What will 2016 hold for small business owners? Well aside from the new rules on pensions that turn all employers (even if it’s just a single carer or gardener on the books) into pension providers and contributors through Auto Enrolment, there’s the new quarterly tax returns now that HMRC is pushing.
This aim is to get the often discussed digitisation of our tax system underway; Making tax digital requires small business owners to carry additional admin burdens and is costing £1.3billion. HMRC like to call it a ‘digital revolution’ – I can’t print what our clients call it.
HMRC is spinning this to convince us that this new ‘service’ will provide one of the most advanced tax systems in the world… I have yet to meet anyone who believes this to be the likely outcome.
Around four million self employed, small business owners & landlords to be affected
Our clients are already struggling with the mess that comes with communicating with HMRC and this looks like yet another way for the UK’s small business owners, to be used to help the country’s dire financial situation.
There is little to no talk of solving the problem of tax evasion and avoidance, perpetrated on a massive scale by big business in an offshore way; if we claimed back even a fraction of this, many problems would be solved.
For Accountancy practices like ours, we have never been more in demand and yet, there is no cause for celebration; our clients matter more to us than the revenue they bring.
So here’s to 2016 and sincere hopes that the courage, determination and sheer hard work of the small business owners is enough, to take all this and more on.