Small businesses will likely use these words often in the coming months. Entrepreneurs & small business owners who once felt proud to start companies from nothing & create jobs are now giving up. They feel crushed & defeated by growing burdens. The country that once celebrated its entrepreneurs and self-employed workers now seems determined to drain them dry.
Recent online discussions among business owners at the start of the new tax year show the situation clearly. One person said they could continue for a few more years but have decided against it. They love their work but the administrative stress makes it not worthwhile. Another agreed that the stress is too much and they have already quit.Someone else mentioned having no sick pay or holiday pay or pension or company benefits. They noted that customers complain about high prices even though they worked throughout Covid without claiming government support. They would rather sell their house and live on the road.
Another comment stated that running a small business is brutally hard and nobody cares about their struggles anymore. Each year more is taken & they have never felt so constantly exhausted. One person suggested that only cash-based traders can survive now.
A hospitality business owner explained that every penny gets taken through fuel costs and staff costs and sickness pay and card machine fees and VAT and corporation tax. Someone who has been self-employed for nearly 35 years said the last few years have been so difficult that they now work part-time.
They worked six days a week for over three decades and while it was tough before it has never been this bad. Another person said the new VAT & tax requirements are too expensive and quarterly tax payments will leave no money for cash flow. Small businesses face problems with non-payment & slow payments and product prices they cannot pass on to customers. They also struggle with staff costs and insurance and rent increases.
One owner calculated their pay at six pounds per hour after a full year of work. The discussion generated nearly 700 comments with similar themes. For many people the final problem is Making Tax Digital which started this week. Sole traders and small business owners call it Making Tax Difficult instead.
Older businesses that were comfortable with their existing methods say this requirement is too much and they are quitting. The government says modernizing tax processes will improve efficiency and reduce administrative time and errors. Small businesses argue that forcing them to use digital tools & invest in new technology and change their practices on top of other legislation is punitive and creates more stress. This objection runs deeper than resistance to change.
It is not just about targeting people who are dishonest in their tax declarations through a more transparent system. The online discussion started when a self-employed bookkeeper posted on Facebook about the Making Tax Digital requirements for sole traders and landlords with turnovers over fifty thousand pounds.
Those earning above thirty thousand pounds will join later. She runs her own bookkeeping business and helps others run theirs. She expressed growing concern for small business owners. She explained that government rules are designed to maximize tax collection and minimize benefits that small business owners deserve for the stress and instability of running their businesses. She stated that small businesses are being unfairly squeezed until many owners understandably decide to quit.
She finds it disturbing that people who handle this stress and take responsibility for running businesses get no recognition from the state for their courage and commitment. She said Making
Tax Digital is part of this problem. It gives tax authorities more control and forces business owners who struggle with technology to pay someone else to handle it. Many cannot afford this and are giving up because it is too difficult. She believes current rules for small businesses are inadequate and show no understanding of what it is like to be a small business owner. Many people responded quickly. One person said this is exactly why they stopped trading on the last day of the tax year.
With new legislation including immediate parental leave rights and rising energy and rent costs and National Insurance & National Minimum Wage increases you should expect to see small businesses failing rapidly.
