Asavin Wattanajantra
Asavin is a seasoned business writer and SMB expert at Sage, with a passion for explaining, analysing, reporting, and providing advice on the latest business technology and innovation trends.
With high inflation, fragile supply chains and increasing energy costs hitting hard, now’s the time to start thinking about minimising the impact of these challenges on your bottom line.
The UK tax year differs from the normal calendar year—you might call it the financial year or accounting year. It starts on 6 April and ends on 5 April.
The government’s super-deduction scheme ended on 31 March 2023. Two capital allowance schemes have replaced it: a new full expensing scheme and the extension of the 50% first-year allowance.
Full expensing allows businesses to claim 100% capital allowances on qualifying plant and machinery investments in the year they incur the expenditure, reducing their taxes by up to 25p for every pound invested.
This scheme is available from April 2023 until the end of March 2026 and may be made permanent.
The 50% first-year allowance to special rate assets will continue until 31 March 2026.
The AIA limit of £1m announced in September 2022’s mini-Budget is permanent. This allows all businesses to write off their first £1m of capital expenditure against their tax bill.
Corporation tax rate rises, announced in March 2021, have gone ahead as planned:
Compared to the current flat rate of 19%, this new rate system will add significant cost and complexity to businesses.
The Chancellor introduced a £13.6bn package of measures to provide relief around business rates in England, with many rates significantly reduced from April 2023.
The VAT registration threshold will remain at £85,000 until 31 March 2026.
Due to high inflation, more businesses must register for VAT, generating more revenue for HMRC.
All businesses that reach the threshold will have to meet certain obligations, including:
From April 2023:
The Chancellor said any further energy bill support for businesses would be significantly lower and more targeted towards those most affected beyond March 2023.
From April 2024 and in stages, with full implementation in September 2025, working parents of children between nine months and five years old will get up to 30 hours of free childcare.
This is currently only available to eligible parents of three and four-year-olds.
From April 2023 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland:
In Scotland:
The top National Living Wage rate has increased by 9.7%, from £9.50 to £10.42 per hour. It’s aimed at those 23 and over, and this rise came into play from April 2023.
The National Minimum Wage has also gone up at the same time, as follows:
The National Insurance contributions (NIC) thresholds and class 1 rates have been frozen until 2028, while the Class 2 and 3 NIC rates for the self-employed have been uprated to £3.45 and £17.45 from April 2023.
The Chancellor froze the employer’s NICs secondary threshold at its current rate of £9,100 annually until 2028.
This will increase employment costs for eligible employers with employer NICs over £5,000 yearly.
The employment allowance remains at £5,000 for 2023/24 to protect 40% of businesses from paying NICs.
The dividend allowance has been reduced from £2,000 to £1,000 from April 2023 and to £500 from April 2024, increasing the tax burden on limited company owners who pay themselves using dividends.
The annual exempt amount (AEA) for capital gains tax (CGT) has been reduced from £12,300 to £6,000 from April 2023, then to £3,000 from April 2024.
The government will extend the vehicle excise duty to electric vehicles from April 2025, adding costs to employers that provide electric vehicle fleets to employees.
The Chancellor introduced some new initiatives to boost the workforce for people over 50.
This aims to bring back over 50s who want to return to work, focusing on previous experience to reduce training time.
It will be supported with £63m of additional funding, but there’s no start date announced yet.
The Department for Work and Pensions will increase the number of people over 50 who benefit from midlife MOTs from 8,000 to 40,000 annually.
A midlife MOT is a free online tool that encourages people in their 40s, 50s, and 60s to plan actively for work, wellbeing and money. This tool is aimed at both employees and employers.
The government has put in measures that it hopes will encourage people to stay in work longer before they retire.
From 6 April 2023:
The Chancellor announced a new scheme of 12 investment zones across the UK to drive investment and growth.
From 1 April 2023, a new scheme targeting research and development (R&D) intensive loss-makers began.
Eligible small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that spend 40% or more of total expenditure on qualifying research and development (R&D) can receive an enhanced R&D tax credit of 27% even if they are loss-making.
Following a consultation, the government announced it wouldn’t introduce an online sales tax (OST). The idea of an OST was to rebalance business rates bills paid by in-store retailers compared to their online counterparts.
The Spring Budget didn’t change the Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) cuts introduced in September 2022’s mini-Budget. They will last until 31 March 2025.
The Chancellor decided not to reverse the government’s previous decision to abolish the Office of Tax Simplification (OTS).
Known as the new ‘Brexit pubs guarantee’, from 1 August 2023, the duty on draught products in pubs will be up to 11p lower than that in supermarkets.
Fuel duty has been frozen, and the 5p reduction to fuel duty on petrol and diesel remains for an extra year.
With a new tax year, it’s always good to consider what these changes mean for you.
Although some changes might seem small, it’s essential to understand how they affect you as a business owner—and, if relevant, an employer and your employees.
Let's meet Paradise Computing's Project Manager, Gareth Whyley. Gareth has a background in IT consultancy and is a specialist in compliance and project management. He is passionate about helping our clients achieve their goals.
Today, we’re shining the spotlight on Rachmann Joubert, a Sage Support Specialist who has brought his wealth of software development experience to the role to help build solutions for our clients.
Today we're getting to know one of Paradise Computing's IT Support Engineers - Ashley Curtis. Ashley plays a vital role in supporting the IT infrastructure of our clients and supports them with his expert IT knowledge.