Hi All,
The key points in the budget that may impact your directly:
Coronavirus support
- Furlough to be extended until the end of September
- Government to continue paying 80% of employees’ wages for hours they cannot work
- Employers to be asked to contribute 10% in July and 20% in August and September
- Support for the self-employed also to be extended until September
- 600,000 more self-employed people will be eligible for help as access to grants is widened
- £20 weekly uplift in Universal Credit worth £1,000 a year to be extended for another six months
- Working Tax Credit claimants will get £500 one-off payment
- Minimum wage to increase to £8.91 an hour from April
Taxation
- No changes to rates of income tax, national insurance or VAT
- Personal income tax allowance to be frozen at £12,570 from April 2022 to 2026
- Higher rate income tax threshold to be frozen at £50,270 from 2022 to 2026
- Corporation tax on company profits to rise from 19% to 25% in April 2023
- Rate to be kept at 19% for about 1.5 million smaller companies with profits of less than £50,000
- Stamp duty holiday on house purchases in England and Northern Ireland extended to 30 June
- No stamp duty tax charged on sales of less than £500,000
Business, digital and science
- Tax breaks for firms to “unlock” £20bn worth of business investment
- Firms will be able “deduct” investment costs from tax bills, reducing taxable profits by 130%
- Incentives for firms to take on apprentices to rise to £3,000 and £126m for traineeships
- Lower VAT rate for hospitality firms to be maintained at 5% rate until September
- Interim 12.5% rate will then apply for the following six months
- Business rates holiday for firms in England to continue until June with 75% discount after that
- £5bn in Restart grants for shops and other businesses in England forced to close
- £6,000 per premises for non-essential outlets due to re-open in April and £18,000 for gyms, personal care providers and other hospitality and leisure businesses
- New visa scheme to help start-ups and rapidly growing tech firms source talent from overseas
- Contactless payment limit will rise to £100 later this year
