Chancellor has listened to manufacturers, says Monahans

Following George Osborne's Budget on 19 March, Dominic Bourquin, corporate tax partner at Monahans, said the Chancellor had listened to pleas from manufactures not to stifle growth and instead, help them invest in new machinery and enter export markets.

"The £7bn package to help businesses lower their energy costs is very welcome," he said.

He also approved of the increase in the Annual Investment Allowance (AIA) from £250,000 to £500,000 - especially as it was to have been cut to just £25,000 this year. "Most manufacturers in the Bath area employ fewer than 10 people so these changes may not help them as much as larger manufacturers, but the focus of this Budget on manufacturing does send out the right signal," he said.

Monahans has provided a summary of the key announcements in George Osborne's Budget. Many of the changes revealed were re-announcements from the Autumn Statement of little more than three months ago. Nevertheless, the improving economic landscape did allow the Chancellor to spring a few surprises.

Budget highlights:

• Basic rate personal tax allowance to increase from £10,000 to £10,500 in 2014/15

• The higher tax threshold to rise from £41,540 to £41,865 in 2014/15

• A new scheme to provide 20% of childcare costs up to £10,000 per year per child under 12, tax free from autumn 2015

• The new single-tier pension to be introduced from April 2016

• Businesses and charities to receive employment allowance of £2,000 to set against employer national insurance contributions (NICs) from April 2014

• A single rate of corporation tax of 20% to apply for companies from April 2015.

• Stamp duty to be abolished for shares listed on exchanges (e.g. AIM) from April 2014

• A limited one year extension of capital gains tax (CGT) reinvestment relief for seed enterprise investment schemes (SEIS)

• Extension of the first part of the Help to Buy Scheme until 2020

• Specific anti-avoidance measures alongside the new general anti-abuse rule (GAAR)

To read Monahans' full budget summary, clickhere.