Small business taxation summary

 I can't understand this article because it's author repeatedly uses acronyms without ever showing the full words. This is no good for someone who is just starting out in business!

SME - small or medium sized enterprise

CT - corporation tax

VAT - value added tax

AIA - annual investment allowance

CGT - capital gains tax

SDLT - stamp duty land tax

NICs - National Insurance Contributions

Wed - Wednesday

K = kilo (not the weight but for one thousand as in kilogram = 1000 grams), so £125K = £125,000!

 He has given a pledge to reduce the multiplier for business rates yet the rateable value is going up so where is the saving?

AIA increased to £100k, what is the benefit for the small businesses? how many small businesses will be spending more than £100,000 in a year on plant and machinery.

The Government has instructed RBS and LLOYDS to provide lending to SME's, but there is no guarantee and even if they do what is the criteria, very vague.

no increase in VAT and no introduction of VAT on food. so the benefit was?

Entrepreneurs relief doubled to £2m how many small businesses sell for that amount?

Petrol duty on the up.

no increase in Personal taxes but no increase in allowances. benefit?

and much much more.

A lost opportunity... definitely

But then at least we know just before an election that this is the best they could do...

Thanks chaps,

Needed a giggle!

Thanks Dan - you are right about the acronyms, too many of them around in our business.

"VAT" is (possibly) the only acronym in the above list, the rest are abbreviations

VAT is, of course, Very Awkward Tax :)

Of course, 2011, 2012 etc. should really be 2011 anno Domini.

Oh, and etc. = etcetera.

More than nine out of ten smaller businesses were left disappointed by this week’s Budget, a snap poll has revealed.

In a survey of its members, the Forum of Private Business found that just 5% believe Alistair Darling’s proposals will create an environment for their businesses to develop.

Similarly, 87% said the Chancellor’s measures will not increase business and consumer confidence.

More than two thirds (70%) of respondents said they expect a more realistic budget to be delivered after the general election. And when asked how they rated the budget overall, only 10% of Forum members described it as ‘good’ or ‘very good’, with 52% branding it ‘average’ and 38% describing it as ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’.

Reflecting widespread anger at the planned hike in National Insurance rates, the Forum’s survey also found that a third (45%) of respondents believed the Budget had a negative impact on employment.

However, some aspects of Mr Darling’s announcement did prove popular.

Just under 9% of those surveyed said they believed the Budget was designed to encourage short-term recovery. And around 19% said the Chancellor’s measures would have a positive impact on both cashflow support and business investment.
 

Those results don't surprise me. Not because I agree with them but because it is depressingly typical of the business community and their representative bodies. You will NEVER find a positive survey and that's the point of them- they are used by the rep bodies to get into the media, create a mood of how tough it is for business, and how the Government never listens. It won't be any different next year or the year after or the year after... just as it hasn't been any different the year before or the year before that. It's noticeable how the reaction on AWEB from Simon and others has been more upbeat.

Worth thinking about small business owners could have got instead in the Budget. That is, nothing at all or seen taxes rise then in all honesty then I think they should have a little perspective wouldn't go amiss would it? The Government recognised the importance of small business and allocated them £2.5bn of spending or tax breaks. Not that bad is it?

And the nonsense about wanting to see deficit plans is nonsense. To be fair to the Government it has said it will reduce the deficit and those cuts will be set out in the Comprehensive Spending Review for April 2011 onwards in the autumn. And how can people say it has been cynically delayed until after the election? The CSR for April 2008 onwards was delivered alongside the PBR in the autumn of 2007! So the same time scale. So ultimately the equation is

• Small business get prioritised in the Budget (and Government tackles business rates, which FSB said is small businesses biggest tax obstacle) ... so business complain
• When small businesses don't get prioritised.... businesses complain
• Government doesn't set out detailed plans ahead of when it normally does... so business complain
• When Government does set out detailed plans... business will complain 

That's fine but it creates a huge credibility gap for business organisations. Sometime its like getting a jumper from your mum at Christmas- maybe it isn't everything you want (or the ferrari you have been hoping for) but you appreciate getting something and say thank you because she could have forgotton you altogether.

An acronym is a word formed from the initial letters of a name, so it seems VAT etc are all acronyms rather than abbreviations.

The prefix for 1000 is "k" (lower case) in the SI system (Système international d'unités, the modern international standard version of the metric system). The upper case "K" is used in computer parlance for 1024, so that 1 Kbyte is 1024 bytes.

etc is an abbreviation for "et cetera" (note the space).

After such erudite pedantry, modesty makes me prefer to remain anonymous.