Well at least he left the VAT rate alone.
Perhaps the biggest [only?] relief in the Chancellor’s “Pre Budget Report” [PBR 2009] in December was that he resisted the temptation of any further tinkering with VAT rates, leaving us with the already-anticipated return to a Standard Rate of 17.5% from the start of this month. Retailers had feared the introduction of further rates to cover different types of goods or services, but thankfully that danger has passed – at least until after the next election, which in case you’d forgotten, is required to be held anytime between now and the end of June. That ought to give all retailer groups time to lobby each party with a plea to limit any future fiddling with rates – or at least for an acknowledgement that the politicians understand just how much effort and disruption is caused in retail [and accounting..] businesses by apparently ‘simple’ changes to VAT rates!
The full article will be available from the 1st of January in the Forecourt Trader and online @ www.ekwgroup.co.uk.
