Small business owner welcomes supports in budget but a ‘helpline would be great’ too

Deirdre Mahon, owner of boutique Quack and Dirk in Fairview, Dublin, says the increase in VAT thresholds in the budget will help to encourage small producers like those who supply her store.

Existing VAT registration thresholds for businesses are set to rise from €37,500 to €40,000 for services and from €75,000 to €80,000 for goods.

“It would benefit small makers, that would give them a little bit of acceleration, and wiggle room to try new things with their business and hopefully their business would be less stressed,” she says.

Ms Mahon also welcomes announcement of €250 million in one-off supports for businesses, but says it is difficult to say how helpful it will be without seeing the detail of how the funding will be used.

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“That would be really helpful because obviously things like electricity and other costs are getting higher and higher. I suppose I would be interested to know how they’re going to break that down ... but it’s good news,” she said.

Minister for Finance Michael McGrath also said in his budget speech that the Government would be working to simplify the process for SMEs applying for tax reliefs, and in the coming weeks Revenue will establish a dedicated Tax Administration Liaison Committee focused on identifying any opportunities to simplify and modernise the administration of business supports.

Ms Mahon welcomes the announcement, highlighting that smaller businesses often don’t have the time or expertise to apply for Government supports and initiatives.

“Applying for these grants I feel like you have to be really good at filling out forms and have the time. It’s important for small businesses to have the support to feel the confidence to move forward with something like a grant or help,” she says.

“There are businesses out there that always apply, but there are a lot of especially smaller businesses that need them, but they’re struggling. Even if there was just a helpline to chat to somebody about a strategy or how you go about applying for something, that would be great,” she adds.