Autumn Budget – Oct 2021

Posted on October 28, 2021 by Henry Cooper

Autumn Budget 2021

The Chancellor Rishi Sunak presented his third Budget on 27 October 2021. In his speech he set out the plans to “build back better” with ambitions to level up and reduce regional inequality.

Main Budget proposals

Tax measures include:

a new temporary business rates relief in England for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure properties for 2022/23
a change in the earliest age from which most pension savers can access their pension savings without incurring a tax charge. From April 2028 this will rise to 57
the retention of the £1 million annual investment allowance until 31 March 2023
individuals disposing of UK property on or after 27 October 2021 now have a 60 day CGT reporting and payment deadline, following the completion of the disposal.

Other measures include:

a complete overhaul of alcohol duties that will see drinks taxed on their strength
the cancellation of the previously announced rise in fuel duties
pubs supported with a reduction in draught beer and cider duty
increases in the National Living Wage and the National Minimum Wage rates
an ultra-long-haul band of air passenger duty introduced.

Some Budget proposals may be subject to amendment in the Finance Bill 2021-22. Should you need any further help or support please contact us.

Personal Tax

The personal allowance

The personal allowance is currently £12,570. The Chancellor announced in the March 2021 Budget that the personal allowance will be frozen at £12,570 for the tax years 2022/23 to 2025/26.

There is a reduction in the personal allowance for those with ‘adjusted net income’ over £100,000. The reduction is £1 for every £2 of income above £100,000. So there is no personal allowance where adjusted net income exceeds £125,140.

The marriage allowance

The marriage allowance permits certain couples, where neither party pays tax in the tax year at a rate other than the basic rate, to transfer £1,260 of their personal allowance to their spouse or civil partner.

Comment

The marriage allowance reduces the recipient’s tax bill by up to approximately £250 a year. To benefit from the marriage allowance one spouse or civil partner must normally have no income or income below the personal allowance for the year. The marriage allowance was first introduced for 2015/16 and there are couples who are entitled to claim but have not yet done so. It is possible to claim for all years back to 2017/18 where the entitlement conditions are met. The total tax saving for all years up until 2021/22 could be over £1,000. A claim for 2017/18 will need to be made by 5 April 2022.

Tax bands and rates

The basic rate of tax is 20%. In 2021/22 the band of income taxable at this rate is £37,700 so that the threshold at which the 40% band applies is £50,270 for those who are entitled to the full personal allowance.

At Spring Budget 2021, the Chancellor announced that the basic rate band will be frozen at £37,700 for the tax years 2022/23 to 2025/26. The National Insurance contributions Upper Earnings Limit and Upper Profits Limit will remain aligned to the higher rate threshold at £50,270 for these years.

Individuals pay tax at 45% on their income over £150,000.

Scottish residents

The tax on income (other than savings and dividend income) is different, for taxpayers who are resident in Scotland, from that paid by taxpayers resident elsewhere in the UK. The Scottish income tax rates and bands apply to income such as employment income, self-employed trade profits and property income.

In 2021/22 there are five income tax rates which range between 19% and 46%. Scottish taxpayers are entitled to the same personal allowance as individuals in the rest of the UK. The two higher rates are 41% and 46% rather than the 40% and 45% rates that apply to such income for other UK residents. Currently the 41% band applies to income over £43,662 for those who are entitled to the full personal allowance. The 46% rate applies to income over £150,000.

The Scottish Government will announce the Scottish income tax rates and bands for 2022/23 in the Scottish Budget on 9 December.

Welsh residents

From April 2019, the Welsh Government has had the right to vary the rates of income tax payable by Welsh taxpayers (other than tax on savings and dividend income). The UK government has reduced each of the three rates of income tax paid by Welsh taxpayers by 10 pence. For 2021/22 the Welsh Government has set the Welsh rate of income tax at 10 pence which has been added to the reduced rates. This means the tax payable by Welsh taxpayers is the same as that payable by English and Northern Irish taxpayers.

The Welsh Government will publish its Draft Budget for 2022/23 on 20 December.

Tax on savings income

Savings income is income such as bank and building society interest.

The Savings Allowance applies to savings income and the available allowance in a tax year depends on the individual’s marginal rate of income tax. Broadly, individuals taxed at up to the basic rate of tax have an allowance of £1,000. For higher rate taxpayers the allowance is £500. No allowance is due to additional rate taxpayers.

Some individuals qualify for a 0% starting rate of tax on savings income up to £5,000. However, the rate is not available if taxable non-savings income (broadly earnings, pensions, trading profits and property income, less allocated allowances and reliefs) exceeds £5,000.

Tax on dividends

The first £2,000 of dividends is chargeable to tax at 0% (the Dividend Allowance). Dividends received above the allowance are taxed at the following rates for 2021/22:

5% for basic rate taxpayers
5% for higher rate taxpayers
1% for additional rate taxpayers.

In September 2021 the government announced an increase to the rates of dividend tax by 1.25% from 6 April 2022 to help fund the new planned investment in health and social care. The new rates will therefore be 8.75% for basic rate taxpayers, 33.75% for higher rate taxpayers and 39.35% for additional rate taxpayers.

Dividends within the allowance still count towards an individual’s basic or higher rate band and so may affect the rate of tax paid on dividends above the Dividend Allowance.

To determine which tax band dividends fall into, dividends are treated as the last type of income to be taxed.

Comment

Dividends on shares held in ISAs and pension schemes are not subject to dividend tax and thus will not be affected by the increase in rates.

Green National Savings and Investment (NS&I) product

In the Spring Budget 2021 the government announced a green retail savings product through NS&I. The Bonds are now available to buy online and offer savers a chance to support green projects at a fixed rate of 0.65% pa over a three-year term. The Bonds are available to those aged 16 or over, with a minimum investment of £100 and a maximum limit of £100,000 per person. The interest is taxable in the tax year the Bond matures.

The UK’s inaugural sovereign green bond (or ‘green gilt’) was launched in September 2021, and was followed by a second issuance in October 2021. They are the first sovereign green retail product of their kind in the world.

Universal Credit

The Universal Credit taper rate is reduced from 63% to 55%, meaning Universal Credit claimants will be able to keep an additional 8p for every £1 of net income they earn.

Increase to the normal minimum pension age

The current earliest age at which most pension savers can access their pension savings without incurring a tax charge is age 55. From April 2028 this earliest age will rise to 57.

This measure will affect individuals born after 5 April 1973 whose earliest date to access their pension benefits will see a two-year delay to those born on or before that date.

Pensions – Scheme Pays

Although there are no limits to how much an individual can save or accrue in a registered pension scheme, there is an overall limit on the amount of an individual’s tax-relieved annual pension savings or accrual which includes employer contributions. This is known as the annual allowance and the standard annual allowance is currently £40,000, but in some circumstances this is reduced, with the maximum reduction taking it down to £4,000.

An individual’s unused annual allowance from the three previous tax years can be carried forward and added to the annual allowance. However, if the individual’s pension savings for the tax year exceed their annual allowance, the annual allowance tax charge is applied to the excess.

Although this tax liability would normally be the individual’s liability it is possible for them to elect for the pension scheme administrator to be jointly liable.

Where an individual has inputted more than £40,000 and their annual allowance charge exceeds £2,000 the individual can request that their pension company pays the charge for them in return for an equivalent reduction in the value of their pension pot. This is called mandatory Scheme Pays.

From April 2022 there will be a change to the rules for certain pension schemes to remove anomalies where the tax charge has arisen due to a retrospective change of facts, the tax charge is £2,000 or more and the individual requests the pension scheme pays the amount. This measure applies retrospectively from 6 April 2016.

Employment

National Insurance Contributions (NICs)

In September 2021 the government published its proposals for new investment in health and social care in England. The proposals will lead to a permanent increase in spending not only in England but also by the devolved governments. To fund the investment the government will introduce a UK-wide 1.25% Health and Social Care Levy based on the NIC system but ring fenced for health and social care.

The Health and Social Care Levy Act provides for a temporary 1.25% increase to both the main and additional rates of Class 1, Class 1A, Class 1B and Class 4 NICs for 2022/23. From April 2023 onwards, the NIC rates will decrease back to 2021/22 levels and will be replaced by a new 1.25% Health and Social Care Levy.

Broadly, the new Health and Social Care Levy will be subject to the same reliefs, thresholds and requirements as NIC. However the Levy (as opposed to the temporary increase in NICs for 2022/23) will also apply to those above State Pension age who are still in employment.

Existing reliefs for NICs to support employers will apply to the Levy. Companies employing apprentices under the age of 25, all people under the age of 21, veterans and employers in Freeports will not pay the Levy for these employees as long as their yearly gross earnings are less than £50,270, or £25,000 for new Freeport employees.

The Employment Allowance, which reduces employers’ Class 1 NICs by up to £4,000, will also be available for the employers’ liability to the Levy.

Comment

A novel aspect of the Levy is the application to employees above State Pension age. This does not apply in respect of the temporary increase for 2022/23. The Levy will not apply to Class 2 (a flat rate paid by many self-employed) and Class 3 (voluntary contributions for taxpayers to fill gaps in their contribution records).

The main burden of the 1.25% increase falls on the collective shoulders of the employer and employee as each will have higher contributions to make. Those with property income will be relieved that they are not being included in the Levy.

National Living Wage (NLW) and National Minimum Wage (NMW)

Following the recommendations of the independent Low Pay Commission, the government will increase the NLW for individuals aged 23 and over by 6.6% from 1 April 2022. The government has also accepted the recommendations for the other NMW rates to be increased.

From 1 April 2022, the hourly rates of NLW and NMW will be:

£9.50 for those 23 years old and over
£9.18 for 21-22 year olds
£6.83 for 18-20 year olds
£4.81 for 16-17 year olds
£4.81 apprentice rate for apprentices under 19, and those 19 and over in their first year of apprenticeship.

Comment

In total, the annual gross earnings of a full-time worker on the NLW will have increased by over £5,000 since its introduction in April 2016.

Power to make temporary modifications of taxation of employment income

This will allow HM Treasury, under ministerial direction, to make regulations to make temporary modifications to existing legislation for a period of up to two tax years in the event of a disaster or emergency of national significance as determined by HM Treasury. This will enable the government to support taxpayers, for example by:

exempting benefits in kind of a specified description from income tax where appropriate
changing the qualifying conditions for exemptions on benefits in kind
exempting specified reimbursements from the charge to income tax
providing relief for specified expenses.

This will have effect on and after the date of Royal Assent to the Finance Bill 2021-22.

Business

Making Tax Digital for income tax

The Making Tax Digital (MTD) regime is based on businesses being required to maintain their accounting records in a specified digital format and submit extracts from those records regularly to HMRC. It had been expected that sole trader businesses and landlords with business income of more than £10,000 per annum would be required to enter the MTD regime for income tax purposes from 6 April 2023. However, HMRC recently announced that this will be deferred until 6 April 2024. Early adoption of digital record keeping and voluntary submission of MTD for income tax data remains possible.

Following the deferral for sole trader businesses and landlords, general partnerships will not be required to comply with MTD for income tax until 6 April 2025 and the date other types of partnerships (for example limited liability partnerships) will be required to comply will be confirmed in the future.

HMRC has also confirmed that the new system of penalties for the late filing and late payment of tax for income tax self assessment will be aligned with when a taxpayer becomes mandated into MTD for income tax. For individuals without trade or property income or otherwise exempt from MTD for income tax, the new penalty regime will apply to their income tax affairs from 6 April 2025.

MTD for corporation tax

HMRC has previously announced that MTD for corporation tax will not be mandated before 2026.

Accounting periods that are not aligned to tax years

Aligned to the revised start date for MTD for income tax, changes will be made to simplify the rules under which trading profits made by self-employed individuals and partnerships are allocated to tax years.

The changes mainly affect unincorporated businesses that do not draw up annual accounts to 31 March or 5 April. The transition to the new rules will take place in the 2023/24 tax year and the new rules will come into force from 6 April 2024.

