The more eagle-eyed among you may have spotted that George Osborne delivered his annual Autumn Statement on 25 November.
The big news for many was the U-turns on tax credit cuts and police funding cuts.
But we had our eyes on the business announcements, as you’d expect from your trusty business advisers, and there were a few things that caught our attention.
HMRC is going digital (finally!)
If you’ve been reading our blog for a while, you’ll know that My Accountancy Place is a big believer in doing business in the cloud. We’ve been advocating the benefits of business going digital for years now, and spelling out the reasons why digital systems and digital sharing of information is the way forward in our shiny, new tech world.
So, guess what: HMRC have finally caught up with this sea change and are aiming to go completely digital by the end of the decade.
*pulls a very large party popper*
By 2020, the expectation is that every individual and every small business (that’s you) will have a digital tax account. So, what does that mean?
In essence, it should mean your agency has a far more efficient experience with HMRC (we know, it could hardly be worse…onwards and upwards).
The paperwork, the endless hard-copy forms and the paper tax returns will be consigned to the dustbin. And in will come online, digital ways of completing your returns, sharing your company information and complying with the relevant corporate legislation.
It’s going to be a brave new world. And we, for one, think it’s long overdue.
Another payroll tax to fund an apprenticeship scheme
We’ve all seen the problems with unemployment and lack of training for young school leavers. So the Government is putting its weight behind a new apprenticeship scheme with the aim of finding young people jobs – and then training them up with a skill that will keep them employed in the long term.
£3bn a year is going to be used to bankroll 3million new apprenticeships across the UK. So it you’re looking to expand your agency team and want to give an opportunity to a new apprentice, this sounds like good news right?
But there’s a small catch. That £3bn has to come from somewhere (Osborne’s piggy bank is pretty much empty, after all). So how is he going to fund this scheme?
The short answer: business is going to pay for it.
The good news: it only applies if your payroll is £3m or over (phew!)
From April 2015, there will be a 0.5% levy on big business payrolls. And that money will go towards funding the apprentice scheme, with £15,000 of it set aside for you to fund your own apprentice, if you choose to do so.
So, for smaller creative businesses, these could be a great way to expand your capabilities, train up your local school leavers and grow your team.
Just don’t become too mega-successful, or your payroll bill might go over that £3m mark! 😉
