This year Chancellor George Osborne has tried to bring a bit of cheer in his 2013 budget. OK maybe he didn’t set out to, but it was a welcome (if unintended) consequence.  Looking past the usual round of spending announcements, budget cuts and growth forecasts there were a few planning opportunities.

Good news and budgets are not typical bedfellows, especially where businesses are concerned.  I can only imagine that other small business owners are, like me, still reeling from not one but two pieces of good news. Firstly a reduction in the rate of corporation tax will mean more distributable profit for shareholders – or additional re-investment (in equipment or people).

Secondly the introduction of an ’employment allowance’ will mean a saving of up to £2,000 per annum in employers’ national insurance. That’s a decrease in direct taxation for every business with at least one employee earning more than £144 per week. This reduction in expenditure will surely be reflected in additional profits.

These two developments will provide opportunities for businesses to invest for the future or to distribute additional returns to shareholders. Either way there will be a bit more money around. And there’s more…

Auto enrolment is just around the corner. The national insurance employment allowance announced today may have an added bonus for some businesses. Those firms planning to use salary sacrifice to comply with the requirements of the workplace pension reform will benefit. Employer NI savings from a salary sacrifice arrangement will not only reduce the impact of the employer contribution element of the workplace pension reform but when coupled with the £2,000 employment allowance, will result in further reductions in the final employer NI bill.

The increase in personal allowance to £10,000 will see an increase in net spendable income for the lowest paid. However at the other end of the scale tax efficiency is getting more difficult. The top end of the income band subject to effective rate of tax of 60% (due to loss of personal allowance) rises to £120,000 in 2014. That’s the same year that the annual allowance for pension contributions decreases to £40,000. The net result is that more high earners will pay more tax.

Perhaps the only solace for those affected is to be found in drinking and driving (not together obviously). Planned increases to duty on beer have been scrapped and instead benefit from a reduction of 1p. Fuel duty increases have gone the same way. For the time being at least motoring costs remains at the mercy of the oil companies in isolation.