Affected self-employed individuals and partnerships may retain their existing accounting period but the trade profit or loss that they report to HMRC for a tax year will become the profit or loss arising in the tax year itself, regardless of the chosen accounting date. Broadly this will require apportionment of accounting profits into the tax years in which they arise.

Example

A business draws up accounts to 30 June every year. Currently, income tax calculations for 2024/25 would be based on the profits in the business’s accounts for the year ended 30 June 2024. The change will mean that the income tax calculations for 2024/25 will be based on 3/12 of the profits for the year ended 30 June 2024 and 9/12 of the profits for the year ended 30 June 2025.

This change will potentially accelerate when business profits are taxed but transitional adjustments in 2023/24 are designed to ease any cashflow impact of the change.

Comment

An estimated 93% of sole traders and 67% of trading partnerships draw up their accounts to 31 March or 5 April and thus the current rules are straightforward and the proposed changes will not affect them. Those with a different year end might wish to consider changing their accounting year end to simplify compliance with tax rules.

Corporation tax rates

The main rate of corporation tax is currently 19%. In the Spring Budget 2021, the Chancellor announced the rate would remain at 19% until 1 April 2023 but the rate will then increase to 25% for companies with profits over £250,000. The 19% rate will become a small profits rate payable by companies with profits of £50,000 or less. Companies with profits between £50,001 and £250,000 will pay tax at the main rate reduced by a marginal relief, providing a gradual increase in the effective corporation tax rate.

Capital allowances

Plant and machinery

Most corporate and unincorporated businesses are able to utilise a £200,000 annual investment allowance (AIA) to claim 100% tax relief on their qualifying expenditure on plant and machinery. The allowance was temporarily increased to £1 million for expenditure incurred on or after 1 January 2019 and was due to revert back to £200,000 from 1 January 2022. The £1 million allowance will now be retained until 31 March 2023.

Transitional rules will apply to accounting periods that span 1 April 2023.

For companies, this aligns the end of the temporary AIA with the end of the ‘super-deductions’ as announced by the government in Spring Budget 2021.

Reminder – super-deductions

Between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2023, companies investing in qualifying new plant and machinery are able to benefit from new capital allowances, termed ‘super-deductions’ or ‘first year allowances’, as follows:

• a super-deduction of 130% can be claimed on most new plant and machinery investments that ordinarily qualify for the 18% main rate writing down allowances

• a first year allowance of 50% can be claimed on most new plant and machinery investments that ordinarily qualify for the 6% special rate writing down allowances.

These reliefs are not available for unincorporated businesses.

Comment

Businesses incurring expenditure on plant and machinery should carefully consider the timing of their acquisitions to optimise their cashflow. In 2023 not only will the tax relief rules for expenditure on plant and machinery change, for companies the percentage corporation tax relief saving on the expenditure may change as well.

Structures and Buildings

A Structures and Buildings Allowance (SBA) was introduced with effect from 29 October 2018 to relieve costs for new structures and buildings used for qualifying purposes. A business must hold an allowance statement containing certain information to be eligible to claim SBA. Minor changes will be made to the allowance statement requirements to clarify the information required to be kept.

Annual Tax on Enveloped Dwellings

The Annual Tax on Enveloped Dwellings (ATED) charges increase automatically each year in line with inflation. The ATED annual charges will rise by 3.1% from 1 April 2022 in line with the September 2021 Consumer Price Index.

Residential Property Developer Tax

A new tax will be applied from 1 April 2022 on company profits derived from UK residential property development. The tax will be charged at 4% on profits exceeding an annual allowance of £25 million. For companies that are part of a group, the £25 million allowance will be allocated by the group between its companies.

Cultural relief

The government has announced that it will temporarily increase cultural tax reliefs for theatres, orchestras, museums and galleries across the UK from 27 October 2021 to 31 March 2024, increasing the relief organisations can claim as they invest in new productions and exhibitions.

Changes will also be introduced to better target the cultural reliefs and ensure that they continue to be safeguarded from abuse. These will apply from 1 April 2022.

Research and Development relief reform

Research and Development (R&D) tax reliefs for companies will be reformed to:

support modern research methods by expanding qualifying expenditure to include data and cloud costs
more effectively capture the benefits of R&D funded by the reliefs through refocusing support towards innovation in the UK
target abuse and improve compliance.

These changes will take effect from April 2023.

Cross-border group relief

Following the UK’s exit from the European Union (EU), the government is bringing the corporation tax group relief rules relating to European Economic Area (EEA) resident companies into line with those for non-UK companies resident elsewhere in the world. This applies to accounting periods ending on or after 27 October 2021 and will affect UK groups with subsidiary companies established in the EEA along with EEA-resident companies that are trading in the UK through a permanent establishment.

Online Sales Tax

The government has announced its plans to consult and explore the arguments for and against the introduction of an ‘Online Sales Tax’.

Should such a tax be introduced in future, it would raise revenue to fund business rates reductions.

Business rates review

Business rates have been devolved to Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.

The government announced at Budget 2020 that it would conduct a fundamental review of the business rates system in England. The government’s objectives for the review were reducing the overall burden on business, improving the current business rates system and allowing the consideration of more fundamental changes in the long term.

In March 2021, the government published the Interim Report of the review. The Final Report was published on 27 October 2021. Collectively, these set out the government’s commitments by:

Supporting local high streets as they adapt and recover from the pandemic by introducing a new temporary business rates reliefin England for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure properties for 2022/23. Over 90% of retail, hospitality and leisure businesses will receive at least 50% off their business rates bills in 2022/23. This amounts to support worth more than double the relief that was announced pre-COVID for the 2020 to 2021 financial year and includes additional businesses such as hotels, gyms and bowling alleys.
Cutting the burden of business rates for all businesses by freezing the multiplierfor 2022 to 2023.
Introducing a new relief to support investment in property improvements, enabling occupying businesses to invest in expanding their properties and making them work better for customers and employees.
Introducing new measures to support green investmentand the decarbonisation of non-domestic buildings. This will provide exemptions for eligible green plant and machinery such as solar panels, wind turbines and battery storage used with renewables and electric vehicle charging points, as well as a 100% relief for low-carbon heat networks that have their own rates bill.
Making the system fairer by moving to three-yearly revaluations from 2023.
Providing stability ahead of the 2023 revaluation by extending Transitional Relief and the Supporting Small Business Scheme for 2022 to 2023to protect small businesses from significant bill increases in the final year of the current revaluation cycle.

Capital Taxes

Capital gains tax (CGT) rates

No changes to the current rates of CGT have been announced. This means that the rate remains at 10%, to the extent that any income tax basic rate band is available, and 20% thereafter. Higher rates of 18% and 28% apply for certain gains, mainly chargeable gains on residential properties, with the exception of any element that qualifies for Private Residence Relief.

There is still potential to qualify for a 10% rate, regardless of available income tax basic rate band, up to a lifetime limit for each individual. This is where specific types of disposals qualify for:

Business Asset Disposal Relief (BADR). This is targeted at directors and employees who own at least 5% of the ordinary share capital in the company, provided other minimum criteria are also met. It can also apply to owners of unincorporated businesses.
Investors’ Relief. The main beneficiaries of this relief are investors in unquoted trading companies who have newly-subscribed shares but are not employees.

Current lifetime limits are £1 million for BADR and £10 million for Investors’ Relief.

CGT annual exemption

The CGT annual exemption will be maintained at the current level of £12,300 for 2022/23 and up to and including 2025/26.

CGT reporting and payment following a property disposal

UK resident individuals who dispose of UK residential property are sometimes required to deliver a CGT return to HMRC and make a payment on account of CGT within 30 days of completion of the property disposal. Broadly, this only applies where the property disposal gives rise to a CGT liability and as such usually excludes the disposal of a property to which private residence relief applies.

Non-UK residents are subject to similar deadlines in respect of the disposal of all types of UK land and property.

In both cases, for disposals that complete on or after 27 October 2021, the reporting and payment deadline is extended to 60 days following the completion of the disposal.

From the same date, changes will clarify that for UK residents disposing of a mixed use property, only the portion of the gain that is the residential property gain is required to be reported and paid.

Inheritance tax (IHT) nil rate bands

The nil rate band has been frozen at £325,000 since 2009 and this will now continue up to 5 April 2026. An additional nil rate band, called the ‘residence nil rate band’ (RNRB) is also frozen at the current £175,000 level until 5 April 2026. A taper reduces the amount of the RNRB by £1 for every £2 that the ‘net’ value of the death estate is more than £2 million. Net value is after deducting permitted liabilities but before exemptions and reliefs. This taper will also be maintained at the current level.

Other Matters

Tonnage Tax

The UK’s tonnage tax regime will be reformed from April 2022 to help the UK shipping industry grow and compete in the global market. The reform is intended to make it easier for shipping companies to move to the UK, ensure they are not disadvantaged compared with firms operating in other countries, and reduce unnecessary administrative burdens.

Landfill Tax

As announced at Spring Budget 2021 both the standard and lower rates of Landfill Tax will increase from 1 April 2022 in line with the Retail Prices Index (RPI).

Gaming Duty

The government will raise the bandings for Gaming Duty in line with inflation. The new bandings will affect Gaming Duty accounting periods commencing on or after 1 April 2022.

Vehicle Excise Duty (VED)

The government will increase VED rates for cars, vans, motorcycles, and motorcycle trade licences in line with RPI with effect from 1 April 2022.

For heavy goods vehicles, VED continues to be frozen in 2022/23. The HGV Levy is suspended for another 12 months from 1 August 2022.

Tobacco Duty

Increases in Tobacco Duty rates take effect from 27 October 2021 and the government will legislate in Finance Bill 2021-22 to introduce tougher sanctions to tackle Tobacco Duty evasion.

Alcohol Duty

Rates of Alcohol Duty were not changed in this Budget. The government is publishing a consultation on its detailed proposals for Alcohol Duty reform. These include:

changes to duty structures
new rates for some products sold on draught
extension of small producer reliefs
simplification of the administrative regime.

In addition alcohol duties have been frozen to February 2022.

Air Passenger Duty (APD)

The government will introduce a new domestic band for APD for reduced rate and standard rate travel, covering flights within the UK. In addition, a new ultra-long-haul band will be introduced, covering destinations with capitals located more than 5,500 miles from London. These changes will take effect from 1 April 2023.

Freeports

The government announced its plans for Freeports in 2020. Freeports are specified geographical areas that allow certain benefits to businesses operating within them. The main VAT benefit is that businesses selling goods within free zones will be able to zero-rate their supplies. Services carried out on goods in those zones may also be zero-rated subject to conditions. The government will introduce an additional element to the VAT free zone model for Freeports. This will implement a free zone exit charge to ensure businesses do not gain an unintended tax advantage from the zero-rate in the free zone model. The measure will take effect from 3 November 2021.

VAT on second-hand cars sold in Northern Ireland

In a measure that will be backdated to 1 January 2021, motor dealers in Northern Ireland will be able to include motor vehicles sourced from Great Britain in their second-hand margin scheme calculations. This measure will apply should a relevant agreement be reached with the EU.

Second-hand Motor Vehicle Export Refund Scheme

Under this scheme, businesses that remove used motor vehicles from Great Britain for resale in Northern Ireland or the EU may be able to claim a refund of VAT following export. The power will come into effect on Royal Assent of Finance Bill 2021-22. Legislation outlining the detail of the scheme will be introduced in 2022.

VAT treatment of fund management fees

A consultation will take place on options to simplify the VAT treatment of fund management fees.

VAT penalties

Budget documents confirm that the new late submission and late payment penalties for VAT will still come into effect for VAT registered businesses for accounting periods starting on or after 1 April 2022, as announced at Spring Budget 2021.

Plastic Packaging Tax

Draft legislation has been issued to establish a Plastic Packaging Tax. This is a new tax that applies to plastic packaging produced in or imported into the UK, that does not contain at least 30% recycled plastic. Plastic packaging is packaging that is predominantly plastic by weight.

