FPB lists Pre-Budget demands

Greater VAT relief among small business group's demands for government's upcoming Pre-Budget Report

The Forum of Private Business (FPB) is calling on the government to cut red tape and reform its tax policies for small firms ahead of the Pre-Budget Report on 24 November.

The small business group said it was backing schemes to ease VAT payments for small firms, and called for more to benefit from the Cash Accounting Scheme (CAS) – which allows firms to pay VAT upon invoices being paid.

It claimed this would help them combat the scourge of late payment.

The FPB is also calling for a reduction in small companies’ rate of corporation tax to 20 percent, automatic enrolment for Small Business Rate Relief, an inflation reprieve for Small Business Rate Relief and continued support for regulatory reform.

The FPB’s demands were based on its latest survey of members, where the perennial bugbears of tax and regulation were pinpointed as the biggest threats to doing business.

The top five measures its members would like to see included in the 2009 Budget were: simplifying or limiting health and safety regulations (74 per cent), slashing red tape requirements (74 per cent), reduction of Fuel Excise Duty (60 per cent), cutting corporation tax to 20p (58 per cent) and combining PAYE with National Insurance (41 per cent).