will look at retained profit but I never found one who could understand the concept of a 7 figure director loan account which means I never needed to take a dividend.

 

[IanSuth]

The real kick in the teeth started a few years ago when there began calls to "outlaw" the benefits owners of businesses received by taking income as dividends because it was "unfair" by comparison to those on PAYE.

Of course, this gained huge traction and a great many column inches in the press were devoted to the cause but no-one working on PAYE ever puts their own money into their employer's business, they don't give out guarantees for their employer's liabilities and they do not, in effect, go "all in" every day at the roulette table that is small business in the UK.

So we have more and more equalisation between the taxation of incomes received through dividends or PAYE which makes a farce of the risks we take.

As to mortgages, yes, you can be forced to artificially declare profits and pay taxes on them which you could otherwise shield from taxation. There are some lenders who will look at retained profit but I never found one who could understand the concept of a 7 figure director loan account which means I never needed to take a dividend.

The issue was many many agencies getting people on basically min wage to work via PSC's which "ruined" it for legitimate usage.

The agency in the same building as us had warehouse workers turning up from eastern europe and not wanting to pay any NI or pension if they could help it - working through a PSC allowed them to do that and saved the agency lots as well

 

[eteb3]

There is actually no benefit to the dividends route now versus salary

That’s the official policy aim and has been for some time. Personally I wish they’d be more honest about it, and go even further as they have done for ‘mixed partnerships’ (partnerships with a company member whose role is to distribute profits by dividend - now taxed as partners’ own income).

That keeps the divi rate for real capital investors. There should be exemptions for genuine capital investment into a sole member company, but simply routing what would otherwise be sole trader income through a dividend is hard to justify imvho

 

[Porky]

Absolutely ZERO incentive for investment into small business which is a crying shame. No increases to EIS or SEIS schemes. More tax to pay in corporation and capital gains tax.

Previous tax cuts for very high earners on PAYE which is great for bankers and those in government or those generally on obscene levels of pay but no incentive for those risking own money to run a small company. A small reduction in staff NI deductions, nice for them but screw all change for businesses hit with the increased Employer NI contributions plus NEST contributions which were forced on us through the back door.

Absolutely FA support for small businesses not that i expect any we have been on our own for a good while now anyhow. In all, IMO a budget in an attempt to try and secure voting support by increasing benefits and pensions from a government now so out of touch its ridiculous.

A total waste of time budget not worthy of air time and certainly delivering ZERO incentives or benefit to drive smaller companies forward.

Despite being a blue voter all my life, i won't be voting for Sunak. I won't be voting for Starmer either. Its seriously a case of a race to the bottom and neither party electable. Vote None of the above. Labour will win the next election anyhow and I'm totally resigned to that, God help us.

 

[Byzantium]

Hunt had a small then medium sixed business in education but it was scalable without lots of employees so I don't think he knows (or cares) about the issues small business owners face. His family isn't poor in the first place.

How many small businesses actually report a profit over £50k after taking a decent wage or dividends for the owner ? Not many I guess. By that I mean that if running a small business was "worth" £50k a year then the owner would make a £50k a year salary and then have £50k in profits.

If you got rid of business rates at say £5/10k a year, got rid of employer's NI at maybe another £5/10k a year and didn't bother with anything else, you'd make a huge difference to so many companies and paying a bit more in corporation tax wouldn't be an issue because you'd have removed the problem from the break even level and placed it onto the profits level, which is where it should be, not a tax on turnover or a tax on simply opening the door for business like rates are now.