The tax rate will be £200 per tonne of non-compliant plastic packaging. There will be an exemption for businesses that manufacture or import less than ten tonnes of plastic packaging per year. The tax will take effect from April 2022.

Budget 2021 – March 2021

Posted on March 4, 2021 by Henry Cooper

Budget 2021

The Chancellor Rishi Sunak presented his second Budget on Wednesday 3 March 2021. In his speech he stated his Budget ‘meets the moment with a three-part plan to protect the jobs and livelihoods of the British people’.

Main Budget proposals

Tax measures include:

a super-deduction for companies investing in new plant and machinery
a time extension of the temporary increase to the SDLT nil rate band for residential property in England and Northern Ireland
an extension to the temporary 5% reduced rate of VAT for certain supplies
a temporary increase in the carry-back period for business losses
an increased rate of corporation tax from 2023.

Other measures include:

a new mortgage guarantee scheme
extension to the Job Retention Scheme
a Self-Employment Income Support Scheme fourth and fifth grant
an extension to the business rates holiday in England.

Previously announced measures include:

a cap on the amount of R&D tax credit paid to a loss-making small or medium-sized enterprise
new rules apply to off-payroll working payments made for services provided on or after 6 April 2021.

Some Budget proposals may be subject to amendment in the 2021 Finance Act. You should contact us before taking any action as a result of the contents of this summary.

Business

Coronavirus loan schemes

In 2020, the government introduced a number of government-guaranteed coronavirus loan schemes. In December 2020 the Chancellor extended, until the end of March 2021, access to the Bounce Back Loan Scheme, Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme and the Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme.

Budget 2021 announced a new loan scheme to be introduced to replace those coming to an end.

From 6 April 2021 the Recovery Loan Scheme will provide lenders with a guarantee of 80% on eligible loans between £25,000 and £10 million to give them confidence in continuing to provide finance to UK businesses. The scheme will be open to all businesses, including those who have already received support under the existing COVID-19 guaranteed loan schemes.

Restart Grants

In addition Restart Grants will be provided in England of up to £6,000 per premises for non-essential retail businesses and up to £18,000 per premises for hospitality, accommodation, leisure, personal care and gym businesses. This will provide the cash certainty needed to plan ahead and safely relaunch trading over the coming months.

Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS)

Budget 2021 has confirmed details of a fourth grant. This will be 80% of three months’ average trading profits to be claimed from late April 2021. Payment will be in a single instalment capped at £7,500 in total and will cover the period February to April 2021. The scheme has been extended to those who have filed a 2019/20 self assessment tax return prior to 3 March 2021. This means that the newly self-employed from April 2019 now qualify subject to satisfying the other conditions.

A fifth and final grant was announced and can be claimed from late July 2021 to cover the period May to September 2021. This grant will be determined by a turnover test. Where the self-employed business turnover has fallen by 30% the grant will be worth 80% of three months’ average trading profits capped at £7,500. People whose turnover has fallen by less than 30% will receive a 30% grant, capped at £2,850.

Business rates

Business rates have been devolved to Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. All four nations have introduced 100% business rates relief mainly aimed at retail, leisure and hospitality businesses. Such businesses have not had to pay business rates from 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021.

In a Scottish Budget update statement on 16 February, the Scottish Government proposed an extension to the relief for the retail, hospitality, leisure and aviation sectors until 31 March 2022.

The Chancellor has now announced a continuation of 100% business rates relief for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure properties in England to 30 June 2021. This will be followed by 66% business rates relief for the period from 1 July 2021 to 31 March 2022, capped at £2 million per business for properties that were required to be closed on 5 January 2021, or £105,000 per business for other eligible properties. Nurseries will also qualify for relief in the same way as other eligible properties.

Following the Chancellor’s announcement, the Welsh Finance Minister has extended the rates holiday for the retail, leisure and hospitality sectors in Wales for a further 12 months.

Rates review

The government announced at Budget 2020 that it would conduct a fundamental review of the business rates system in England. The government’s objectives for the review are reducing the overall burden on business, improving the current business rates system and considering more fundamental changes in the medium-to-long term.

The government has recently announced the final report will be published in Autumn 2021 with an interim report published on 23 March.

Reduced VAT rate for hospitality sector

In July 2020, the government introduced a temporary 5% reduced rate of VAT for certain supplies of hospitality, hotel and holiday accommodation and admissions to certain attractions. In September 2020 the Chancellor extended the reduced rate to 31 March 2021. The government has now announced an extension of the reduced rate until 30 September 2021. To help businesses manage the transition back to the standard 20% rate, a 12.5% rate will apply for the subsequent six months until 31 March 2022.

Corporation tax rates

The main rate of corporation tax is currently 19% and it will remain at that rate until 1 April 2023 when the rate will increase to 25% for companies with profits over £250,000. The 19% rate will become a small profits rate payable by companies with profits of £50,000 or less. Companies with profits between £50,000 and £250,000 will pay tax at the main rate reduced by a marginal relief, providing a gradual increase in the effective corporation tax rate.

Comment

The main rate of corporation tax has been 19% since 1 April 2017. The rate for the Financial Year beginning on 1 April 2020 was due to fall to 17% but the Chancellor reversed this decision in Budget 2020.

Tax losses

A temporary extension of the period over which businesses may carry trading losses back for relief against profits of earlier years to get a repayment of tax paid will have effect for company accounting periods ending in the period 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2022 and for tax years 2020/21 and 2021/22 for unincorporated businesses.

Trade loss carry back will be extended from the current one year entitlement to a period of three years, with losses being carried back against later years first.

For companies, after carry back to the preceding year, a maximum of £2 million of unused losses will be available for carry back against profits of the same trade to the earlier two years. This £2 million limit applies separately to the unused losses of each 12 month period within the duration of the extension.

For individuals a separate £2 million cap will apply to the extended carry back of losses made in each of the tax years 2020/21 and 2021/22.

The £2 million limit applies separately to the unused losses of each tax year within the duration of the extension. Income Tax payers will not be subject to a partnership-level limit.

Super-deduction

Between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2023, companies investing in qualifying new plant and machinery will benefit from new first year capital allowances.

Under this measure a company will be allowed to claim:

a super-deduction providing allowances of 130% on most new plant and machinery investments that ordinarily qualify for 18% main rate writing down allowances
a first year allowance of 50% on most new plant and machinery investments that ordinarily qualify for 6% special rate writing down allowances.

This relief is not available for unincorporated businesses.

First year allowances for business cars from April 2021

Budget 2020 announced the extension of 100% first year allowances for zero-emission cars, zero-emission goods vehicles and equipment for gas refuelling stations by four years from April 2021.

CO₂ emission thresholds will also be amended from April 2021. These determine the rate of capital allowances available through which the capital expenditure for business cars can be written down. The thresholds will be reduced from 50g/km to 0g/km for the purpose of the first year allowances for low CO₂ emission cars and from 110g/km to 50g/km for the purpose of writing down allowances (WDAs) for business cars.

Comment

The reduction in thresholds will mean that only business cars acquired with CO₂ emissions of 0g/km will be eligible for first year allowances. Ultra-low emission vehicles which currently qualify for first year allowances if 50g/km or less will no longer qualify. They will be eligible for WDAs at the main rate (18%). Cars with CO₂ emissions exceeding 50g/km will be eligible for WDAs at the special rate (6%).

Freeports

In 2020 the government consulted on proposals to create up to ten Freeports across the UK. The government is now proposing a range of measures covering customs, tax reliefs, planning, regeneration funding and innovation to create Freeports as national hubs for global trade and investment across the UK.

A UK Freeport will be a geographical area with a diameter up to 45km which is closely linked to a sea port, airport or rail port. East Midlands Airport, Felixstowe & Harwich, Humber, Liverpool City Region, Plymouth and South Devon, Solent, Teesside and Thames have been successful in the Freeports bidding process for England.

The government is working with devolved administrations to establish Freeports in each of the nations.

Customs benefits

Within the Freeport there will be a primary customs site and perhaps custom subzones. A customs site or subzone provides customs and tariff benefits such as:

duty deferral while goods remain on site
duty inversion if the finished goods exiting the Freeport attract a lower tariff than their component parts
subject to the UK’s trade agreements, customs duty exemption on goods that are imported into a Freeport, processed into finished goods and subsequently re-exported
simplified import procedures.

Tax benefits

Freeports may also have one or more tax sites within which tax reliefs will apply. The aim is for a single site and up to three tax sites may be allowed but the total area of the site(s) must not exceed 600 hectares. The tax site will likely be located on primarily underdeveloped land to generate new, additional productive activity in Freeport locations.

The intention is to offer:

Stamp Duty Land Tax relief on land purchases within Freeport tax sites in England where that property is to be used for qualifying commercial activity
a 10% rate of Structures and Buildings Allowance rather than the 3% rate that applies for businesses constructing or renovating structures and buildings for non-residential use
enhanced tax relief for qualifying new plant and machinery assets for the full cost of the qualifying investment in the same tax period the cost was incurred
100% relief from business rates on certain business premises within Freeport tax sites in England.

Very broadly, the reliefs will apply for expenditure from various dates in 2021 to 30 September 2026.

In addition, a 0% rate of employer NICs on the salaries of any eligible employee working in the Freeport tax site is proposed. The relief is intended to be available for up to 9 years from April 2022.

Research and Development (R&D) tax relief

A cap on the amount of R&D tax credit which can be paid to a loss-making small or medium-sized enterprise (SME) will be introduced for accounting periods which commence on or after 1 April 2021.

Prior to the introduction of the cap, loss-making SMEs incurring qualifying expenditure on R&D activities are allowed to make a claim to surrender the unrelieved loss for a payable tax credit of up to 14.5%. For accounting periods commencing on or after 1 April 2021, payable tax credits are restricted to £20,000 plus three times the company’s relevant expenditure on workers.

Relevant expenditure on workers is the company’s PAYE and NICs for the period and importantly this is the company’s whole PAYE and NIC liability. In addition, if the company is supplied with workers by a connected company the relevant workers’ expenditure is extended to include a proportion of those worker costs.

Some companies which create or manage intellectual property and spend less than 15% with connected persons on R&D qualifying expenditure will be exempt from this cap.

Capital Taxes

Capital gains tax (CGT) rates

No changes to the current rates of CGT have been announced at Budget 2021. This means that the rate remains at 10%, to the extent that any income tax basic rate band is available, and 20% thereafter. Higher rates of 18% and 28% apply for certain gains; mainly chargeable gains on residential properties with the exception of any element that qualifies for Private Residence Relief.

There are two specific types of disposal which potentially qualify for a 10% rate up to a lifetime limit for each individual:

Business Asset Disposal Relief (BADR) (formerly known as Entrepreneurs’ Relief). This is targeted at directors and employees of companies who own at least 5% of the ordinary share capital in the company, provided other minimum criteria are also met, and the owners of unincorporated businesses.
Investors’ Relief. The main beneficiaries of this relief are external investors in unquoted trading companies who have newly-subscribed shares.

The lifetime limit for BADR was reduced from £10 million to £1 million for BADR qualifying disposals made on or after 11 March 2020. Investors’ Relief continues to have a lifetime limit of £10 million.

CGT annual exemption

The CGT annual exemption will be maintained at the current 2020/21 level of £12,300 for 2021/22 and up to and including 2025/26.

Inheritance tax (IHT) nil rate bands

The nil rate band has been frozen at £325,000 since 2009 and this will now continue up to 5 April 2026. An additional nil rate band, called the ‘residence nil rate band’ (RNRB) which has been increased in stages and is now £175,000 for deaths in 2020/21 will also be frozen at the current level until 5 April 2026. A taper reduces the amount of the RNRB by £1 for every £2 that the ‘net’ value of the death estate is more than £2 million. Net value is after deducting permitted liabilities but before exemptions and reliefs. This taper will also be maintained at the current level.

Business assets and Gift Hold-Over Relief

Gift Hold-Over Relief operates by deferring the chargeable gain on the disposal when a person gives away business assets. The gain then comes into charge when the recipient disposes of the gifted asset. The recipient is treated as though they acquired the asset for the same cost as the person who gave them the asset.

