Budget Highlights 2018
Well, there was some good, and some less-welcome news following yesterday's Budget. But, how will it actually impact golf retailers? Here are the key highlights for our customers by managing director, Claire Fraser.
- MINIMUM WAGE: From April 2019, the minimum wage will increase from £7.83 to £8.21. Worth noting for those employing retail assistants
- VAT REGISTRATION: Whilst there had been plans to bring down the VAT taxable threshold for businesses, which is currently set at a turnover of £85,000, this will now remain static until 2020.
- RATES REDUCTION: In the budget, the government announced a reduction of business rates by a third, over the next 2 years. If you currently share this levy with your club house, it may be worth a discussion to see how this reduction may impact you.
- APPRENTICESHIPS: For small businesses employing apprentices, the current 10% levy has been reduced to 5%, which may encourage more small business managers to consider taking on an apprentice.
- PERSONAL ALLOWANCE: The rate at which we start to pay income tax at 20%, is set to rise from £11,850 to £12,500 from April 2019 – a year earlier than planned. Good news for lower income employees.
As a final note, we think it's encouraging to see the government putting aside £650 million to help rejuvenate the flailing high street. Whilst this won’t affect most of our retailer customers directly, additional investment in the bricks and mortar shopping experience can only be a good thing.
For more information about the budget, we’d recommend the BBC’s “At a Glance” report https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-46017125