TheBriefing
ECONOMY
Millennials set for £850bn windfall from business sales after the election
Up to 50,000 millennials could be set to benefit from a spate of post-election business sales, potentially earning them around £11m each over their working lives, according to analysis from accounting firm Price Bailey.
Following elections, tax rates on selling businesses often increase. Therefore businesses, including international ones operating in the UK, want to complete sales before post-election tax rises kick in. Price Bailey has seen an uptick in enquiries around trade sales, management buyouts and employee ownership trusts. Across the UK, it estimates there are around 17,000 businesses in this position.
Another factor at play bears similarities with the Great Resignation after Covid.
“Plenty of business owners are exhausted after stewarding their businesses through inflation, supply chain disruption, currency fluctuations and Covid, and are anticipating tax and/or legislative changes,” explained Chand Chudasama, strategic corporate finance partner at Price Bailey.
EXPERTS' VIEWS ON...
tax policy
“No one thinks the current non-dom rules are perfect, but if there is to be change they must be replaced by something better.”
Basil Dixon, partner, Payne Hicks Beach
“Critics of HMRC can point to a record amount not being collected, but HMRC can legitimately point out it is bringing in a record amount. That both these things can be true tells us more about the current tax levels than anything else.”
John Barnett, chair of CIOT’s technical policy and oversight committee
“Other than a pledge to replace business rates with an unspecified new system, Labour’s manifesto sets out no vision for substantive tax reform.”
Helen Miller, deputy director, Institute for Fiscal Studies
Images: Getty/iStock
SMALL BUSINESSES
Co-op Bank apologises to SME customers over double payments glitch
Another finance software glitch has emerged, this time with Co-operative Bank.
The bank has apologised to business customers after a glitch caused payments to be taken twice from some small business accounts.
The bank said a “small number” of its 96,000 SME customers had been affected. Some took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to complain. One said they were “almost £5k down with no resolution in sight”.
A Co-op Bank spokesperson said: “We are aware there are a small number of SME account holders who have duplicated payments showing in their balances. We apologise for any inconvenience caused and are supporting customers during this period.”
It is hoped the problem is a one-off, but it highlights the need to be vigilant and monitor the performance of finance platforms.
News in numbers
The amount two ex-BHS directors must pay to creditors over the retailer’s collapse in 2016.
Source: FRP Advisory
Number of people in the UK aged 16-64 deemed economically inactive
Source: House of Commons Library
Estimated fall in UK payrolled employees during March 2024.
Source: ONS
Wage increase for financial and insurance roles between in the year to December 2023.
Source: Plus500
The amount Labour plans to raise in tax in government.
Source: Labour manifesto
UK adults that want more company help to understand their workplace pension.
Source: My Pension Expert
TAX
HMRC tips from foreign tax authorities up 48%
The amount of data provided by foreign tax authorities to HMRC about UK taxpayers living abroad has risen by 48% in five years.
In 2019 there were 6.4 million disclosures from foreign tax authorities contacting HMRC regarding UK taxpayers. This figure has increased every year, with 7.4 million in 2020, 9.2 million in 2021 and 9.5 million in 2022, a freedom of information request by law firm Pinsent Masons found.
HMRC is sent data by tax authorities from 121 countries through the common reporting standard, part of the global OECD tax framework. Some territories previously considered tax havens participate, including Switzerland, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands and Cayman Islands.
