Millions of Britain s small and medium-sized businesses are awaiting the Budget with anticipation as any announcement could mean help or a serious struggle for survival.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson s Roadmap to Recovery revealed last week will have raised hopes as tentative dates for slowly reopening the economy were given.
However, it is Chancellor Rishi Sunak s Budget, which takes place on Wednesday that will decide how they will - or won t - get there.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak will deliver the highly anticipated Budget on 3 March
Many businesses have been forced to close intermittently over the past 12 months, while some have been all but completely inoperative.
| UPDATED: 15:25, Thu, Feb 4, 2021
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Rishi Sunak will be delivering the next budget on March 3, and while the Government has so far remained tight lipped on what will be revealed, many expect the Chancellor to extend coronavirus spending into the spring. This could cover Universal Credit payments and SEISS but the Chancellor has been called on to specifically extend the furlough scheme, in what has been argued will be beneficial to both businesses and workers alike.
| UPDATED: 11:55, Wed, Jan 27, 2021
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Rishi Sunak and the wider Government have spent billions on keeping the economy afloat during the pandemic, with the ONS recently detailing coronavirus themed spending could reach almost £400billion by March. While the Chancellor has repeatedly detailed he would do whatever it takes to support families, he has also admitted this debt would have to be covered eventually and many expect he ll raise tax rates in the upcoming budget, with inheritance tax, income tax and capital gains tax being identified as prime targets.
New research has suggested that Scotland is home to the highest number of budding entrepreneurs in the UK as a result of Covid, with one in 10 who hadn t previously planned on starting a business saying they now want to strike out on their own. Accorging to the survey from accounting software company FreeAgent, Scots at 10.2 per cent were followed by Londoners (7.8%), and those based in York (7.7%) who who want to go freelance or start their own business in the wake of the pandemic. Overall, nearly a third (31.8%) of Scottish adults are making such plans for some point in the future. Looking at the figures in more depth, 7.4% of Scots plan to start their own business during 2021, a further 7.4% plan to strike out in the next couple of years and 17% are planning to do so at some point in the future.
| UPDATED: 12:30, Thu, Dec 24, 2020
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Self-employed workers have been hit particularly hard by coronavirus this year and as such, falling behind on their tax obligations may be the last thing they want to deal with going forward. If going by last year s figures, there may be evidence for a tax paying rush emerging before January even arrives.