Yesterday (3rd March) the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, unveiled a number of measures to help stimulate the economy and aid struggling businesses. Here’s some of the highlight’s for what you need to know:
Business Rates
An extension of the 100% business rates relief through to end of June. This will be followed by 66% business rates relief from 1 July 2021 to 31 March 2022, capped at £2 million per business for properties that are required to be closed on 5 January 2021, or £105,000 for eligible properties.
When combined with Small Business Rates Relief, 750,000 eligible businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors in England will pay no business rates for 3 months from 1 April 2021, with the vast majority eligible businesses receiving 75% relief across the year.
VAT
The government will extend the temporary reduced VAT rate of 5% applied to food – both eat in and takeaway – for a further 6 months to 30 September. To help businesses manage the transition back to the full standard 20% rate, a 12.5% rate will be applied for another six months to 31 March 2022.
Syrve Customers can use Syrve Tax Manager to easily administer and manage government VAT changes. Its free and available in your SyrveWeb.
Corporation Tax
Beginning April 2021, the new super-deduction will cut companies’ tax bill by 25p for every pound they invest in new equipment. This is worth around £25 billion to UK companies over the two-year period the super-deduction will be in full effect.
If you are still running your business on outdated POS hardware, you may be putting your business at risk of downtime, a security breach, or at the very least not taking advantage of the power of modern equipment. Syrve hardware partner, Box Technologies, can offer a range of hardware options from POS tills to Kitchen Display Systems, peripherals and more. Contact cs@Syrvesoftware.com
In addition, read this useful article on the correct cleaning methods to protect your hardware equipment: How to clean and disinfect your POS system.
Alcohol Duty
To further support the hospitality industry and its suppliers, alcohol duty will frozen for a further year, saving drinkers £1.7 billion.
Loans & Grants
The government will provide £5 billion for new Restart Grants – a one off cash grant of up to £18,000 for hospitality, accommodation, leisure, personal care and gym businesses in England, giving them cash certainty to help plan and launch their businesses over the coming months.
From 6 April 2021 the Recovery Loan Scheme will provide lenders with a guarantee of 80% on eligible business loans between £250,000 and £10 million to help them to provide finance to UK businesses.
The Government will also provide £300 million for major spectator sports, supporting clubs and governing bodies in England as fans begin to return to stadia.
Is it time for you to invest in digital transformation to take your business to a new level? Read this white paper on how tech can help you thrive in a new era.
Contactless Payments
The maximum amount that can be paid for using a contactless payment is to more than double from £45 to £100. It’s the second time that the contactless limit has been increased since the start of last year.
Are you considering switching your merchant services provider but not sure where to start? Syrve integrates with most of the major merchant providers so you can evaluate payment options, price structures and fees.
In addition to contactless payments, if you are looking to increase your online presence, Syrve offers a range of tools from a free online menu publisher to new editions for optimising off-premises dining & food delivery services.
Contact info@Syrvesoftware.com for more info.