A change to the relief ensures that Gift Hold-Over Relief is not available where a non-UK resident person disposes of an asset to a foreign-controlled company, controlled either by themselves or another non-UK resident with whom they are connected. This measure will affect disposals made on or after 6 April 2021.

Employment

The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (JRS)

The current JRS allows an employer to place an employee on furlough and apply for a grant to cover wage costs for the time an employee is on furlough. The employer:

can claim 80% of ‘usual salary’ for hours not worked, up to a maximum of £2,500 per employee (pro-rated for hours not worked) per month
needs to fund employer National Insurance contributions (NICs) and the minimum employer automatic enrolment pension contributions.

In December 2020, the Chancellor extended the scheme until the end of April 2021.

Further extension of JRS

In Budget 2021 the Chancellor has further extended the scheme to 30 September 2021.

The level of grant available to employers under the scheme will stay the same until 30 June 2021.

From 1 July 2021, the level of grant will be reduced and employers will be asked to contribute towards the cost of furloughed employees’ wages. To be eligible for the grant an employer must continue to pay furloughed employees 80% of their wages, up to a cap of £2,500 per month for the time they spend on furlough.

The reduction in the level of the grant means that the percentage recovery of furloughed wages will be as follows:

for July 2021 70% of furloughed wages up to a maximum of £2187.50 and
for August and September 2021 60% of furloughed wages up to a maximum of £1,875.00.

Employers will need to continue to fund employer NICs and mandatory minimum automatic enrolment pension contributions.

Comment

The Chancellor has also extended eligibility for the scheme. For periods starting on or after 1 May 2021, employers can claim for employees who were employed on 2 March 2021, as long as a PAYE Real Time Information (RTI) submission was made between 20 March 2020 and 2 March 2021, notifying a payment of earnings for that employee.

Apprenticeships and traineeships

High quality traineeships for young people

The government will provide an additional £126 million in England for high quality work placements and training for 16-24 year olds in the 2021/22 academic year. Employers who provide trainees with work experience will continue to be funded at a rate of £1,000 per trainee.

Payments for employers who hire new apprentices

The government will extend and increase the payments made to employers in England who hire new apprentices. Employers who hire a new apprentice between 1 April 2021 and 30 September 2021 will receive £3,000 per new hire, compared with £1,500 per new apprentice hire (or £2,000 for those aged 24 and under) under the previous scheme.

This is in addition to the existing £1,000 payment the government provides for all new 16-18 year-old apprentices and those aged under 25 with an Education, Health and Care Plan, where that applies.

Supporting apprenticeships across different employers

The government will introduce a £7 million fund from July 2021 to help employers in England set up and expand portable apprenticeships. This will enable people who need to work across multiple projects with different employers to benefit from the high quality long-term training that an apprenticeship provides.

Off-payroll working in the private sector

New tax rules are soon to come into force for individuals who provide their personal services via an ‘intermediary’ to a medium or large business. The new rules apply to payments made for services provided on or after 6 April 2021.

The off-payroll working rules apply where an individual (the worker) provides their services through an intermediary (typically a personal service company) to another person or entity (the client). The client will be required to make a determination of a worker’s status and communicate that determination. In addition, the fee-payer (usually the organisation paying the worker’s personal service company) will need to make deductions for income tax and NICs and pay any employer NICs.

The legislation uses an existing statutory definition within the Companies Act of a ‘small company’ to exempt small businesses from the new rules. A small company is one which meets two of these criteria:

a turnover of £10.2 million or less
having £5.1 million on the balance sheet or less
having 50 or fewer employees.

If the business receiving the work of the individual is not a company, it is only the turnover test that will apply.

Comment

The Status Determination Statement (SDS) is a key part of the status determination procedure. The client must provide the SDS to the worker and should include not only the decision of the client but also the reasons underpinning it. The client must take ‘reasonable care’ in coming to its conclusion. If it doesn’t, the statement is not a valid SDS

In the Budget the government announced minor technical changes to improve the operation of the rules, in response to feedback from stakeholders, which will be legislated for in Finance Bill 2021. The government will make changes to the rules regarding provision of information by parties in the labour supply chain.

Comment

These changes will make it easier for parties in a contractual chain to share information relating to the off-payroll working rules by allowing an intermediary, as well as a worker, to confirm if the rules need to be considered by the client organisation.

National Living Wage (NLW) and National Minimum Wage (NMW)

The National Living Wage will increase by 2.2% and will be extended to 23 and 24 year olds for the first time. For workers aged under 23, the government has announced smaller increases in NMW in recognition of the risks to youth employment which the current economic situation poses.

From 1 April 2021, the new hourly rates of NLW and NMW are:

£8.91 for those 23 years old and over
£8.36 for 21-22 year olds
£6.56 for 18-20 year olds
£4.62 for under 18s
£4.30 apprentice rate for apprentices under 19, and those 19 and over in their first year of apprenticeship.

Comment

The extension of the NLW to 23 and 24 year olds may catch out some employers. Employees in this category, if they are on the NMW rate, are currently being paid £8.20 an hour.

Enterprise Management Incentives (EMI) scheme

At Budget 2020, the government announced a review of the EMI scheme to ensure it provides support for high-growth companies to recruit and retain the best talent so they can scale up effectively, and examine whether more companies should be able to access the scheme.

As part of this review the government is publishing a consultation alongside the Budget.

Van benefit charge nil-rating for zero-emission vans

From 6 April 2021, a nil rate of tax applies to zero-emission vans within the van benefit charge. In 2020/21 such vans have a van benefit charge at 80% of the standard flat rate of £3,490.

Comment

A zero-emission van is a van which cannot in any circumstances emit CO₂ emissions when driven. Governments have provided varying amounts of discounts from the van benefit charge for zero-emissions vans since 2010. We are now back to the policy which applied from 2010 to 2015 when there was no charge.

Temporary changes to legislation resulting from coronavirus

Easement for employer-provided cycles exemption

The government will legislate in Finance Bill 2021 to introduce a time-limited easement to the employer-provided cycle exemption to disapply the condition which states that employer-provided cycles must be used mainly for journeys to, from, or during work. The easement will be available to employees who have joined a scheme and have been provided with a cycle or cycling equipment on or before 20 December 2020.

The change will have effect on and after Royal Assent of Finance Bill 2021 and be in place until 5 April 2022, after which the normal rules of the exemption will apply.

Employer-reimbursed coronavirus tests

The government will legislate in Finance Bill 2021 to introduce a retrospective income tax exemption for payments that an employer makes to an employee to reimburse for the cost of a relevant coronavirus antigen test for the tax year 2020/21. Legislation will extend this exemption for the tax year 2021/22.

The change will have effect on and after Royal Assent of Finance Bill 2021. The corresponding NICs disregard is already in force and this will also be extended for the tax year 2021/22.

Extension of income tax exemption for COVID-19 related home office expenses

The government will, by secondary legislation, extend the temporary income tax exemption and Class 1 NICs disregard for employer reimbursed expenses that cover the cost of relevant home office equipment. The extended exemption will have effect until 5 April 2022.

Other Matters

Land and buildings transaction taxes

Land and buildings transaction taxes are devolved to Scotland (Land and Buildings Transaction Tax) and Wales (Land Transaction Tax). Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) applies to transactions in England and Northern Ireland. All these taxes have had a temporary increase in the nil rate threshold for residential properties. The thresholds were set to return to the previous thresholds from 1 April 2021.

Budget announcement

The government will extend the temporary increase to the SDLT nil rate band for residential property in England and Northern Ireland to 30 June 2021. From 1 July 2021 until 30 September 2021, the nil rate band will be £250,000. The nil rate band will return to the standard amount of £125,000 from 1 October 2021.

Wales – Land Transaction Tax

Following the Chancellor’s announcement, the Welsh Finance Minister has confirmed that the Land Transaction Tax temporary reduction period will be extended by a further three months so that it will end on 30 June 2021.

In December 2020, the Welsh Government changed the rates charged on higher rates residential property transactions and non-residential transactions including the rent element of non-residential and mixed leases. The changes to the higher residential rates have the effect of increasing the tax rates applied to the bands by 1%. For non-residential transactions, changes have been made to the bands so as to increase the nil rate thresholds. These changes came into effect on 22 December 2020.

SDLT surcharge

New SDLT rates are proposed for purchasers of residential property in England and Northern Ireland who are not resident in the UK. The new rates will be 2% higher than those that apply to purchases made by UK residents, and will apply to purchases of both freehold and leasehold property as well as increasing SDLT payable on rents on the grant of a new lease. The surcharge will apply to land transactions with an effective date of 1 April 2021 or later. Transitional rules may apply to some contracts exchanged before 11 March 2020 but completed or are substantially performed on or after 1 April 2021, or some contracts substantially performed on or before 31 March 2021 but not completed until 1 April 2021 or later.

Plastic Packaging Tax

Draft legislation has been issued to establish a Plastic Packaging Tax. This is a new tax that applies to plastic packaging produced in, or imported into the UK that does not contain at least 30% recycled plastic. Plastic packaging is packaging that is predominantly plastic by weight.

The tax rate will be £200 per tonne of non-compliant plastic packaging. There will be an exemption for businesses that manufacture or import less than 10 tonnes of plastic packaging per year. The tax will take effect from April 2022.

Van Vehicle Excise Duty (VED)

Van VED is currently levied at £250 per year for most light goods vehicles (under 3.5 tonnes) which have been registered since 1 March 2001. A consultation paper explored creating a graduated first year rate for new light goods vehicles and motorhomes from April 2021. The government has recently decided not to proceed with the change in light of the pandemic. Motorhomes will continue to be placed in the Private/Light Goods class.

Reform of penalties for late submission and late payment of tax

The government will reform the penalty regime for VAT and Income Tax Self Assessment (ITSA) to make it fairer and more consistent. The new late submission regime will be points-based, and a financial penalty will only be issued when the relevant threshold is reached. The new late payment regime will introduce penalties proportionate to the amount of tax owed and how late the tax due is. These reforms will come into effect: for VAT taxpayers, from periods starting on or after 1 April 2022; for taxpayers in ITSA with business or property income over £10,000 per year, from accounting periods beginning on or after 6 April 2023; and for all other taxpayers in ITSA, from accounting periods beginning on or after 6 April 2024.

Contactless payment card limit

Following a public consultation by the Financial Conduct Authority, the government has approved an increase to the legal contactless payment limits previously set by the European Commission. This will allow banks to support single contactless payments up to £100, and cumulative contactless payments up to £300, without the need for customers to input their chip and pin. The government hopes the banking industry will implement the new limits later this year.

Personal Tax

The personal allowance

The personal allowance is currently £12,500. Budget 2018 announced that the allowance would remain at the same level until 2020/21 and the statutory provision to increase the allowance annually by CPI was to be overridden. The Chancellor has confirmed that the personal allowance will increase by CPI (0.5%) for 2021/22 to £12,570.

There is a reduction in the personal allowance for those with ‘adjusted net income’ over £100,000. The reduction is £1 for every £2 of income above £100,000. So for the current tax year there is no personal allowance where adjusted net income exceeds £125,000. For 2021/22 there will be no personal allowance where adjusted net income exceeds £125,140.

The Chancellor announced that the personal allowance will be frozen at £12,570 for the tax years 2022/23 to 2025/26.

The marriage allowance

The marriage allowance permits certain couples, where neither pays tax at more than the basic rate, to transfer 10% of their personal allowance to their spouse or civil partner.

Comment

The marriage allowance reduces the recipient’s tax bill by up to approximately £250 a year. The marriage allowance was first introduced for 2015/16 and there are couples who are entitled to claim but have not yet done so. It is possible to claim for all years back to 2016/17 where the entitlement conditions are met. The total tax saving for all years up until 2020/21 could be over £1,000. A claim for 2016/17 will need to be made by 5 April 2021.

Tax bands and rates

The basic rate of tax is 20%. In 2020/21 the band of income taxable at this rate is £37,500 so that the threshold at which the 40% band applies is £50,000 for those who are entitled to the full personal allowance.

