One measure in the Budget last week that we didn’t mention was the £1k digital tax allowance that George Osborne announced. One reason that Tamebay didn’t report it was because we had hoped to get a few more details to clarify the small print.
It always takes a few days for all of the detail to emerge from a Budget, but as we’ve seen the fall-out from this Budget has been different to the usual.
So what is this little perk that the Chancellor announced? Well, in reality it’s two. One related to selling things online and the other is property related. You can make a few quid by renting out a spare room or the like.
He gilded it as “tax break for the digital age” and said there would be “no forms to fill in, no tax to pay”.
A few things to consider. You can’t deduct expenses from these allowances. And it does seem to be very much aimed at people running a very small sideline rather than any sort of significant business activity.
That said, some have positioned this as a small business perk, but it seems to me that it will only be individuals filling out individual tax returns who will benefit. And that will include quite a few sole traders, so paying no tax on the first £1k of sales will be welcome.
Has anyone had any definitive information on how it might be used by small businesses who are not sole traders?
