PBR(10): Reaction from Simon Sweetman

Simon Sweetman, sole practitioner and member of UKTECH's Ask An Expert panel gives his views to UKTECH readers on the Pre Budget Report.

Simon writes:

The Chancellor has offered nothing immediate: there is no respite from IR35 or S.660A. Neither is there anything new, and he has not put NIC on small company dividends or anything of the sort. In fact he has avoided anything tricky or gimmicky, and we must be pleased about that.

In the longer run there is a discussion document from the Treasury on "Small companies, the self-employed and the tax system". It actually is a discussion paper, and makes no proposals, but seeks comments on questions

• how the government can improve targeting of incentives for growth and enterprise - for instance by adjusting the balance of tax and non-tax incentives;
  
• whether the Government should consider segmenting owner-managers of companies from other company owners for tax purposes;
  
• how the trade offs between the different tax treatments for different types of business can be managed, including between meeting the objectives of minimising the economic costs of raising tax revenue, and of minimising compliance and administrative costs; and
  
• whether and to what extent businesses would value the benefits of certainty and simplicity over specific incentive structures.

This is about small business in general, but it is the opportunity (perhaps) to get across the message that many people have incorporated not for reasons of devious tax avoidance but because that is the way they can make a living.