The Chancellor announced that for 2021/22 the basic rate band will be £37,700 so that the threshold at which the 40% band applies will be £50,270 for those who are entitled to the full personal allowance. The Chancellor announced that the basic rate band will be frozen at £37,700 for the tax years 2022/23 to 2025/26. The National Insurance contributions Upper Earnings Limit and Upper Profits Limit will remain aligned to the higher rate threshold at £50,270 for these years.

Individuals pay tax at 45% on their income over £150,000.

Scottish residents

The tax on income (other than savings and dividend income) is different, for taxpayers who are resident in Scotland, from taxpayers resident elsewhere in the UK. The Scottish income tax rates and bands apply to income such as employment income, self-employed trade profits and property income.

In 2020/21 there are five income tax rates which range between 19% and 46%. Scottish taxpayers are entitled to the same personal allowance as individuals in the rest of the UK. The two higher rates are 41% and 46% rather than the 40% and 45% rates that apply to such income for other UK residents. For 2020/21, the 41% band applies to income over £43,430 for those who are entitled to the full personal allowance. The 46% rate applies to income over £150,000.

In the Scottish Budget on 28 January 2021, the Scottish Government proposed that the Scottish income tax rates will be frozen for 2021/22. The thresholds for the tax bands will be increased by 0.5% except for the 46% rate threshold which remains at £150,000. So the 41% band will apply to income over £43,662 for those who are entitled to the full personal allowance.

Welsh residents

From April 2019, the Welsh Government has had the right to vary the rates of income tax payable by Welsh taxpayers. The UK government has reduced each of the three rates of income tax paid by Welsh taxpayers by 10 pence. For 2020/21 the Welsh Government has set the Welsh rate of income tax at 10 pence which has been added to the reduced rates. This means the tax payable by Welsh taxpayers is the same as that payable by English and Northern Irish taxpayers.

The Welsh Government has announced that the income tax rate will remain at 10 pence for 2021/22.

Tax on savings income

Savings income is income such as bank and building society interest.

Tax on dividends

The first £2,000 of dividends is chargeable to tax at 0% (the Dividend Allowance). Dividends received above the allowance are taxed at the following rates:

5% for basic rate taxpayers
5% for higher rate taxpayers
1% for additional rate taxpayers.

Dividends within the allowance still count towards an individual’s basic or higher rate band and so may affect the rate of tax paid on dividends above the Dividend Allowance.

To determine which tax band dividends fall into, dividends are treated as the last type of income to be taxed.

Universal Credit

Universal Credit is a single payment that is made up of different amounts depending on an individual’s circumstances. There is no entitlement if an individual’s capital is worth more than £16,000. Shortly after the 2020 Budget the Chancellor announced an increase in the Universal Credit standard allowance by £20 per week for one year.

The government is extending the temporary £20 per week increase for a further six months.

Working Tax Credit

The government is making a one-off payment of £500 to eligible Working Tax Credit claimants to provide extra support over the next six months.

Mortgage guarantee scheme

The government will introduce a new mortgage guarantee scheme in April 2021. This scheme will provide a guarantee to lenders across the UK who offer mortgages to people with a deposit of 5% on homes with a value of up to £600,000.

Under the scheme, all buyers will have the opportunity to fix their initial mortgage interest rate for at least five years should they wish to. The scheme, which will be available for new mortgages up to 31 December 2022, is designed to increase the availability of mortgages on new or existing properties for those with small deposits.

Green National Savings and Investment (NS&I) product

The government will offer a green retail savings product through NS&I in the summer of 2021. This product will be closely linked to the UK’s sovereign green bond framework and will give all UK savers the opportunity to take part in the collective effort to tackle climate change. The green gilt framework, to be published in June, will detail the types of expenditure that will be financed to meet the government’s green objectives.

Venture Capital Schemes: extension of the Social Investment Tax Relief

The government will continue to support social enterprises that are seeking growth investment by extending the operation of Social Investment Tax Relief to April 2023. This will continue the availability of income tax relief and capital gains tax hold-over relief for investors in qualifying social enterprises.

Pensions Lifetime Allowance

The lifetime limit sets the maximum figure for tax-relieved savings that an individual can build up over their lifetime.

Legislation will be introduced to remove the annual link to the CPI increase for the next five years. This will maintain the standard Lifetime Allowance at £1,073,100 for tax years 2021/22 to 2025/26.

Newsletter – November 2018

Posted on November 5, 2018 by Henry Cooper

Enews – November 2018

In this month’s Enews we report on the Chancellor’s key announcements from the Budget and the latest guidance on a ‘No Deal Brexit’.

HMRC has also announced the pilot is open for Making Tax Digital for VAT, but the deferral of the start date for some. With the latest guidance for employers, there is lots to update you on.

Budget 2018

Personal tax changes – allowance and basic rate band increases

Capital allowances changes

Entrepreneurs’ Relief changes

Making Tax Digital for VAT public pilot opens and deferral for some businesses

New guidance for employers

HMRC countdown: file your tax return

Further contingency planning guidance on a ‘No deal Brexit’

Budget 2018

The Chancellor Philip Hammond presented his second Autumn Budget on Monday 29 October 2018. In his speech he stated that ‘austerity is coming to an end – but discipline will remain’. He also promised a ‘double deal dividend’ if the Brexit negotiations are successful but stated that there may be a full-scale Spring Budget in 2019 if not.

We have included separate articles on some of the key announcements.

We will keep you informed of developments.

Internet link: GOV.UK Budget 2018

Personal tax changes – allowance and basic rate band increases

At the Budget, the Chancellor announced that increases to the personal allowance and basic rate band for 2019/20.

The personal allowance is currently £11,850. The personal allowance for 2019/20 will be £12,500. Also for 2019/20, the basic rate band will be increased to £37,500 so that the threshold at which the 40% band applies is £50,000 for those who are entitled to the full personal allowance. The additional rate of tax of 45% will remain payable on taxable income above £150,000.

The government had pledged to raise the thresholds to these levels by 2020/21.

Internet link: GOV.UK income tax

Capital allowances changes

A number of changes to capital allowances were announced at the Budget, including an increase in the Annual Investment Allowance (AIA), for two years to £1 million, in relation to qualifying expenditure incurred from 1 January 2019. The AIA is currently £200,000 per annum. Complex calculations may apply to accounting periods which straddle 1 January 2019.

Other changes to the rules include:

a reduction in the rate of writing down allowance on the special rate pool of plant and machinery, including long-life assets, thermal insulation, integral features and expenditure on cars with CO₂ emissions of more than 110g/km, from 8% to 6% from April 2019. Complex calculations may apply to accounting periods which straddle this date
clarification as to precisely which costs of altering land for the purposes of installing qualifying plant or machinery qualify for capital allowances, for claims on or after 29 October 2018
the end of the 100% first year allowance and first year tax credits for products on the Energy Technology List and Water Technology List from April 2020
an extension of the current 100% first year allowance for expenditure incurred on electric charge-point equipment until 2023.

In addition, a new capital allowances regime will be introduced for structures and buildings. It will be known as the Structures and Buildings Allowance and will apply to new non-residential structures and buildings. Relief will be provided on eligible construction costs incurred on or after 29 October 2018, at an annual rate of 2% on a straight-line basis.

Internet link: GOV.UK Budget 2018

Entrepreneurs’ Relief changes

The government announced, as part of the Budget, that some changes are being made to the rules for Entrepreneurs’ Relief (ER) with immediate effect for disposals on or after 29 October 2018. Two new tests are to be added to the definition of a ‘personal company’, requiring the claimant to have a 5% interest in both the distributable profits and the net assets of the company. The new tests must be met, in addition to the existing tests, throughout the specified period in order for relief to be due. The existing tests already require a 5% interest in the ordinary share capital and 5% of voting rights.

Minimum qualifying period

The government will legislate in Finance Bill 2018-19 to increase the minimum period throughout which certain conditions must be met to qualify for ER, from one year to two years. The measure will have effect for disposals on or after 6 April 2019 except where a business ceased before 29 October 2018.

Where the claimant’s business ceased, or their personal company ceased to be a trading company (or the holding company of a trading group) before 29 October 2018, the existing one year qualifying period will continue to apply.

Dilution of holdings below 5%

Draft legislation has already been issued to provide a potential entitlement to ER where an individual’s holding in a company is reduced below the normal 5% qualifying level (meaning 5% of both ordinary share capital and voting power). The relief will only apply where the reduction below 5% occurs as a result of the company raising funds for commercial purposes by means of an issue of new shares, wholly for cash consideration.

Where a disposal of the shareholding prior to the issue would have resulted in a gain which would have qualified for ER, shareholders will be able to make an election treating them as if they had disposed of their shares and immediately reacquired them at market value just before dilution. To avoid an immediate CGT bill on this deemed disposal, a further election can be made to defer the gain until the shares are sold. ER can then be claimed on the deferred gain in the year the shares are sold under the rules in force at that time.

The new rules will apply for share issues which occur on or after 6 April 2019.

Please contact us if you would like further information on how this may affect you.

Internet link: GOV.UK ER

Making Tax Digital for VAT public pilot opens and deferral for some businesses

HMRC has opened the Making Tax Digital for VAT (MTDfV) public pilot. However certain VAT-registered businesses (around 3.5% according to HMRC) with more complex requirements will be deferred from being subject to MTD for six months.

Essentially, the public pilot is now open to sole traders and companies using standard VAT accounting. This applies whether returns are done monthly or quarterly provided they are up to date. Those signing up for the pilot will be required to keep their VAT records digitally from the first day of the period covered by their next VAT Return and submit their return using the appropriate software.

Further piloting plans

HMRC intends to roll out further pilots for partnerships, those that trade with the EU and users of the Flat Rate scheme as set out in the timetable.

Date	Activity
Late 2018	Private testing begins with partnerships, those customers that trade with the EU, and users of the Flat Rate Scheme.
Late 2018 / early 2019	Open to other sole traders and companies who are not up to date with their VAT and businesses newly registered for VAT that have not previously submitted a VAT return.
Early 2019	Open to partnerships and those taxpayers that trade with the EU.

Six months’ deferral

Making Tax Digital for VAT is to be introduced from 1 April 2019. However, HMRC has announced that the mandated implementation has been deferred until 1 October 2019 for certain taxpayers:

trusts
‘not for profit’ organisations that are not set up as a company
VAT divisions
VAT groups
public sector entities required to provide additional information on their VAT return (Government departments, NHS Trusts)
local authorities
public corporations
traders based overseas
those required to make payments on account (very large traders)
Annual Accounting Scheme users.

Pilot testing for these groups is expected to open in Spring 2019. For help with MTD please contact us.

Internet links: GOV.UK MTD overview MTD timeline

New guidance for employers

HMRC has issued the October 2018 Employer Bulletin which contains a number of articles relevant to employers on payroll related issues.

The articles cover a number of areas including:

clarification of the rules regarding paying employees when the regular payday is a non-banking day
dealing with PAYE Settlement Agreements and new procedures to accommodate Scottish income tax rates
Construction Industry Scheme reminders for contractors
an update on the Welsh rates of income tax (WRIT) and new tax codes for Welsh taxpayers
guidance on the correct pay rates for apprentices
how to apply for advance statutory payment of Maternity, Parental, Paternal or Adoption Pay
spotlight on umbrella companies
Real Time adjustments to tax codes and their timing
closure of childcare vouchers and directly contracted childcare to new entrants from 4 October 2018
Disguised Remuneration Loan Charge – reporting requirements and
improving the wellbeing of your employees

For help with payroll matters please contact us.

Internet link: Employer Bulletin

HMRC countdown: file your tax return

With less than 100 days until the self assessment tax return deadline of 31 January 2019, HMRC is urging taxpayers to complete their tax returns early, in order to avoid the last minute rush.

The deadline for submitting 2017/18 self assessment tax returns online is 31 January 2019. An automatic penalty of £100 applies if the return is late.

