Business leaders gather to analyse budget implications

More than 200 of the region’s business leaders have gathered to analyse the implications of George Osborne’s Budget.

The annual RMT Accountants & Business Advisors post-Budget breakfast saw a number of speakers discuss the new economic strategy.

Led by John Richards, director of RMT’s Specialist Tax division, the event heard about the expected outcomes of announcements in the Chancellor’s fourth Budget of changes around corporate and personal taxation, business investment and tax planning.

RMT’s head of tax Anthony Andreasen and senior tax manager Richard Humphreys addressed the event which was held at The Assembly Rooms in Newcastle. .

Barney Hawkins and George Slack of stockbroker Brewin Dolphin also spoke about the UK’s economic prospects for the year to come and the forthcoming pensions rule changes respectively.

John Richards, director at RMT, said: “George Osborne’s latest Budget gave us a lot of food for thought, set as it is in an economic climate which remains persistently challenging, and our event provided an initial review of what it is likely to mean both for the region and the wider UK.

“The focus on additional infrastructure spending, the planned reduction in corporation tax, and the extension of the Capital Gains Tax holiday for the new Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme scheme were just some of the subjects that garnered a lot of interest and discussion, but as ever with the Budget, we will have to see how these measures all work out in practice.

“The Chancellor also made it clear that focusing on tax avoidance and evasion remains very high on his and HMRC’s agenda, and with the new General Anti Abuse Rule coming into force in the near future, it’s equally clear that regional businesses must take the potential implications of this campaign fully into account in the design of their financial management systems.”