Latest Business News from Chichester Accountants Evans Weir

October 29, 2020

Building a Viable Business

As the Government continues to grapple with balancing the economy and the provision of further financial support, ‘unprecedented’ seems to have been replaced by ‘viable’ as the most frequently used buzz word - specifically when related to jobs and businesses.  There is much talk about avoiding pumping more taxpayer cash into jobs or businesses that are no longer viable. But as we come to terms with the situation in front of us, we have to learn lessons from what has happened and... read more

September 25, 2020

Chancellor Delivers Winter Economy Plan

Whilst there no longer appears to be anything that is truly unusual in the current climate, the Chancellor took the unusual decision to cancel November's planned budget statement and delivered a Winter Economy Plan in its place.  This move once again underlines the lack of long-term certainty that the Covid pandemic is enforcing on the economies and markets of countries around the world. With cases rising and the onset of what appears to be another spike, The Chancellor was forced to make... read more

September 18, 2020

Recovery and Growth Grants Available

During the summer a further round of recovery and growth grants were announced by the Government. This latest round of business support funding is targeted at small and medium sized businesses in England providing grants between £1,000 - £5,000 for new equipment, technology and specialist advice to help them recover from the impacts of the Covid-19 lockdown and plan for future growth. The £20 million pot has been allocated to Local Enterprise Partnerships for distribution to successful... read more

Covid-19 Drives Digital Transactions

It is very difficult to find many positives arising from the Covid pandemic and ever rarer still that HMRC should be seen to be leading the charge on anything, but the increase in digital transaction handling must be the one item that can tick both of these boxes. With the UK workforce, and many overseas counterparts confined to barracks, remote and online working became the ‘new norm’ almost overnight. For some this was a major change, whilst others had already invested in the... read more

July 31, 2020

Online Sales Tax to Level the Playing Field?

Early rumblings of an online sales tax bubbled to the surface last week when the Treasury issued a call for evidence as it reviews the changing face of consumer buying habits. Acknowledging that the Covid-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on how business is done, the Treasury said that it was looking at measures to ensure the tax system raises sufficient revenue and that the high street is not left at a disadvantage when competing with online vendors. With footfall and sales in a... read more

Amnesty Window on Excess SEISS and CJRS Claims

Following a spate of tip-offs that the Covid-19 support schemes put in place by The Government may have been subject to excessive claims from a number of workers and employers, moves are now being made to investigate claims, recover overpaid support grants and levy penalty charges where appropriate. Self-employed individuals, and employers, have 90 days to inform HMRC that they have over-claimed the Self-employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS) or Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS)... read more

Changes to Primary Residence Tax Regime Could Help Raise Tax Receipts

A thinktank has suggested charging capital gains tax on primary residences as one potential form of taxation that could help the treasury fill the black hole in public finances left by Covid-19. At present, primary residences are only subject to stamp duty (excluding the current stamp duty holiday) and in some cases inheritance tax, where the value exceeds threshold. But The Social Market Foundation is suggesting that levying a tax on the ‘unearned gains’ on property value increases... read more

July 10, 2020

Summer Statement 2020

In a much anticipated ‘emergency budget’ announcement, The Chancellor set out a series of targeted measures to boost aspects of the economy, struggling in a post Covid environment. Whilst it is expected that some sectors will not be able to recover for some months yet due to the continued need for social distancing, Rishi Sunak wanted to prime those parts of the economy that can operate and have already begun to reopen following lockdown. He made it clear that household consumption,... read more

Chancellor Announces Post Furlough Jobs Plan

At the summer statement on Wednesday 8 July 2020, the Chancellor announced a handful of measures that he felt would help create jobs and mitigate the formal end to the furlough scheme. Before announcing the measures, Mr Sunak made it clear that the Jobs Retention Scheme could not and should not go on forever, even though it had been a lifeline for millions and had undoubtedly avoided hundreds of thousands of redundancies. He said that continuing furlough may appease his critics, but it... read more

June 26, 2020

Emergency Budget Pencilled in for Early July?

The rumblings of an emergency budget seem to be getting louder as we begin to emerge from lockdown. Undoubtedly, now is the time for Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, to start considering the sizeable task of recovering the economy and paying back the WW2 scale borrowing that has underpinned the bailout of businesses and individuals. It is hard to escape the headlines – ‘Record borrowing levels’, ‘Councils on the verge of bankruptcy’ – or ignore the fact that the budget delivered just... read more