The reaction to the latest UK Budget has been fairly muted from small business owners, with many feeling (as usual) that the changes will not go far enough to help drive the economy forward.
There was however one announcement that seems to have escaped the notice of many, despite it potentially having a huge impact to small business survival.
The Chancellor revealed that HMRC will now have far greater powers when it comes to recovering the money they feel they are owed from your business. They can simply take the money from your bank account.
This means that there won’t be any debt collection agencies coming knocking at your door on behalf of the government or the standard insolvency proceedings – if you owe them more than £1,000 they have the power to just take it.
There are some safeguards in place – for example, they won’t leave you with less than £5,000 in your account and once they take the money they’ll give you 14 days to get in touch to work out a proper payment plan. But if you refuse to pay up or can’t agree on terms, they will keep your money.
Of course, some will say that this is just money that your business must legally pay anyway, but it seems likely that this will only punish those who are struggling the most and trying to keep their business afloat. Are the owners of large corporations ever going to wake up in the morning with just £5,000 in their bank account? That seems highly unlikely.
Leave us your comments below on what you think of this new ruling or visit the link below to find out how HMRC can now even take your money in expectation of a future legal victory against you.
