Small firms miss out on tax breaks

[empip]

...PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), the accountant, found that only 11 per cent of private companies claimed tax breaks such as R&D tax credits, first-year allowances for the acquisition of capital assets and capital allowances on energy saving technologies. PwC said that an average of 40 per cent of the 350 firms it questioned were not aware of the tax reliefs...
...Kevin Nicholson, of PwC, said: "The Government is spending a lot of money on tax breaks, but there is still no real evidence that the tax regime can be used to encourage enterprise among smaller companies."

I bet this is a concern if you are actually one of the 11% ...

Watch out folks this is the sort of report which may lead to a 'soon to be proposed' new Labour initiative.. Revenue is all !!
But then : It has been said ... One man's tax relief is another man's tax burden...
Some rules exist because no-one has properly questioned their worth to the nation.

 

[WoodYouLike]

You call that 'Small' Businesses??? R&D tax credits, first-year allowances for the acquisition of capital assets?

I'm already very glad Inland Revenue is giving back £ 250.00 a year to us. (And we claim it, cause my accountant made me aware of it, how many accountants do??)

 

[PE]

You call that 'Small' Businesses??? R&D tax credits, first-year allowances for the acquisition of capital assets?

I'm already very glad Inland Revenue is giving back £ 250.00 a year to us. (And we claim it, cause my accountant made me aware of it, how many accountants do??)

Yep 100% first year allowances on IT related equipment was introduced several years ago and replaced recently with a slightly less generous first year allowance of 50% for general capital acquisitions on palnt and machinery. Your accountant will almost certainly be claiming it for you, you just don't know!

And as you say the online P35 filing discounts of £825 over 5 years is worth having.

Moral - get a good accountant, we will generally save you money in long term

You can overload clients with too much information I find at times

 

[WoodYouLike]

[

Moral - get a good accountant, we will generally save you money in long term

I have one A really, really good one, doesn't overload me with too much information also (could be I can handle a lot of info, being a qualified bookkeeper myself
But what I really mean is, not many small companies have capital expenditure on plants
(Knew about the IT equipment and used it fully)

 

[hermes]

But what I really mean is, not many small companies have capital expenditure on plants

Don't know about that, there are lots of small manufactusing businesses that buy plant fairly often. Also, there is a nice aspidistra in my office.

 

[WoodYouLike]

But what I really mean is, not many small companies have capital expenditure on plants

Don't know about that, there are lots of small manufactusing businesses that buy plant fairly often. Also, there is a nice aspidistra in my office.

Ok, then it's just about what you call a small company I guess
(I consider us small, two-man band, small showroom etc)

 

[PE]

But what I really mean is, not many small companies have capital expenditure on plants

Don't know about that, there are lots of small manufactusing businesses that buy plant fairly often. Also, there is a nice aspidistra in my office.

Ok, then it's just about what you call a small company I guess
(I consider us small, two-man band, small showroom etc)

Very clearly defined as meeting at least two of three criteria
Turnover less than £5.6m
Balance Sheet total less than £2.8m
Less than 50 employees

Not necessairly what you would always think of as "small" a 5 million turnover company with say 40 staff !