HMRC advise that last year, more than 11 million taxpayers completed a 2016/17 Self Assessment tax return, with 10.7 million completing on time. There were 4,852,744 taxpayers who filed in January 2018 (44.8% of the total), and 758,707 on 31 January, the deadline day.

HMRC is advising taxpayers not to leave the completion of their 2017/18 Self Assessment tax until the last minute.

Angela MacDonald, HMRC’s Director General for Customer Services, said:

‘The deadline for completing Self Assessment tax returns may be 100 days away, yet many of us wait until January to start the process. Time flies once the festive period is underway, yet the ‘niggle’ to file your tax return remains.’

‘We want to help people get their tax returns right – starting the process early and giving yourself time to gather all the information you need will help avoid the last minute, stressful rush to complete it on time. Let’s beat that niggle.’

Further contingency planning guidance on a ‘No deal Brexit’

HMRC has issued a Partnership Pack to help businesses carry out contingency planning and to help their customers, members and clients to:

think about how they will need to adapt their business to comply with new systems, processes and controls
assess the impact of the increased demand for customs declarations on their business
consider whether they need to recruit and train additional staff
stay up-to-date with these changes

Meanwhile the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) reports that ‘patience is now threadbare’ amongst UK businesses in regard to the government’s progress in its Brexit negotiations with the EU.

A survey, carried out by the CBI, revealed that 80% of firms believe that Brexit uncertainty is having a ‘negative impact’ on their investment decisions. The majority of businesses polled stated that they may have to implement ‘damaging’ contingency plans if no further progress is made by December.

Carolyn Fairbairn, Director General of the CBI, said:

‘The situation is now urgent. The speed of negotiations is being outpaced by the reality firms are facing on the ground.

‘Unless a Withdrawal Agreement is locked down by December, firms will press the button on their contingency plans. Jobs will be lost and supply chains moved.’

‘As long as ‘no deal’ remains a possibility, the effect is corrosive for the UK economy, jobs and communities.’

Internet links: GOV.UK partnership pack CBI news

Autumn Budget 2017

Posted on November 23, 2017 by Henry Cooper

Autumn Budget 2017

The Chancellor Philip Hammond presented his first Autumn Budget on Wednesday 22 November 2017.

His report set out a number of actions the government will take including support for more housebuilding. His view is that the economy continues to grow and continues to create more jobs. The major attention-grabber was aimed at first time buyers who will not have to pay Stamp Duty Land Tax on homes costing up to £300,000.

Our summary focuses on the tax measures which may affect you, your family and your business. To help you decipher what was said we have included our own comments. If you have any questions please contact us for advice.

Main Budget tax proposals

Our summary concentrates on the tax measures which include:

increases to the personal allowance and basic rate band
more tax relief for investment in certain Enterprise Investment companies
proposed changes to Entrepreneurs’ Relief
improvements to Research and Development tax credit regimes
VAT limits frozen for two years
support for businesses to cope with the effects of business rates revaluation and the so called ‘staircase tax’.

Previously announced measures include:

plans for Making Tax Digital for Business
the reduction in the Dividend Allowance
changes to NICs for the self-employed
capital allowance changes for cars from April 2018.

The Budget proposals may be subject to amendment in the Spring Statement and subsequent Finance Act. You should contact us before taking any action as a result of the contents of this summary.

Personal Tax

The personal allowance

The personal allowance is currently £11,500. The personal allowance for 2018/19 will be £11,850.

Comment

A reminder that not everyone has the benefit of the full personal allowance. There is a reduction in the personal allowance for those with ‘adjusted net income’ over £100,000, which is £1 for every £2 of income above £100,000. So for 2017/18 there is no personal allowance where adjusted net income exceeds £123,000. For 2018/19 there will be no personal allowance available where adjusted net income exceeds £123,700.

Tax bands and rates

The basic rate of tax is currently 20%. The band of income taxable at this rate is £33,500 so that the threshold at which the 40% band applies is £45,000 for those who are entitled to the full personal allowance.

In 2017/18 the band of income taxable at the basic rate for income (other than savings and dividend income) is different for taxpayers who are resident in Scotland to taxpayers resident elsewhere in the UK. The Scottish Government set the band of income taxable at the basic rate at £31,500 so that the threshold at which the 40% band applies is £43,000.

The additional rate of tax of 45% is payable on taxable income above £150,000 (other than dividend income) for all UK residents.

Tax bands and rates 2018/19

The government has announced that for 2018/19 the basic rate band will be increased to £34,500 so that the threshold at which the 40% band applies is £46,350 for those who are entitled to the full personal allowance.

The additional rate of tax of 45% remains payable on taxable income above £150,000.

The Scottish Government will announce the Scottish income tax rates and bands for 2018/19 in the Draft Budget on 14 December.

Tax bands and rates – dividends

Dividends received by an individual are subject to special tax rates. Currently the first £5,000 of dividends are charged to tax at 0% (the Dividend Allowance). Dividends received above the allowance are taxed at the following rates:

5% for basic rate taxpayers
5% for higher rate taxpayers
1% for additional rate taxpayers.

Dividends within the allowance still count towards an individual’s basic or higher rate band and so may affect the rate of tax paid on dividends above the £5,000 allowance.

To determine which tax band dividends fall into, dividends are treated as the last type of income to be taxed.

Reduction in the Dividend Allowance

The Chancellor has confirmed the Dividend Allowance will be reduced from £5,000 to £2,000 from 6 April 2018.

Comment

The government expect that even with the reduction in the Dividend Allowance to £2,000, 80% of ‘general investors’ will pay no tax on their dividend income. However, the reduction in the allowance will affect family company shareholders who take dividends in excess of the £2,000 limit. The cost of the restriction in the allowance for basic rate taxpayers will be £225 increasing to £975 for higher rate taxpayers and £1,143 for additional rate taxpayers.

Tax on savings income

Savings income is income such as bank and building society interest.

The Savings Allowance was first introduced for the 2016/17 tax year and applies to savings income. The available allowance in a tax year depends on the individual’s marginal rate of income tax. Broadly, individuals taxed at up to the basic rate of tax have an allowance of £1,000. For higher rate taxpayers the allowance is £500. No allowance is due to additional rate taxpayers.

Some individuals qualify for a 0% starting rate of tax on savings income up to £5,000. However, the rate is not available if taxable non-savings income (broadly earnings, pensions, trading profits and property income less allocated allowances and reliefs) exceeds £5,000.

The Marriage Allowance

The Marriage Allowance allows certain couples, where neither pay tax at more than the basic rate, to transfer 10% of their unused personal allowance to their spouse or civil partner, reducing their tax bill by up to £230 a year in 2017/18. The government will legislate to allow Marriage Allowance claims on behalf of deceased spouses and civil partners, and for the claim to be backdated for up to four years where the entitlement conditions are met.

This measure will come into force on 29 November 2017.

Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs)

The overall ISA savings limit for 2017/18 and 2018/19 is £20,000.

Help to Buy ISAs

Help to Buy ISAs are a type of cash ISA and potentially provide a bonus to savers if the funds are used to help to buy a first home.

Lifetime ISA

The Lifetime ISA has been available from April 2017 for adults under the age of 40. Individuals are able to contribute up to £4,000 per year, between ages 18 and 50, and receive a 25% bonus from the government. Funds, including the government bonus, can be used to buy a first home at any time from 12 months after opening the account, and can be withdrawn from age 60 completely tax free.

Comment

The overall ISA limit was significantly increased from £15,240 to £20,000 for 2017/18. The increase in the investment limit was partly due to the introduction of the Lifetime ISA. There are therefore four types of ISAs for many adults from April 2017 – cash ISAs, stocks and shares ISAs, Innovative Finance ISAs (allowing investment into peer to peer loans and crowdfunding debentures) and the Lifetime ISA. Money can be placed into one of each kind of ISA each tax year.

As stated above, Help to Buy ISAs are a type of cash ISA and therefore care is needed not to breach the ‘one of each kind of ISA each tax year rule’.

Help to Save accounts

In 2016 the government announced the introduction of a new type of savings account aimed at low income working households. Individuals in low income working households will be able to save up to £50 a month into a Help to Save account and receive a 50% government bonus after two years. Overall the account can be used to save up to £2,400 and can benefit from government bonuses worth up to £1,200. Account holders can then choose to continue saving under the scheme for a further two years. The scheme will be open to all adults in receipt of Universal Credit with minimum weekly household earnings equivalent to 16 hours at the National Living Wage or those in receipt of Working Tax Credits.

Accounts will be available no later than April 2018.

Universal Credit

Universal Credit is a state benefit designed to support those on low income or out of work. It is intended to replace some benefits such as housing benefit, tax credits and income support. It is being introduced in selected areas. The intention is that the rollout will be completed by September 2018.

An individual’s entitlement to the benefit is made up of a number of elements to reflect their personal circumstances. Claimants’ entitlement to Universal Credit is withdrawn at a rate of 63 pence for every extra £1 earned (the ‘taper rate’) where claimants earn above the work allowances.

Following concerns about the roll out of Universal Credit, the Chancellor announced that households in need who qualify for Universal Credit will be able to access a month’s worth of support within five days, via an interest-free advance, from January 2018. This advance can be repaid over 12 months.

Claimants will also be eligible for Universal Credit from the day they apply, rather than after seven days. Housing Benefit will continue to be paid for two weeks after a Universal Credit claim.

Increased limits for knowledge-intensive companies

The government will legislate to encourage more investment in knowledge-intensive companies under the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) and Venture Capital Trusts (VCTs). The government will:

double the limit on the amount an individual may invest under the EIS in a tax year to £2 million from the current limit of £1 million, provided any amount over £1 million is invested in one or more knowledge-intensive companies
raise the annual investment limit for knowledge-intensive companies receiving investments under the EIS and from VCTs to £10 million from the current limit of £5 million. The lifetime limit will remain the same at £20 million, and
allow knowledge-intensive companies to use the date when their annual turnover first exceeds £200,000 in determining the start of the initial investing period under the permitted maximum age rules, instead of the date of the first commercial sale.

The changes will have effect from 6 April 2018. This measure is subject to
normal state aid rules.

Venture Capital

The government will introduce measures to ensure venture capital schemes (the EIS, Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme and VCTs) are targeted at growth investments. The government has announced that relief under the schemes will be focussed on companies where there is a real risk to the capital being invested, and will exclude companies and arrangements intended to provide ‘capital preservation’.

Detailed guidance will be issued shortly after the publication of the Finance Bill.

VCTs

The government will legislate to limit the application of an anti-abuse rule relating to mergers of VCTs. The rule restricts relief for investors who sell shares in a VCT and subscribe for new shares in another VCT within a six month period, where those VCTs merge. This rule will no longer apply if those VCTs merge more than two years after the subscription, or do so only for commercial reasons.

The change will have effect for VCT subscriptions made on or after 6 April 2014.

The government will also legislate to move VCTs towards higher risk investments by:

removing certain ‘grandfathering’ provisions that enable VCTs to invest in companies under rules in place at the time funds were raised, with effect on and after 6 April 2018
requiring 30% of funds raised in an accounting period to be invested in qualifying holdings within 12 months after the end of the accounting period, with effect on and after 6 April 2018
increasing the proportion of VCT funds that must be held in qualifying holdings to 80%, with effect for accounting periods beginning on and after 6 April 2019
increasing the time to reinvest the proceeds on disposal of qualifying holdings from six months to 12 months for disposals on or after 6 April 2019, and
introducing a new anti-abuse rule to prevent loans being used to preserve and return equity capital to investors, with effect on and after Royal Assent.

This measure is subject to normal state aid rules.

Rent a room relief

The government will publish a call for evidence on 1 December 2017 to build the evidence base around the usage of rent a room relief and to help establish whether it is consistent with the original policy rationale to support longer-term lettings.

