Budget Report 2017

On 8 March 2017 the Chancellor Philip Hammond delivered his first Budget Report, and sadly his actions did not accord with his words, he talks about making the UK the best place to set to set up and build a business while at the same time heaping even more pain on the self-employed and small business sector, maybe I misunderstood and he was talking to BIG business.

The Chancellor talked about the tax gap between those under PAYE and that of the self-employed, he failed to mention that the self-employed do not enjoy holiday pay, sickness pay and employer contribution pension schemes like the employed, nor did he mention the financial risks taken by the self-employed, oh dear Philip, you and your ‘pals’ really don’t understand at all, do you …

The highlights of the budget are:

  • Class 4 National Insurance for the self-employed to rise to 11% by 2019 (currently it is 9%)
  • A reduction in the tax-free dividend from the new (current) £5,000 to £2,000 from April 2018
  • Scrapping of Class 2 National Insurance for self-employed, April 2018
  • 2017 growth forecasts upgraded from 1.4% to 2%
  • By 2020 we could (unless they change their mind) have a Corporation tax rate of 17%
  • Personal Allowance of £11,500 his year and £12,500 by 2020

For our full (in plain English) Budget overview please click here.