However, advisers have played down the impact of insurance premium tax, suggesting that the impending business rate hike will be a bigger concern for small business owners.
“The increase in insurance tax will have a knock-on effect but it is not necessarily going to stop these companies from operating or growing,” said independent financial adviser Edward Thomas Wilby of Coloma Wealth Management.
“If you’re a business where your profitability will be impacted by a 5 per cent increase in the insurance bill then obviously that is going to be a problem, but I think what is more worrying is that the business rates are going up and that is going to have a bigger impact on SMEs than the insurance rates.”