Ask the Accountant

Free Autumn 2017 Budget Report

30/11/2017

How does the 2017 Autumn Budget affect you?

Last week saw Philip Hammond deliver the 2017 Autumn Budget and by now I am sure many of you will have read the headline announcements.

Contractors – IR35

For contractor there has probably been a collective sigh of relief as for now we have a respite from the possible extension of IR35 to the private sector. Although it didn’t make the headline announcements, the ‘small print’ contained details that a consultation would be done early in 2018 to evaluate the extension of IR35 to the private sector. This has met with a mixed response from various experts in the contractor community, but it will most definitely be the case that more work needs to be done to convince the Government that this would be highly detrimental to the UK’s flexible workforce.

Small Businesses

Many small businesses will be very relieved that the threshold for compulsory registration for VAT stays at £85,000 and has not been reduced. It has actually been fixed at £85,000 for a further two years.

Research and Development

For businesses involve Research and Development, the R & D relief will increase from 11% to 12% with effect from January 2018. There was also somewhat of a surprise announcement that the EIS Investment limit was to be doubled to £2 million.

Stamp Duty & Universal Credit

Much of the budget was dedicated to housing with Stamp Duty being axed for first time buyers up to purchase of £300,000 and to £500,000 in more expense areas. There was also some recognition that the roll out of Universal Credit had not gone as smoothly as expected and further funding would be available to alleviate some of the issues.

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