Martin Aitken & Co Ltd News & Developments

Highlights from the UK Chancellor's winter economy plan, announced on 24th September 2020, to help combat the impacts of Covid-19 on businesses and self-employed individuals include:

A new Job Support Scheme, primarily targeted at small and medium employers, will be introduced covering employees who work at least one third of their normal hours >read more

Glasgow City Council (GCC) is conducting a survey on the impacts of Covid-19 and is inviting businesses based in the local authority area to take part.

Do you know a woman in business who has seen exceptional growth, shown true resilience or made a positive social impact? 

Or maybe she’s a rising star, a sole trader or a new start-up? 

Commercial, finance and tax insights and planning opportunities for SMEs, social enterprises and charities.

The £2 billion Kickstart Scheme is designed to create hundreds of thousands of new, fully subsidised jobs for young people across the UK.

The Renfrewshire Coronavirus Business Support Fund is a £1.3million Renfrewshire Council package of interest free loans and grants providing immediate help to businesses in the Renfrewshire area affected by the pandemic.

The UK Government has announced details on how to claim the reimbursement for discounts given to diners with the Eat Out to Help Out Scheme.

In the Summer Statement 2020, the Chancellor announced a temporary VAT cut for food and non-alcoholic drinks and a temporary VAT cut for accommodation and attractions >read more Summer Statement 2020.

The Scottish Government and SCVO have published guidance for small businesses and charities on leaving lockdown. There is a short summary below with forward links for more detail.

Key highlights from the UK Chancellor's Summer Statement 2020.

•  In his Summer Statement, the Chancellor confirmed that the Government is introducing a new Coronavirus Job Retention (CJRS) bonus to reward and incentivise employers who continue to employ their furloughed employees through to the end of January 2021. The bonus will be a one-off payment of £1,000 for every furloughed employee who remains continuously employed through to 31 January 2021.
• A new Kickstart Scheme will cover employers’ costs for the first six-month for those taking on 16-24 year olds for a minimum of 25 hours per week at the NMW.
• A £1,000 payment will be made to employers for each new trainee aged 16-24-year.
• Employers who hire new apprentices will receive payments of up to £2,000.
• There will be a temporary cut to Stamp Duty Land Tax on residential property in England, increasing the zero-rate band to £500,000 and saving purchasers up to £15,000.
• In Scotland, starting point for land and buildings transaction tax is to rise temporarily from £145,000 to £250,000, although this reduced threshold will not apply to second homes purchases.
• The rate of VAT will be cut temporarily from 20% to 5% for restaurant, food, accommodation and attractions businesses.
• An ‘Eat Out to Help Out’ Scheme will offer 50% meal discounts, up to £10 per head during August.

Start-ups and early stage businesses with high growth potential whose routes to investment and achieving growth have been impacted by Covid-19 will be supported by the Scottish Government (SG).

Click on the links below to read the latest updates on the support and funding available to businesses, individuals and third sector organisations facing the Covid-19 pandemic. 

The Treasury has announced a zero-rate of VAT will apply to sales of PPE for Covid-19 from 1 May 2020 until 31 July 2020, in a move it says will save care homes and businesses more than £100m.

We have summarised the various announcements that have been made by the UK and Scottish Governments to support businesses, employers, employees and the self-employed during this period of disruption.

The UK Government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme will remain open until the end of October 2020. 

Our annual Tax Planning for Life navigates you through a wide range of tax planning opportunities and wealth planning strategies for all stages and facets of life.

The Government has announced a raft of measures to assist businesses who require funding support through a variety of initiatives. The main one being the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS). 

The Third Sector Resilience Fund (TSRF) and Wellbeing Fund are open for applications from Third Sector Organisations.

Due to the escalation of the Coronavirus Covid-19 outbreak and the measures that have been announced by the Scottish and UK Governments, we wanted to make you aware of a few changes we are making to our business operations.

We want to reassure you that our priorities over the next few months will be the health and well-being of our staff, clients and business partners; continuing to support and provide an uninterrupted service to you, our clients; and ensuring that everyone at the Martin Aitken Group continues to adhere to the advice and direction of the public health experts in Scotland and acts and behaves accordingly.

Key highlights from the Spring Budget and a Coronavirus rescue package for Scottish businesses.

“….get it done” was a recurrent phrase in the Budget speech of the new Chancellor, Rishi Sunak. It could equally have been “get it spent” or “get it borrowed” as Mr Sunak announced a raft of spending initiatives with few supporting tax increases. New £320m rescue package announced for Scottish businesses on 14 March 2020 >read more