Archives for March 2021

On Wednesday 3rd March, Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced the 2021 Budget which outlined this year’s steps to provide financial support and new opportunities for residents of the UK. The Chancellor set out the government’s tax and spending plans for the year ahead, and announced new measures to help businesses and jobs through the pandemic and to support the UK’s long-term economic recovery with a series of tax-raising plans to help rebalance the UK’s finances.

Please see below a few key points taken from last weeks budget:

Measures to mitigate the impact of Coronavirus:  

• Extension of the Coronavirus Job Support Scheme (‘furlough payments’) to September 2021 across the UK, with employer contributions to salary from July.
• Fourth Self Employment Income Support Scheme grant covering February to April 2021 to claim from late April. This is similar to the first three grants – and newly self-employed people who filed 2019/20 tax returns by 2 March may be eligible to claim for the first time.
• No further support announced for people working as directors through their own personal companies.
• Range of ‘Restart’ grants for businesses reopening after lockdown.
• Recovery Loan Scheme from 6 April 2021: government to guarantee 80% of eligible loans from £25,000 to £10 million to give lenders confidence to support UK businesses, with some other loan schemes coming to an end on 31 March 2021.

Reliefs Extended:

• Stamp Duty Land Tax Holiday on property transactions up to £500,000 extended from 31 March to 30 June 2021, with £250,000 threshold up to 30 September 2021.
• Duties on alcoholic drinks and fuel frozen for the second year running.

Tax Year 2021/22:

• Small increases in main Personal Allowance, Basic Rate Band and National Insurance thresholds confirmed, as already announced.
• Lifetime Allowance for tax-advantaged pension funds, Inheritance Tax nil rate band, Capital Gains Tax annual exempt amount, ISA subscription limits all frozen at 2020/21 levels.
• No increase in CGT rates announced, contrary to some speculation in advance, but there is the potential for this to be reviewed via a consultation later this month.
• Corporation Tax rate remains 19% until 31 March 2023.
• Personal Rate Tax bands and Personal Allowance are being frozen going forward.

To read the full 2021 Budget and Updated Tax Rates please click the links below. 

Ad Valorem Budget Summary 2021

2021/22 Tax Rates

If you have any questions regarding what was outlined in the budget update please do not hesitate to contact us:

(E) enquiries@advaloremgroup.uk or (T) 01908 219100 (W) advaloremgroup.uk  

R&D tax relief – upcoming changes

After a recent announcement from HMRC new rules will come into effect from 1 April 2021 for SME businesses. The new rules are being implemented to target fraudulent claims using UK companies to claim a repayable credit even though no R&D is being carried out in the UK. 

The new rules apply a cap on the amount of payable R&D tax credit an eligible loss-making company can claim. It is important to note that the new rules only apply to loss making businesses or where your R&D claim takes you into taxable losses. The cap will affect claims for accounting periods commencing on or after 1 April 2021. 

What is the cap? 

The cap limits the payable R&D tax credit to three times the total annual PAYE and NIC liability of the company plus £20,000. 

I’m claiming R&D tax credits, will I be affected?

If your claim meets any of the below criteria, you will not be affected.

• You claim under the RDEC Scheme (large company) 
• Your R&D claim doesn’t take you into taxable losses in the accounting period
• Your payable R&D tax credit is less than £20,000 

A company may also not be capped if it meets the criteria of the following two tests:

1. The company’s employees are creating, preparing to create or actively managing IP arising from the R&D project. 
2. The expenditure on subcontracted work or agency workers is less than 15% of the overall R&D expenditure. 

Even though the new cap is designed to target fraudulent claims, there will be many genuine SME claims who will be affected by the new rules. If SMEs outsource large elements of their projects or have large consumable costs, they may well be impacted by the new cap. 

If you have any questions about the new claim cap rules then please contact us using our details below: 

(E) enquiries@advaloremgroup.uk or (T) 01908 219100 (W) advaloremgroup.uk