As well as the announcements about the staff support scheme and the extension to the self-employment scheme, the chancellor has also announced the following measures for business support:
- Self-assessment taxpayers can now delay payments further. For individuals who are struggling to pay their Payment on Account for 31st July 2020, they can now pay on 31st January 2021.
- Businesses given longer to repay bounce back loans. The Government announced that a new ‘Pay As You Grow’ Scheme will give those who have borrowed bounce back loans more flexibility in how they repay, while the time you have to apply for a new bounce back loan has also been extended.
- New and existing bounce back loans can now be repaid over 10 years (previously it was 6). This will reduce average monthly repayments on the loan by almost half – however, if you do extend the loan, you’ll end up paying more in interest overall. The first year is interest-free and the rest is at 2.5%.
- You can now take payment holidays and interest-only repayment periods on bounce back loans. Again, this applies to new and existing loans. You can use the option to move temporarily to interest-only payments up to three times, with each interest-only period lasting up to six months. You can also take one payment holiday over the length of the loan, where you pause repayments entirely for up to six months. You can only use this option once you have made at least six payments.
- You now have until 30 November 2020 to apply for a new bounce back loan. The deadline was originally 4 November 2020, but this has been extended.
If you need any further information on these schemes, please do not hesitate to contact the BACDT office on info@bacdt.org.uk