17 March 2017

News round up which affects our sector

Tax-free dividend allowance slashed

The total amount of dividends that company directors and shareholders can receive tax-free will fall from £5,000 to £2,000 from April 2018. The change is the biggest tax raiser in the Budget and will bring in £2.63bn by 2021-2022. Philip Hammond said about half of the people affected would be directors of private companies, with much of the remainder being investors holding shares worth £50,000 or more outside Isa wrappers. But the move was criticised by the FSB as "a further disincentive for businesses to invest and grow"

The Times, Budget 2017 Financial Times Independent Daily Mail Daily Express Evening Standard The Daily Telegraph

Rate relief is 'small beer'

The IFS has warned that government measures to ease the burden of business rates are "small beer" and will do nothing to prevent future bill shocks. The think-tank said the £435m relief package announced in the Budget would only affect a small share of businesses, even though the targeted reduction in bills for the hardest hit was "welcome" due to the seven-year period since the previous revaluation. Stuart Adam, an economist at the IFS, also called for more frequent assessments of so-called "rateable values" of commercial properties to provide businesses with more stability. Meanwhile, the government's claim that 90% of pubs in England could benefit from a £1,000 business rates discount has been called into question. Elsewhere, the FSB's Sue Terpilowski writes to the Standard to welcome the government's relief package and call for extra support for London firms.

The Daily Telegraph The Guardian The Sun Evening Standard

Consumer spending and export growth to counter Brexit uncertainty

Morgan Stanley expects the UK economy to expand by 1.8% this year, up from a previous forecast of just 1%. The bank forecasts robust export growth and a modest slowdown in consumer spending, and said expansion could hit 2.5%. The prediction comes as JP Morgan said data indicate Q4 growth for 2016 could be 0.8% - above the ONS estimate of 0.7%. Meanwhile, the BCC has also upgraded its 2017 growth forecast to 1.4%, from a forecast of 1.1% three months ago. The group also forecasts export growth will rise to 2.7% in 2017, from a previous forecast of 2.3%.

The Daily Telegraph The Guardian Independent The Scotsman