How to free up extra Christmas cash for your business
Too few small businesses keep unnecessary costs to an absolute minimum. Here are six ideas that might pay for a Christmas bonus.


Too few small businesses keep unnecessary costs to an absolute minimum. Here are six ideas that might pay for a Christmas bonus.
Claim tax breaks
Many small firms do not realise they can claim valuable tax breaks. Consider tax credits for research and development (R&D): you can set anything you spend on eligible R&D against your corporation-tax bill, plus another 130% of the spending. This doesn’t have to mean conducting breakthrough research – the criteria are broad. You may qualify if you have taken a risk by attempting to “resolve scientific or technological uncertainties”. That might mean creating new products, but it could just mean changing what you currently do.
Subscribe to MoneyWeek
Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE

Sign up to Money Morning
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
Bear down on bills
Too few small businesses shop around. It’s not just a case of finding the cheapest energy and broadband packages: the small-business price-comparison site smallbusiness.co.uk can help you bag cheap deals on items from card-payment machines to public-liability insurance.
Cut national insurance costs
Small businesses with a total employers’ national insurance liability of less than £100,000 over the course of the financial year can claim the Employment Allowance when making electronic filings to HMRC. There is the potential to reduce your total national insurance bill by up to £4,000 a year. You can also claim the Employment Allowance for the last four tax years if you have previously overlooked doing so.
Consider outsourcing
Outsourcing contracts don’t have to be the preserve of large businesses buying in large volumes of support services. The cost of recruiting staff is rising and small businesses often don’t have enough of some kinds of work to justify full-time roles. In which case, hiring specialist support as you need it can make sense. While you’ll know what’s core to your company – and therefore needs to be kept in-house – support services such as bookkeeping, digital marketing and payroll administration are often better delivered by an outside expert.
Move to the cloud
Renewing computing equipment is expensive: software goes out of date quickly and data-storage space fills up fast. With cloud computing, you rent space on a cloud provider’s network and can subscribe to software you need when you need it – as a service – and tap as much data storage as you require. Over time, the savings can be huge.
Grab a grant
There are hundreds of grants available from public sector bodies, charities and private companies. These range from the National Lottery Heritage Fund’s support for local economies to Innovate UK’s awards for new product development. And the devolved nations all offer cash too. The government’s Business Finance and Support web pages are a good place to start.

David Prosser is a regular MoneyWeek columnist, writing on small business and entrepreneurship, as well as pensions and other forms of tax-efficient savings and investments. David has been a financial journalist for almost 30 years, specialising initially in personal finance, and then in broader business coverage. He has worked for national newspaper groups including The Financial Times, The Guardian and Observer, Express Newspapers and, most recently, The Independent, where he served for more than three years as business editor.
-
Trading terms: The Santa Rally
Glossary Will the Santa Rally result in its traditional December effect on global markets?
By Dr Matthew Partridge Published
-
Lock in high yields on savings, before they disappear
As interest rates peak, time to lock in high yields on your savings, while they are still available.
By Ruth Jackson-Kirby Published
-
Can Lidiane Jones be Bumble's perfect match?
Dating app Bumble is taking on Lidiane Jones, a well-regarded leader in tech, as its new boss. Can she work her magic in a new arena?
By Jane Lewis Published
-
UK millennials are worse off than previous generations
The evidence shows that millennials today are getting a raw deal. And, ultimately, that's a political choice.
By Simon Wilson Published
-
The rise and fall of Sam Bankman-Fried – the “boy wonder of crypto”
Why the fate of Sam Bankman-Fried reminds us to be wary of digital tokens and unregulated financial intermediaries.
By Jane Lewis Published
-
The jury's out on the AI summit at Bletchley Park
World governments gathered for an AI summit at Bletchley Park in November, but were they too focused on threats at the expense of economic benefits?
By Simon Wilson Published
-
As a market correction begins, money is on the move.
The force of a market correction is equal and opposite to the delusion that preceded it, so we can imagine that the correction will also be unparalleled.
By Bill Bonner Published
-
How small businesses can retain staff in a competitive job market
Small businesses are struggling to retain staff and compete against large companies with deep pockets.
By David Prosser Published
-
The French economy's Macron bubble is bursting
Cheap debt and a luxury boom have flattered the French economy. That streak of luck is running out.
By Matthew Lynn Published
-
K-pop hitman Bang Si-hyuk aims to repeat BTS phenomenon
Bang Si-hyuk created the world’s biggest boy band, BTS, making K-pop music a global sensation and himself very rich. Can he repeat the trick with a girl band?
By Jane Lewis Published