Petition to get the gov to reconsider the dividend tax changes

[AtW]

I thought the 5K dividend band is within the existing income bands, not in addition to it? That's what makes it rather nasty.

No, what makes it rather nasty is that dividends tax is now separate and can be easily increased at any time, it won't take long before it is aligned with income tax rates.

[AtW]

And people running a traditional small business, who do typically work extremely long hours for little income, are not really going to be affected to the same extent, if at all, because they are not maxing out their personal income to the higher rate using dividends.

Now that's pretty fooked up.

Working extremely long hours and having combined income from business less than high income threshold, what's the point then???

[northernladuk]

Most contractors who have done the maths know that they're onto a good thing as things are currently, the dividend tax actually does make things fairer and complaining "us high earners now have to pay as much tax as permies" is probably dangerous boat-rocking.

Absolutely this. I can't remember too much that hasn't gone our way in recent budgets. Many other groups have been hit year on year. Something was going to happen eventually. Yes it narks me but isn't going to affect my lifeatyle. The other issues however.....

[cojak]

..as would most contractors I've spoken with.

So no, I'm not going to sign your petition.

[eek]

Most contractors who have done the maths know that they're onto a good thing as things are currently, the dividend tax actually does make things fairer and complaining "us high earners now have to pay as much tax as permies" is probably dangerous boat-rocking.

+1. I was and am perfectly happy to accept the dividend tax change.

Now the T&S and IR35 changes are a totally different matter. And the basis of those are now wrong to begin with as the dividend tax changes half the estimated benefits....

But if this was the only bit that was impacting us I would just accept it...

[LondonManc]

Clever, really, for them to do all 3 at the same time - we're too busy complaining about T&S and IR35 to even bother challenging div tax - if the only thing the budget did negatively for contractors was the dividend tax, would we be so acceptant?

Yes. I think we get away with paying a much smaller amount of tax than we probably should. That said, it was the previous exploitation of the tax rules that ushered in IR35 that has gotten us to where we are. We're far better off than a lot of people out there.

[d000hg]

Most contractors who have done the maths know that they're onto a good thing as things are currently, the dividend tax actually does make things fairer and complaining "us high earners now have to pay as much tax as permies" is probably dangerous boat-rocking.

[pr1]

Correct. The proles will see it as a tax on high earners, which it is. Essentially it's about us paying our fair share. We should. But hitting us three times isn't fair so let's not go overboard on the one that will affect many of us the least.

Clever, really, for them to do all 3 at the same time - we're too busy complaining about T&S and IR35 to even bother challenging div tax - if the only thing the budget did negatively for contractors was the dividend tax, would we be so acceptant?

[LondonManc]

WHS. You can earn £10K as salary plus £5K as dividends largely tax free. How much does any of this affect anyone on a low income?

The petition is a waste of time for sure, but if you're going to have a petition it would be better if it wasn't based on a lie.

Correct. The proles will see it as a tax on high earners, which it is. Essentially it's about us paying our fair share. We should. But hitting us three times isn't fair so let's not go overboard on the one that will affect many of us the least.

[Eirikur]

name, postcode and email go straight to HMRC for IR35 investigation