Powered Now While the UK budget is focusing squarely on the recovery of the UK economy we look at how it will affect your business.
Contactless Payment limit to rise to £100
Firstly good news for anyone that takes contactless payments, the limit has more than doubled to £100. It puts bigger ticket items and larger jobs in range of instant payments that do not even require a signature or even a pin number.
It is the second rise in the limit, which went up from £30 to £45 last spring.
In the budget the Chancellor spoke about the booming popularity of “pinging” payments during the Covid-19 pandemic, as shoppers and retailers shunned cash which might carry the virus.
There is another huge bonus to accepting credit and debit cards for people in the trade, it gives your customers a line of credit. As a reminder you can already accept contactless payments with Powered Now using the SumUp Card reader, get in touch if you would like to learn more.
Incentives for firms to take on apprentices
Stamp Duty holiday extended to 30th June
Last summer, the government temporarily increased the amount at which stamp duty is paid to £500,000, for property sales in England and Northern Ireland.
The tax break was due to end on 31 March, but the Chancellor announced in the Budget that it will now end on 30 June.
After this date, the starting rate of stamp duty will be £250,000 until the end of September. Stamp duty will then return to the usual level of £125,000.
The move was aimed at helping buyers who might have taken a financial hit because of Covid. It could save them as much as £15,000, if they were buying a property of £500,000 or more.
It was also intended to boost a property market hit by lockdown, which had seen house prices fall for four months in a row.
This is fantastic news for the trade as the home owner and property markets help drive growth in our industry.
Other Budget News
- We are pleased the Chancellor has once again frozen fuel duty, essential for the trade and the UK’s huge mobile workforce.
- We are interested in the announcement in the new Green Bonds and how that will help the trade.
- The rate of corporation tax, paid on company profits, will increase to 25% in April 2023, but small businesses with profits of £50,000 or less will continue to be taxed at 19%.