Simplification of Gift Aid donor benefit rules

The government will introduce legislation to simplify the donor benefit rules that apply to charities that claim Gift Aid. Currently there are a mix of monetary and percentage thresholds that charities have to consider when determining the value of benefit they can give to their donors in return for a donation on which Gift Aid can be claimed. These will be replaced by two percentage thresholds:

the benefit threshold for the first £100 of the donation will remain at 25% of the amount of the donation, and
for larger donations, charities will be able to offer an additional benefit to donors up to 5% of the amount of the donation that exceeds £100.

The total value of the benefit that a donor will be able to receive remains at £2,500.

The government have confirmed that four extra statutory concessions that currently operate in relation to the donor benefit rules will also be brought into law. The changes will have effect on and after 6 April 2019.

Business Tax

Making Tax Digital for Business: VAT

In July 2017, the government announced significant changes to the timetable and scope of HMRC’s digital tax programme for businesses. VAT will be the first tax where taxpayers will keep digital records and report digitally to HMRC. The new rules will apply from April 2019 to all VAT registered businesses with turnover above the VAT threshold.

As with electronic VAT filing at present, there will be some exemptions from Making Tax Digital for VAT. However, the exemption categories are tightly-drawn and unlikely to be applicable to the generality of VAT registered businesses.

Comment

Keeping digital records will not mean businesses are mandated to use digital invoices and receipts but the actual recording of supplies made and received must be digital. It is likely that third party commercial software will be required. Software will not be available from HMRC. The use of spreadsheets will be allowed, but they will have to be combined with add-on software to meet HMRC’s requirements.

In the long run, HMRC are still looking to a scenario where income tax updates are made quarterly and digitally, and this is really what the VAT provisions anticipate.

Corporation tax rates

Corporation tax rates have already been enacted for periods up to 31 March 2021.

The main rate of corporation tax is currently 19%. The rate for future years is:

19% for the Financial Years beginning on 1 April 2018 and 1 April 2019
17% for the Financial Year beginning on 1 April 2020.

Class 2 National Insurance contributions (NICs)

The 2016 Budget announced that Class 2 NICs will be abolished from April 2018. The legislation to effect this measure was intended to be introduced this year. In November 2017 the government decided to implement a one year delay so that Class 2 NICs will be abolished from April 2019.

Comment

The government is still committed to abolishing Class 2 NICs. The deferral allows time to engage with interested parties with concerns relating to the impact of the abolition of Class 2 NICs on self-employed individuals with low profits.

Class 4 NICs

The Chancellor announced in the 2017 Budget proposals to increase the main rate of Class 4 NICs from April 2018 but was forced to make a subsequent announcement that the increase would not take place and there will be no increases to NICs rates in this Parliament.

Partnership taxation

Legislation will be introduced with the aim to provide additional clarity over aspects of the taxation of partnerships:

where a beneficiary of a bare trust is entitled absolutely to any income of that bare trust consisting of profits of a firm but is not themselves a partner in the firm, then they are subject to the same rules for calculating profits etc and reporting as actual partners
how the current rules and reporting requirements operate in particular circumstances where a partnership has partners that are themselves partnerships.

The proposed legislation also:

provides a relaxation in the information to be shown on the partnership return for investment partnerships that report under the Common Reporting Standard or Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act and who have non-UK resident partners who are not chargeable to tax in the UK
makes it clear that the allocation of partnership profits shown on the partnership return is the allocation that applies for tax purposes for the partners
provides a new structured mechanism for the resolution of disputes between partners over the allocation of taxable partnership profits and losses shown on the partnership return.

Mileage rates

The government will legislate to give unincorporated property businesses the option to use a fixed rate deduction for every mile travelled by car, motorcycle or goods vehicle for business journeys. This will be as an alternative to claims for capital allowances and deductions for actual expenses incurred, such as fuel. The changes will have effect from 6 April 2017.

Profit fragmentation

The government will consult on the best way to prevent UK traders or professionals from avoiding UK tax by arranging for UK trading income to be transferred to unrelated entities. This will include arrangements where profits accumulate offshore and are not returned to the UK.

Royalties Withholding Tax

A consultation is to be published on the design of rules expanding the circumstances in which a royalty payment to persons not resident in the UK has a liability to income tax. The changes will have effect from April 2019.

Disincorporation Relief

A disincorporation relief was introduced in April 2013 for five years. Broadly, the relief is aimed at certain small companies where the shareholders want to transfer the business into sole tradership or a partnership business. The relief removes the tax charge arising on the disposal of the company’s assets of land and goodwill if qualifying conditions are met. The government has decided not to extend this relief beyond the current 31 March 2018 expiry date.

Improving Research and Development (R&D)

A number of measures have been announced to support business investment in R&D including:

an increase in the rate of the R&D expenditure credit which applies to the large company scheme from 11% to 12% where expenditure is incurred on or after 1 January 2018
a pilot for a new Advanced Clearance service for R&D expenditure credit claims to provide a pre-filing agreement for three years
a campaign to increase awareness of eligibility for R&D tax credits among SMEs
working with businesses that develop and use key emerging technologies to ensure that there are no barriers to them claiming R&D tax credits.

Intangible Fixed Asset regime

The government will consult in 2018 on the tax treatment of intellectual property also known as the Intangible Fixed Asset regime. This will consider whether there is an economic case for targeted changes to this regime so that it better supports UK companies investing in intellectual property.

Non-UK resident companies

The government is to legislate so that non-UK resident companies with UK property income and/or chargeable gains relating to UK residential property will be charged to corporation tax rather than income tax or capital gains tax respectively as at present. The government plans to publish draft legislation for consultation in summer 2018. The change is set to have effect from 6 April 2020.

Extension of First Year Allowances (FYA)

A 100% FYA is currently available for businesses purchasing zero-emission goods vehicles or gas refuelling equipment. Both schemes were due to end on 31 March 2018 but have been extended for a further three years.

Extension of First Year Tax Credits (FYTC)

FYA enables profit-making businesses to deduct the full cost of investments in energy and water technology from their taxable profits. Loss-making businesses do not make profits, so they do not benefit from FYAs. However, when the loss-making business is a company it can claim FYTC when they invest in products that feature on the energy and water technology lists. A FYTC claim allows the company to surrender a loss in exchange for a cash credit and is currently set at 19% but the facility was due to end on 31 March 2018.

The credit system is to be extended for five years but the percentage rate of the claim is to reduce to two-thirds of the corporation tax rate. The changes to FYTC will have effect from 1 April 2018.

Capital gains indexation allowance

This measure changes the calculation of indexation allowance by companies so that for disposals of assets on or after 1 January 2018, indexation allowance will be calculated using the Retail Price Index factor for December 2017 irrespective of the date of disposal of the asset.

Off-payroll working extension to the private sector

The government will consult in 2018 on how to tackle non-compliance with the intermediaries legislation (commonly known as IR35) in the private sector. The legislation aims to ensure that individuals who effectively work as employees are taxed as employees even if they choose to structure their work through a company. A possible next step would be to extend the recent public sector reforms to the private sector.

Employment Taxes

Different forms of remuneration

In the Spring Budget the government stated it wished to consider how the tax system ‘could be made fairer and more coherent’. A call for evidence was subsequently published on employee expenses. The government’s aim is to better understand the use of the income tax relief for employees’ business expenses. It sought views on how employers currently deal with employee expenses, current tax rules on employee expenses and the future of employee expenses.

Following the call for evidence:

the government announced that the existing concessionary travel and subsistence overseas scale rates will be placed on a statutory basis from 6 April 2019, to provide clarity and certainty. Employers will only be asked to ensure that employees are undertaking qualifying travel
the government also announced that employers will no longer be required to check receipts when making payments to employees for subsistence using benchmark scale rates. This will apply to standard meal allowances paid in respect of qualifying travel and overseas scale rates. Employers will only be asked to ensure that employees are undertaking qualifying travel. This will have effect from April 2019 and will not apply to amounts agreed under bespoke scale rates or industry wide rates
HMRC will work with external stakeholders to explore improvements to the guidance on employee expenses, particularly on travel and subsistence and the claims process for tax relief on employment expenses. This programme of work will also increase simplicity around the process for claiming tax relief and will take action to improve awareness of the process and the rules
the government will consult in 2018 on extending the scope of tax relief currently available to employees and the self-employed for work-related training costs.

The government response to the call for evidence will be published on 1 December 2017.

Changes to termination payments

The government previously announced changes to align the rules for tax and employer NICs by making an employer liable to pay Class 1A NICs on any part of a termination payment that exceeds the £30,000 threshold that currently applies for income tax.

In addition, ‘non-contractual’ payments in lieu of notice (PILONs) will be treated as earnings rather than as termination payments and will therefore be subject to income tax and Class 1 NICs. This will be done by requiring the employer to identify the amount of basic pay that the employee would have received if they had worked their full notice period.

All these measures were due to take effect from April 2018. In November 2017 the government decided to implement a one year delay for the Class 1A NICs measure so the change will take effect from April 2019.

The government will legislate to ensure that employees who are UK resident in the tax year in which their employment is terminated will not be eligible for foreign service relief on their termination payments. Reductions in the case of foreign service are retained for seafarers. The changes will have effect from 6 April 2018 and apply to all those who have their employment contract terminated on or after 6 April 2018.

Comment

Currently ‘non-contractual’ PILONs may be treated as part of a termination payment and therefore exempt from income tax up to the £30,000 threshold and not subject to any NICs. Note that the changes to the treatment of PILONs for income tax and Class 1 NICs will still apply from April 2018.

Employer provided cars

The scale of charges for working out the taxable benefit for an employee who has use of an employer provided car are now announced well in advance. Most cars are taxed by reference to bands of CO₂ emissions. Currently there is a 3% diesel supplement. The maximum charge is capped at 37% of the list price of the car.

In the current tax year there is a 9% rate for cars with CO₂ emissions up to 50gm/km or which have neither a CO₂ emissions figure nor an engine cylinder capacity (and which cannot produce CO₂ emissions in any circumstances by being driven). From 6 April 2018 this will be increased to 13%, and from 6 April 2019 to 16%.

For other bands of CO₂ emissions there will generally be a 2% increase in the percentage applied by each band from 6 April 2018. For 2019/20 the rates will increase by a further 3%.

The government announced that they will legislate to increase the diesel supplement from 3% to 4%. This will apply to all diesel cars registered from 1 January 1998 that do not meet the Real Driving Emissions Step 2 (RDE2) standards. There is no change to the current position that the diesel supplement does not apply to hybrid cars.

The change will have effect from 6 April 2018.

Armed forces accommodation allowance exemption

The government will introduce an income tax exemption for certain allowances paid to Armed Forces personnel for renting or maintaining accommodation in the private market. A Class 1 NICs disregard will also be introduced.

The change will have effect from Royal Assent once regulations have been laid.

Future tax changes

A number of other proposed changes were announced. These include:

exempting employer provided electricity provided in the workplace from being taxed as a benefit in kind from April 2018. This will apply to electricity provided via workplace charging points for electric or hybrid cars owned by employees
the government will publish a consultation as part of its response to Matthew Taylor’s review of modern working practices, considering options for reform to make the employment status tests clearer for both employment rights and tax.

Capital Taxes

Capital gains tax (CGT) rates

The current rates of CGT are 10%, to the extent that any income tax basic rate band is available, and 20% thereafter. Higher rates of 18% and 28% apply for certain gains; mainly chargeable gains on residential properties with the exception of any element that qualifies for private residence relief.

There are two specific types of disposal which potentially qualify for a 10% rate, both of which have a lifetime limit of £10 million for each individual:

Entrepreneurs’ Relief (ER). This is targeted at working directors and employees of companies who own at least 5% of the ordinary share capital in the company and the owners of unincorporated businesses.
Investors’ Relief. The main beneficiaries of this relief are external investors in unquoted trading companies.

CGT annual exemption

The CGT annual exemption is £11,300 for 2017/18 and will be increased to £11,700 for 2018/19.

ER – relief after dilution of holdings

The government will consult on how access to ER might be given to those whose holding in their company is reduced below the normal 5% qualifying level as a result of raising funds for commercial purposes by means of issues of new shares. Allowing ER in these circumstances would incentivise entrepreneurs to remain involved in their businesses after receiving external investment.

