Commenting on the Autumn Statement, Richard Little, tax partner at KPMG in Leeds, said:
“Businesses were Autumn Statement winners with enough positive measures announced to ensure that, if not quite an early Christmas present, the speech was certainly not a turkey.
“There was little tinkering around the edges and some welcome targeted measures to provide relief. In particular the Chancellor has obviously listened to the SME community and delivered on key areas such as skills, business rates and access to finance to help them grow, such as the capping of business rates with specific reliefs for small retailers and an extension of film tax reliefs, plus some allowances for the oil and gas sector.
“The surprise measure though is the removal of employer’s NICs completely for 16 – 20 year olds. Most SMEs now pay more in National Insurance Contributions (NICs) than they do in Corporation Tax so this announcement will be most welcomed by the SME sector as it will reduce the costs to business and hopefully in turn support job creation.
“The business community will also be happy with the commitment from the Chancellor to investment in major infrastructure projects and up-skilling our young people, which will in the long term create an environment for this region’s businesses to compete effectively on the world stage.”
“However, it’s a shame that the Chancellor again passed up the opportunity to introduce tax relief on capital investment which is a measure that many businesses have called for and is arguably the remaining missing piece in the jigsaw to completely transform our corporation tax regime.”
