3 January 2024
NHBF Business Update –Wednesday 3 January 2024
This week’s update covers the following:
- Self-Assessment deadline: 31 January 2024
- Company director filing deadlines
- Request to NHBF Members
- Spring Budget 2024 date confirmed
- Campaigning for you – business rates support
Self-Assessment deadline: 31 January 2024
The deadline to submit a self-assessment tax return for the 2022 to 2023 tax year is 31 January 2024. Self-assessment returns can be completed online, and are mandatory if you’re self-employed, and have a total taxable income of more than £1,000. There are resources available from HMRC on how to complete a self-assessment, including video tutorials, and a step-by-step guide for anyone completing a self-assessment for the first time.
Company director filing deadlines
Company directors must file their accounts with HMRC by the filing deadline of 31 January. It is the responsibility of company directors to make sure that company records are properly kept and to report any changes to Companies House throughout the accounting period. Companies House has published useful information on filing, including how to keep proper records, and how to file corporation tax returns.
Request to NHBF Members
Recruitment – experiences with recruitment recently. Do you have any recent experiences with recruitment? Have you faced any problems while recruiting new talent or finding suitable job opportunities? Have you noticed any effects of the ongoing recruitment skills crisis? We would love to hear your thoughts on the subject, whether they are positive or negative. Please share your experiences with us
Competitions – experiences entering industry competitions. We would appreciate hearing your views and experiences on industry competitions. Do you find them worth entering? If not, what are the reasons behind it? Do you think the costs involved are too high? Or, does the fear of incurring expenses put you off? We are keen to know your honest opinion, whether it's good or bad, on this topic.
Business strategy – Do you have a business strategy? Why is it useful? Would you be willing to talk to salonfocus about business strategies?
We are interested in learning about different approaches that businesses take to develop and implement their strategies. Your insights could help other businesses who are struggling to create a strategy that works for them.
If you can help with any of the above, please contact marketing@nhbf.co.uk
Spring Budget 2024 date confirmed
The Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has commissioned the Office for Budget Responsibility to prepare an economic and fiscal forecast to be presented to Parliament alongside his Spring Budget on 6 March 2024. NHBF will be submitting our recommendations to government ahead of the Budget by the end of January.
Campaigning for You - Business rates support
On 19 December, the Welsh and Scottish Government published their respective budgets including their intentions as far as business rates support is concerned. England has decided to extend the 75% Retail Discount for the retail and hospitality sector in 2024/25 and NHBF has been lobbying for further support from the devolved administrations on this issue.
The Welsh Government has announced additional support for non-domestic rates in the 2024-25 financial year. Eligible ratepayers will receive a 40% non-domestic rates relief, capped at £110,000 per business. The Welsh Government has also decided to cap the increase to the non-domestic rates multiplier for 2024-25 to 5%, at a recurring annual cost to the Welsh budget of £18m. This temporary relief was never intended to continue indefinitely and the Welsh Government plans to develop a new £20m “Future Proofing Fund” early in 2024-25. The non-domestic rates system will also include new measures to support ratepayers investing in property improvements and renewable energy from 2024-25. In total, these measures will provide £134m of additional support for 2024-25.
The Scottish Budget 2024/2025 was presented to parliament by the Deputy First Minister.
More than £5 billion is being allocated across government to support the Scottish Government’s long-term ambitions for a wellbeing economy that is fair, green and growing with investment in the transition to net zero, infrastructure, transport, innovation, skills and housing.
The budget underlines the ongoing commitment to maximise the economic opportunities and benefits from Scotland’s offshore wind potential, with an investment of £87 million as part of our commitment to provide up to £500 million to anchor a new offshore wind supply chain in Scotland.
On business rates, the Scottish Government said the following:
'We have faced calls to replicate Non‑Domestic Rates Retail, Hospitality and Leisure relief available to businesses in England. While we are sympathetic to these calls, replicating this temporary relief would have meant that we could not provide our NHS, schools, or emergency services with the funding that they require. We also could not have continued to ensure that over 95 per cent of non‑domestic properties remain liable for the lowest non‑domestic rate in the UK or provided a package of relief worth £685 million, including the most generous Small Business Bonus Scheme in the UK, therefore maintaining a competitive non ‑ domestic rates system in Scotland.'