Businesses

Businesses

  • VAT rate to revert back to 17.5% from 1 January 2010, which will also impact on VAT Flat Rate Schemes.
  • 100% first year allowances for new, unused electric vans for expenditure incurred on or after 1 April 2010 (corporate tax) or 6 April 2010 (income tax).
  • The ‘time to pay’ scheme is being extended for ‘as long as required’. The service allows businesses to agree more time to pay certain tax bills to HMRC, and has already helped over 160,000 businesses defer tax payments of approximately £4bn.  Businesses seeking time to pay arrangements worth £1m or more will need to provide an Independent Business Review in support of their request.
  • From 1 October 2010 a 50p per month landline duty is being introduced on UK landlines as part of the commitment to provide all UK households with super fast broadband - Next Generation Access -  to 90% of the country by 2017.
  • For 2010-11, empty commercial properties with rateable values up to £18,000 (an increase of £3,000) will be exempt from business rates, continuing the exemption for an estimated 70 per cent of empty properties.

Corporation Tax

  • Small Companies Rate will remain at 21% for the Financial Year commencing 1 April 2010 and will not be increased to 22% as previously announced, benefiting 850,000 small businesses
  • For small or medium companies claiming the enhanced tax relief for expenditure on R&D, legislation will be introduced to abolish the condition requiring that any intellectual property (IP) deriving from R&D to which the expenditure is attributable be owned by the company making the claim.  Effective date will be for accounting periods ending on or after 9 December 2009.
  • A new 10% reduced rate of Corporation Tax will be introduced on income derived from UK patents,  from April 2013