As announcements come through from the UK Government regarding the Covid-19 support for SMEs and Businesses, we want to continue to keep you updated in one space. Here are the updates from the UK Government for the 20th March 2020.
The July 2020 payment on account for self-assessment payments for the self employed have been deferred to January 2021. This is to relax pressure on sole traders during this time. We always recommend paying what you can, so if you can make the payment on the account before the new deadline, we recommend you do so, so as not to add extra pressure for your 19/20 return payments.
Business loans will be available from Monday 23rd March and will interest free for 12 months (previously 6 months). To access the loans, however, you must have a business plan in place prior to requesting the loan from your lender of choice. You can see the business loan process listed here.
Universal Credit standard allowance will rise over the next 12 months by £1,000 to help support more people with their daily expenses.It has also been announced that self-employed people can now access Universal Credit at a rate equivalent to Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) for employees.
The government has set up a VAT Deferral Scheme that will defer the next quarter of VAT through to the end of June, so these payments can now be made at the end of the year. You must still file all of your accounts and VAT returns within your normal deadlines. We have created a separate VAT Deferral Scheme Blog, here.We will continue to keep you updated over the coming weeks. Elena will be hosting Q&A live sessions on our Instagram profile, so do please follow us here to be able to join and ask any questions you have regarding the current situation.
