SMEs fear further cuts to dividend allowance
Philip Hammond has been urged not to further slash the tax-free dividend allowance for directors and investors in the autumn Budget. The chancellor first cut the dividend allowance from £5,000 to £2,000 a year in the 2017 Budget, but the Federation of Small Businesses is concerned the Treasury may order further cuts to help plug the funding gap for the NHS. Removing the allowance completely would net the Treasury an extra £1.3bn by 2022, the FSB estimates, on top of the £2.6bn it forecast it would gain from the original cut. “We need to back small businesses and their shareholders – not clobber them with a secret tax grab,” said FSB chairman Mike Cherry.