A CAMPAIGN to bring back the 10 per cent tax on selling a business has succeeded with the announcement of Founders’ Relief in the Budget.
The Stop the Creep campaign, run by business group Helm, is backed by more than 500 business leaders and parliamentarians, including Phones 4u founder John Caudwell and former Marks & Spencer chair Lord Stuart Rose. It is run by Helm, the UK’s largest community of scale-up founders, which has 400 members with a combined revenue of £8 billion. The relief, announced by John Healey in the Budget, will cap Capital Gains Tax at 10 per cent on lifetime gains of up to £10 million, bringing it back to where it was two years ago.
- Chancellor John Healey has announced new tax relief to support Britain’s founders in a win for Stop the Creep campaigners
- Scale-up founders’ group Helm has been calling on the Chancellor to halt the creep of tax rises on Britain’s founders for the past two years
- Founders’ Relief will see Capital Gains Tax capped at a 10 per cent rate on lifetime gains up to £10 million
Other supporters include Luke Johnson, chairman of Gail’s Bakery, Pimlico Plumbers founder Charlie Mullins, and Shadow Chancellor Andrew Griffith.
Senior business figures have consistently warned that repeated tax rises risk undermining Britain’s entrepreneurs and encouraging business builders to take their companies elsewhere.
It is hoped the announcement will encourage some of Britain’s biggest founders to continue investing in the UK and creating skilled jobs.
The announcement tackles founders’ biggest fear going into the Budget. Research among Helm’s 400 members published before the Budget found almost nine in ten (88 per cent) named a tax on capital or assets as the change they most feared.
More than half (57 per cent) cited Capital Gains Tax being increased again or brought into line with income tax. Other measures welcomed in the Budget are additional cuts to business rates to support high street hospitality and leisure venues.
Helm members run scale-up businesses with a combined revenue of more than £8 billion, while the average member company has an annual turnover of £21 million.
Andreas Adamides, CEO of Helm, the UK’s largest community of scale-up founders, and chair of the Stop the Creep campaign, which called for Founders’ Relief to be reinstated, said:
“Founders’ Relief is a huge win for Britain’s business builders, and proof that the Chancellor has listened to Helm’s Stop the Creep campaign.
“Founders who risk everything to build a company now have a reason to stay here and a reason to keep growing in the UK.
“Our members, whose businesses together generate £8 billion in revenue, have been given relief after last year’s disastrous Budget.
“The £24 billion committed to the National Wealth Fund, further cuts to business rates and support for the British Business Bank will help keep our scale-ups growing here.
“We will continue working with the Chancellor to make Britain the best place in the world to build a business.”
Find out more at: www.helmclub.co
