SMEs the big tax winner in Osborne’s Budget

SMEs and the self-employed appear to the big winner in this year’s Budget as George Osborne set out tax cuts across the board.

During a speech that had a running theme of “putting the next generation first”, Osborne delivered the message that “this government is on your side” to SMEs, and set out what he called a “road map to lower the tax regime” that will attract multinational companies, whilst at the same time ensure that it is a level playing field for their smaller counterparts.

Osborne said he was “more than doubling” small business rate relief, by raising the threshold from £6,000 to £15,000 and from £18,000 to £51,000 for the higher rate.

He said 600,000 small businesses would pay no business rates at all from next year as a result, saving them £6,000.

“Today I am more than doubling small business rate relief, and I’m more than doubling it permanently,” he said.

The Chancellor also said that Corporation Tax would be cut to 17 per cent by April 2020.

And there was something too for the self-employed, with Class 2 National Insurance Contributions abolished by 2018, whilst Capital Gains Tax will be slashed to 20 per cent from April.

Meanwhile, the tax-free allowance will be raised to £11,500 from April 2017, whilst the top rate of tax will rise to £45,000.