Measures to allow businesses to spread losses over three years instead of one have been met with disappointment from tax advisers.

They believe that the chancellor could have allowed unlimited losses to be carried back instead of just the £50,000 announced in the pre-Budget report.

Jonathan Hornby, senior director at Alvarez & Marsal Taxand, said: ‘It’s a welcome measure but the chancellor could have gone further to help small businesses.’

The government calculates that the loss carry back will save business £10m this year, £17.5m in the year after, and then £20m in 2010/11. The government believes it will begin taking extra revenues of £15m the following year.

Against the sums supposedly saved by deferring the rise in small business corporation tax ­ half a billion ­ the sum looks small.

‘It only applies to losses up to £50,000. There’s lots of companies in business with bigger losses than that. We’ll see people pushing for more than that,’ said Bill Dodwell, tax partner at Deloitte. ‘It would have been more helpful to small business to not limit the amount of losses that can be carried back.’

The loss carry back measure was originally introduced three years before Labour came to power, but was changed in 1997.