Small business owners across the UK are losing approximately 12 days a year due to lengthy tax administration processes, according to research from the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB).
More than half of respondents to the survey commissioned by the business lobbying group spend between two and eight hours every month filling in tax forms. 11% spend even longer than this, allocating between two and six days purely on completing tax forms.
Tax administration is also causing a drain on financial resources as well, with 77% of small business owners spending up to £5,000 to pay professionals and buy software that helps them with paying their tax bills.
Taking the average figure spent on tax administration, almost £500 million a year is spent by SMEs on managing tax alone.
The extra pressures coming from tax are contributing to cashflow problems for many small businesses, with a third of owners saying they have had cashflow problems which have prevented them paying taxes on time, whilst a further 19% said that confusion arising from a lack of clarity on when tax payments need to be made has caused them to pay late.
The FSB has called for the implementation of a Tax Simplification process, which would create a more efficient system and reduce the amount of time firms need to allocate to dealing with settling tax bills.
John Allan, National chairman of the FSB, said: “Small firms are losing a serious amount of time completing these forms and it's tantamount to money down the drain as they could spend that time growing their business.”
Invoice Finance for Cashflow Assistance
If your small business is in need of a cashflow boost, have you considered invoice finance?
Invoice finance is a sustainable alternative to bank credit and unlocks cash that gets tied up in unpaid invoices quickly and simply.
If you choose an invoice factoring facility, you also benefit from the provision of a expert credit control function, which means our hardworking team will chase payments on your behalf and ensure your invoices are settled as quickly as possible.
To find out more about how invoice finance facilities such as invoice factoring can work for your business, why not give us a call on 0845 602 9354 or fill in the handy enquiry form on the right and one of our corporate managers will get back to you with a no-obligation quote.