Business Rates Relief

You can get small business rate relief if:

• your property’s rateable value is less than £15,000
• your business only uses one property - you may still be able to get relief if you use more

Contact your local council to apply for small business rate relief.

What you get

You will not pay business rates on a property with a rateable value of £12,000 or less. For properties with a rateable value of £12,001 to £15,000, the rate of relief will go down gradually from 100% to 0%.

There are also specific reliefs in place for:

• some rural businesses
• retailers
• charities and amateur community sports clubs
• and those based in Enterprise Zones

Claim Capital Allowances

You can claim capital allowances when you buy assets that you keep to use in your business, such as equipment, machinery and business vehicles like cars, vans or lorries. You can deduct some or all of the value of the item from your profits before you pay tax.

If you are a sole trader or partner and have an income of £150,000 or less a year, you may be able to use a simpler system called cash basis instead.

Enhanced Capital Allowances

If you buy an asset that qualifies for first year allowances, you can deduct the full cost from your profits before tax.

What qualifies

You can claim ‘enhanced capital allowances’ (a type of first year allowances) for the following energy and water-efficient equipment:

• some cars with low CO2 emissions
• energy saving equipment that’s on the energy technology product list, for example certain motors
• water saving equipment that’s on the water efficient technologies product list, for example meters, efficient toilets and taps
• plant and machinery for gas refuelling stations, for example storage tanks, pumps
• gas, biogas and hydrogen refuelling equipment
• new zero-emission goods vehicles

The Energy Technology List (ETL) can help organisations select equipment with a high standard of energy efficiency, thereby reducing operational costs.

Read more information on claiming first-year enhanced capital allowances.

You can claim first year allowances in addition to annual investment allowance - they do not count towards your AIA limit.

Corporation Tax – Marginal Relief

You may be able reduce your tax bill by claiming Marginal Relief if your profits before April 1st 2015 were between £300,000 and £1.5 million.

Corporation Tax relief on R&D projects

Research and Development (R&D) reliefs support companies that work on innovative projects in science and technology.

You may be able to claim Corporation Tax relief on your R&D project. It can be claimed by a range of companies that seek to research or develop an advance in their field. It can even be claimed on unsuccessful projects.

Projects that count as R&D

The work that qualifies for R&D relief must be part of a specific project to make an advance in science or technology. It cannot be an advance within a social science - like economics - or a theoretical field - such as pure maths.

The project must relate to your company’s trade - either an existing one, or one that you intend to start up based on the results of the R&D.

There is an SME Scheme and a Large Company Scheme.

Creative Industry Tax Relief

This relief allows qualifying companies to claim a larger deduction, or in some circumstances claim a payable tax credit, when calculating their taxable profits.

Your company can claim creative industry tax reliefs if it is:

• liable to Corporation Tax
• directly involved in the production and development of:
  • films
  • high-end television
  • children’s television
  • animation television
  • video games
  • theatrical productions
  • orchestral concerts
  • museum or gallery exhibitions
• involved with decision-making
• directly negotiates, contracts and pays for rights, goods and services

Find out if your creative industry company qualifies for Corporation Tax Relief, and how to make a claim.

The Patent Box

The Patent Box enables companies to apply a lower rate of Corporation Tax to profits earned from its patented inventions after April 1st 2013.

Your company must own or exclusively license-in the patents and must have undertaken qualifying development on them.

Your company could also benefit from the Patent Box if it holds certain other medicinal or botanic innovation rights.

Disincorporation Relief

Disincorporation Relief allows a company to transfer certain types of assets to its shareholders (who continue to operate the business in an unincorporated form) without the company incurring a Corporation Tax charge on the disposal of the assets.

Charities and Tax

Charity can get certain tax reliefs, though to benefit they must be recognised by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

Charities don’t pay tax on most types of income as long as they use the money for charitable purposes.

You can claim back tax that’s been deducted, such as on bank interest and donations (Gift Aid).

Community Amateur Sports Club (CASC)

You may be able to claim relief on money your Community Amateur Sports Club (CASC) uses to promote participation in, and provide facilities for, eligible sports.

To benefit, you need to register as a CASC.

Tax when your limited company gives to charity

Your limited company pays less Corporation Tax when it gives the following to charity:

• money
• equipment or trading stock
• land, property or shares in another company
• employees (on secondment)
• sponsorship payments

There are different rules for sole traders and partnerships.