Annual Investment Allowance (AIA) INCREASED TO £1M

The annual investment allowance (AIA) will rise to £1 million for two years, chancellor Philip Hammond announced in the recent budget. Hammond said the AIA will rise to £1 million from £200,000, delivering on a long-standing ask of the British Chambers of Commerce. This allowance will be available from 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2020. This increase is part of the government’s aim to ‘stimulate business investment’, Hammond said.
The annual investment allowance (AIA) is a capital allowance that enables a business to write off the cost of most items of plant and machinery in full against profits in the year in which the expenditure is incurred.
What qualifies? The AIA is available for most items of plant and machinery. This includes capital items used in the business. All types of construction and industrial equipment qualify.
And what doesn’t? The main exclusion is cars. However, 100% first year allowances are available for new and unused cars with CO2 emissions of 75g/km or less. Where first year allowances are not available, writing down allowances are given at the rate of 18% where the car is new and the CO2 emissions are between 75g/km and 130g/km, or where the car is second-hand and the CO2 emissions are below 130g/m. For cars (new and second-hand) where the CO2 emissions are 130g/km or more, writing down allowances are given at the special rate of 8%.
The AIA allowance can be claimed on equipment which is being purchased using a hire purchase scheme which is why our current promotion is an HP scheme with a 3-month initial ‘holiday’ period before the monthly repayment begin.
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