Small firms battered by cost of compliance, research shows
15 July 2014
The average small and medium-sized employer has seen the cost of compliance rise by an additional £713 this year, according to research by the Forum of Private Business (FPB).
Tue, 15 Jul 2014The average small and medium-sized employer has seen the cost of compliance rise by an additional £713 this year, according to research by the Forum of Private Business (FPB).
Research by the FPB now puts the total cost of compliance at more than £19.2bn – a 4% increase compared to 2013 and blames the amount firms are paying to external contractors as the main contributing factor for the 6% increase.
Smaller businesses in particular have been hit the hardest, with the compliance bill for firms with fewer than nine employees being the equivalent of £164 per employee – almost seven times the cost for companies with 50 or more workers.
The employer support organisation said this was most likely down to costs associated with the end of the SME extension to introducing Real Time Information (the new HMRC payroll process), auto-enrolment and advice on sector specific regulations.
As in 2013 when the FPB did its last cost of compliance study, taxation compliance remained the single biggest outlay for small firms, followed by employment law, with health and safety third.
Research by the FPB now puts the total cost of compliance at more than £19.2bn – a 4% increase compared to 2013 and blames the amount firms are paying to external contractors as the main contributing factor for the 6% increase.
Smaller businesses in particular have been hit the hardest, with the compliance bill for firms with fewer than nine employees being the equivalent of £164 per employee – almost seven times the cost for companies with 50 or more workers.
The employer support organisation said this was most likely down to costs associated with the end of the SME extension to introducing Real Time Information (the new HMRC payroll process), auto-enrolment and advice on sector specific regulations.
As in 2013 when the FPB did its last cost of compliance study, taxation compliance remained the single biggest outlay for small firms, followed by employment law, with health and safety third.
