Chancellor Jeremy Hunt recently delivered the 2023 Spring Statement, outlining the measures that would affect the UK’s tech industry. With businesses keenly watching the budget in a challenging economic climate, here’s a quick recap of what the spring budget has in store for UK tech.
Business Tax
While corporation tax will rise to 25%, Hunt announced a full capital expensing program for the next three years, which means firms can fully deduct IT equipment and machinery spend from taxable profits. Hunt claimed this cut was worth £9bn per year.
Investment Zones
Hunt announced the Investment Zone plan that will see eligible regions benefit from £80m in government support as well as business incentives like reduced tax rates. Spread across several regions, including the West Midlands, Greater Manchester, the North East, South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, East Midlands, Teesside and Liverpool, there will also be at least one in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
R&D
The tech community can breathe a sigh of relief as R&D received a nod from the Chancellor. SMEs that spend more than 40% of expenditure on R&D can claim a credit “worth £27 for every £100 they spend.” The policy has been dubbed a “£1.8bn package of support helping 20,000 cutting edge companies day by day are turning Britain into a science superpower.”
AI and Quantum
Hunt aims to make the UK a science and technology superpower and has committed to funding for high-growth tech sectors of AI and quantum computing. “Because AI needs computing horsepower I today commit around £900m to implement the recommendations of the independent future of compute review,” Hunt said.
An additional £2.5bn in government funding was also committed as part of the new national quantum strategy for the next 10 years.In conclusion, the Spring Statement has announced measures that should help support and encourage business growth in the industry.
In conclusion, the Spring Statement has announced measures that should help support and encourage business in the uk tech industry.
Full details of the Tax and Allowances announced in the Budget are available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/spring-budget-2023-factsheet-cutting-simplifying-tax-for-businesses-to-invest-and-grow/spring-budget-2023-media-factsheet-cutting-simplifying-tax-for-businesses-to-invest-and-grow
(source: www.uktech.news)