Tax cuts 'won't help self-employed'

News Article - 13 November 2008
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The income tax cuts being proposed by the country's major parties will not help Britain's 3.8 million self-employed individuals, according to the Tax Advice Network.

Mark Lee, chairman of the network and a former ICAEW tax faculty chairman, explained that these workers will not benefit from the changes until January 2010.

This is because they will not submit their current accounts until after March 2009, meaning the cuts will affect the tax due in January 2010.

However, non-self employed workers will see the cuts positively affect their income over the course of the year.

"Self-employed people are getting forgotten in all this talk about tax cuts as no one is suggesting anything that will provide any immediate benefits for them," he said.

Mr Lee also criticised the Conservatives' plan to provide tax cuts for employers who take on people who have been out of work for at least three months.

He explained that this would not help businesses which consist of one person.

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