The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 274 No 7341 p324
19 March 2005

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Tax and VAT payment to be simplified for small businesses

Small businesses will only have to deal with a single Government department dealing with both tax and VAT, Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown announced this week.

In his budget speech, the chancellor said that small businesses would have to provide information to a merged HM Revenue and Customs department only once and that they would have to spend less time dealing with inspections.

He added that there would also be a range of flexible options for paying taxes due, including paying VAT online.

Corporation tax remains unchanged at 19 per cent for companies with taxable profits between £50,000 and £300,000, and 30 per cent above that (subject to marginal reliefs).