Government commits £12.5 million to invest in woman-led businesses
Great news for women owned businesses as the Government makes a commitment to them as part of its development of investment readiness support.

The proposed fund was announced in the BERR report “Unlocking the UK’s talent”. The fund, which forms part of the Government’s development of investment readiness support, will invest £12.5 million in a co-investment fund with the aim of securing a total of £25 million of investment, focusing primarily on investing in women-led businesses.

The fund, which will test the market for focused investment funds, will make links with providers of investment readiness support, who will aim to provide increased networking support for women-led businesses to other sources of finance.

Read more and download the full BERR report “Unlocking the UK’s Talent” (PDF – March 2008)”
 

HMRC introduces changes to tax returns
From 6 April 2008 HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) will introduce changes to the taxation of self-employed people in the UK .

The good news is that there are new thresholds for “reduced reporting” for self-employment income. The income limit to qualify for reduced reporting will increase from £15,000 to £30,000.

That means that if your annual turnover is less than £30,000:

• You will have the option of providing a less detailed breakdown of your profit or loss on your tax return - known as the three line account.
• You may qualify to use the four-page short tax return. HMRC will automatically issue a short tax return if you do.
• You may also be able to use the new short self-employment pages in the main tax return if your annual turnover is below £64,000.

A new, redesigned main self assessment (SA) tax return is also being introduced. It has fewer questions, simpler language and an improved layout. It's designed to be easier to understand and complete for all SA customers, but in particular for those who are self-employed or who don't use an accountant to complete their return.

From this year, there are also changes to the SA deadlines - paper returns must now be filed by 31 October, while the deadline for online returns remains at 31 January.

For more information visit the HM Revenue & Customs website.
 

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