Martin Aitken & Co Ltd News & Developments

Research shows that in Q3 2021, dividend payments increased sharply in all major markets and are expected to return to pre-pandemic levels before the year’s end.

In 2020, global dividends fell by 11.9% yoy in USD terms according to an index calculated by the investment manager Janus Henderson. In the UK, dividends suffered a much greater drop, with a decline of 42.9% recorded by Link Group, a leading corporate services provider. The UK’s significant underperformance had much to do with the Bank of England forcing UK banks to suspend dividend payments.

Last year, HMRC offered businesses the opportunity to defer VAT payments falling due between 20 March 2020 and 30 June 2020, until 30 June 2021 (originally 31 March 2021, but subsequently extended). 

As this deadline is now approaching, businesses who took advantage of the deferral scheme should act now by selecting one of the three available options below:

As the lockdown has now started for England and continues elsewhere, the Government has changed its mind again about business supports and decided to extend the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) and the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) across all regions of the UK.

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