Comment

This proposal is welcome and addresses a particular problem which can arise. ER broadly requires a holding of 5% of the ordinary share capital. It may be that significant external investment is made which would reduce the holding to below 5%.

For example, Bill owns 33% of the original share capital of 100 shares issued at par. John invests £30,000 in the company in return for 30,000 new shares. This reduces Bill’s holding to 33 of 30,100 shares, below the 5% limit. It appears that the government intend to address this problem.

CGT payment window

The government had previously suggested that capital gains tax would have to be paid within 30 days of the sale of a residential property but this proposal has now been deferred until April 2020.

Extending the taxation of gains made by non-residents

The government announced that from April 2019 tax will be charged on gains made by non-residents on the disposal of all types of UK immovable property. This extends existing rules that apply only to residential property.

This measure expands the scope of the UK’s tax base with regard to disposals of immovable property by non-residents in two key ways:

all non-resident persons’ gains on disposals of interests in UK land will be chargeable and
indirect disposals of UK land will be chargeable.

Inheritance tax (IHT) nil rate band

The nil rate band has remained at £325,000 since April 2009 and is set to remain frozen at this amount until April 2021.

IHT residence nil rate band

An additional nil rate band is now available for deaths on or after 6 April 2017, where an interest in a residence passes to direct descendants. The amount of relief is being phased in over four years; starting at £100,000 in the first year and rising to £175,000 for 2020/21. For many married couples and registered civil partners the relief is effectively doubled as each individual has a main nil rate band and each will potentially benefit from the residence nil rate band.

The additional band can only be used in respect of one residential property, which does not have to be the main family home, but must at some point have been a residence of the deceased. Restrictions apply where estates are in excess of £2 million.

Where a person died before 6 April 2017 their estate did not qualify for the relief. A surviving spouse may be entitled to an increase in the residence nil rate band if the spouse who died earlier had not used, or was not entitled to use, their full residence nil rate band. The calculations involved are potentially complex but the increase will often result in a doubling of the residence nil rate band for the surviving spouse.

Downsizing

The residence nil rate band may also be available when a person downsizes or ceases to own a home on or after 8 July 2015 where assets of an equivalent value, up to the value of the residence nil rate band, are passed on death to direct descendants.

Comment

When planning to minimise IHT liabilities we now have three nil rate bands to consider.

The standard nil rate band has been a part of the legislation from the start of IHT in 1986. In 2007 the ability to utilise the unused nil rate band of a deceased spouse was introduced enabling many surviving spouses to have a nil rate band of up to £650,000. From 6 April 2020 some surviving spouses will be able to add £350,000 in respect of the residence nil rate band to arrive at a total nil rate band of £1 million.

Individuals need to revisit their wills to ensure that the relief will be available and efficiently utilised.

Other Matters

Business rates

Business rates have been devolved to Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. The business rates revaluation took effect in England from April 2017 and resulted in significant changes to the amount of rates that businesses will pay. In light of the recent rise in inflation, the government will provide further support to businesses including:

bringing forward the planned switch in indexation from RPI to CPI to 1 April 2018
legislating retrospectively to address the so-called ‘staircase tax’. Affected businesses will be able to ask the Valuation Office Agency to recalculate valuations so that bills are based on previous practice backdated to April 2010.

Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT)

Relief for first time buyers

The government has announced that first time buyers paying £300,000 or less for a residential property will pay no SDLT.

First time buyers paying between £300,000 and £500,000 will pay SDLT at 5% on the amount of the purchase price in excess of £300,000. First time buyers purchasing property for more than £500,000 will not be entitled to any relief and will pay SDLT at the normal rates.

The new rules apply to transactions with an effective date (usually the date of completion) on or after 22 November 2017.

Comment

This measure does not apply in Scotland as this is a devolved tax. This measure will apply in Wales until 1 April 2018, when SDLT will be devolved to Wales.

Higher rates: minor changes

New rules were introduced to impose an additional SDLT charge of 3% on additional residential properties purchased on or after 1 April 2016. Broadly, transactions under £40,000 do not require a tax return to be filed with HMRC and are not subject to the higher rates.

For transactions on or after 22 November 2017, relief from the extra 3% will be given in certain cases including where:

a divorce related court order prevents someone from disposing of their interest in a main residence
a spouse or civil partner buys property from another spouse or civil partner
a deputy buys property for a child subject to the Court of Protection and
a purchaser adds to their interest in their current main residence.

The changes also counteract abuse of the relief when someone who changes main residence retains an interest in their former main residence.

Changes to the filing and payment process

The government has confirmed that it will reduce the SDLT filing and payment window from 30 days to 14 days for land transactions with an effective date on or after 1 March 2019. The government is planning improvements to the SDLT return that aim to make compliance with the new time limit easier.

Welsh Land Transaction Tax (LTT)

LTT will be introduced from 1 April 2018 and replace Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) which continues to apply in England and Northern Ireland. The principles and rates of the tax are similar to SDLT.

VAT thresholds

There had been some speculation leading up to the Budget that the VAT registration limit would be significantly reduced. The Chancellor has announced that the VAT registration and deregistration thresholds will not change for two years from 1 April 2018 from the current figures of £85,000 and £83,000 respectively.

In the meantime, the government intends to consult on the design of the threshold.

VAT fraud in labour provision in the construction sector

The government will pursue legislation to shift responsibility for paying the VAT along the supply chain to remove the opportunity for it to be stolen with effect on or after 1 October 2019. The long lead-in time reflects the government’s commitment to give businesses adequate time to prepare for the changes. The government has decided not to bring in legislative measures to address the fraud in the Construction Industry Scheme but HMRC are increasing their compliance response to target the fraud there.

Vehicle Excise Duty (VED)

A supplement will apply to new diesel vehicles from 1 April 2018 so that these cars will go up by one VED band in their First-Year Rate. This will apply to any diesel car that is not certified to the Real Driving Emissions 2 (RDE2) standard.

Comment

The government state that someone purchasing a typical Ford Focus diesel will pay an additional £20 in the first year, a VW Golf will pay £40, a Vauxhall Mokka £300 and a Landrover Discovery £400.

Taxation of trusts

The government will publish a consultation in 2018 on how to make the taxation of trusts simpler, fairer and more transparent.

Compliance and HMRC

The government is investing a further £155m in additional resources and new technology for HMRC. This investment is forecast to help bring in £2.3bn of additional tax revenues by allowing HMRC to:

transform their approach to tackling the hidden economy through new technology
further tackle those who are engaging in marketed tax avoidance schemes
enhance efforts to tackle the enablers of tax fraud and hold intermediaries accountable for the services they provide using the Corporate Criminal Offence
increase their ability to tackle non-compliance among mid-size businesses and wealthy individuals
recover greater amounts of tax debt including through a new taskforce to specifically tackle tax debts more than nine months old.

Chancellors 2011 Autumn Statement 29 November 2011

Posted on November 30, 2011 by Henry Cooper

On Tuesday 29th November the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) published its updated forecast for the UK economy. Chancellor George Osborne responded to that forecast in a statement to the House of Commons later on that day.

In the period since the Budget in March a number of consultation papers and discussion documents have been published by HMRC. Draft legislation relating to many of these areas will be published on 6 December 2011. Some of these proposals are summarised here. We will provide an update for you if significant changes are announced on 6 December.

This summary also provides a reminder of other key developments which are to take place from April 2012.

The Chancellor’s statement

The Chancellor emphasised that the OBR does not predict a recession in Britain but they have revised down their short term growth prospects for the country. He also made clear that the OBR central forecast assumes ‘the euro finds a way through the current crisis’.

General measures

The Autumn Statement sets out the actions the Government will take in two main areas:

protecting the economy and
building a stronger economy for the future.

In order to maintain economic stability and meet its fiscal rules, the Government will, for example:

set plans for public spending in 2015/16 and 2016/17 in line with the spending reductions over the Spending Review 2010 period

Raise the State Pension age to 67 between April 2026 and April 2028
set public sector pay awards at an average of 1% for each of the two years after the current pay freeze comes to an end.

The growth plans include the publication of a National Infrastructure Plan 2011. The plan sets out a pipeline of over 500 infrastructure projects including:

introducing a new approach to financing infrastructure, by obtaining £20 billion of private investment from pension funds

investing over £1 billion to tackle areas of congestion and improve the national road network
investing more than £1.4 billion in railway infrastructure and commuter links
investing £100 million to create up to ten ‘super-connected cities’ across the UK, with 80-100 megabits per second broadband and city-wide high-speed mobile coverage.

Comment

The proposal to raise the state pension age is expected to save around £60 billion in today’s prices between 2026/27 and 2035/36.

The aim of the National Infrastructure Plan is to kick start the economy by accelerating infrastructure projects with a view to job retention/creation. Time will tell how successful the new strategy is.

NON-TAX MEASURES FOR SMEs

Credit easing

In order to free up lending to business, the Government is launching a package of measures worth up to £21 billion to ease the flow of credit to businesses. This includes up to £20 billion for the National Loan Guarantee Scheme and £1 billion for the Business Finance Partnership.

Comment

The hope is that credit easing will encourage bank lending and enhance the demand for credit by reducing the price of loans for eligible businesses.

Small business rate relief holiday

The Government will extend the current small business rate relief holiday for a further six months from 1 October 2012 and also give businesses the opportunity to defer 60% of the increase in their 2012/13 business rate bills.

Employment regulations

In an attempt to make it easier to ‘hire and fire’, the Government intends to:

look for ways to provide a quicker and cheaper alternative to a tribunal hearing in simple cases by introducing a ‘Rapid Resolution’ scheme
complete a call for evidence on the impact of reducing the collective redundancy process for redundancies of 100 or more staff from the current 90 days to 60, 45 or 30 days.

The Government will begin a call for evidence on two proposals for reform of UK employment law. They will:

seek views on the introduction of compensated no-fault dismissal for micro-businesses with fewer than 10 employees
look at how it could move to a simpler, quicker and clearer dismissal process, potentially including working with ACAS to make changes to their code or by introducing supplementary guidance for small businesses.

Youth Contract

A number of measures under the heading of a ‘Youth Contract’ will be introduced, including Government funding of:

wage incentives for 160,000 young people to make it easier for private sector employers to take them on

at least 40,000 incentive payments for small firms to take on young apprentices.

Planning reform

The Government has announced a series of changes to the planning regime. Changes will include:

introducing a 13-week maximum timescale for the majority of non-planning consents
building more flexibility into the new major infrastructure planning process, particularly in the pre-application phase
reviewing the planning appeals procedures to make them faster and more transparent
consulting on proposals to allow existing agricultural buildings to be used for other business purposes such as offices, leisure and retail space.

Comment

These changes are designed to speed up building projects. ‘Red tape’ has been cited as a major reason for UK infrastructure development being more expensive than in other European countries.

Housing

In an attempt to increase house building, stabilise the housing market and enable more people to own their own home, the Government will:

introduce a new build indemnity scheme under which home buyers will be able to purchase new build houses and flats with a 5% deposit, with house builders and the Government helping to provide security for the loan
reinvigorate the ‘Right to Buy’ to help social tenants buy their home
launch a new £400m ‘Get Britain Building’ investment fund, which will support firms in need of development finance
support new development, which could include modern garden cities and urban and village extensions.

PERSONAL TAX

The personal allowance for 2012/13

For those aged under 65 the personal allowance will be increased by £630 to £8,105. This increase is greater than the minimum required and is part of the plan of the Coalition Government to ultimately raise the allowance to £10,000.

The personal allowance is reduced by £1 for every £2 of adjusted net income over £100,000. Next year the allowance ceases at adjusted net income in excess of £116,210.

Comment

Planning should be considered where adjusted net income is expected to exceed £100,000. This figure is calculated after giving a deduction against income for pension contributions and gift aid payments. Consider whether these could be made to protect some or all of the personal allowance.

Tax band and rates 2012/13

The basic rate of tax is currently 20%. The band of income taxable at this rate is being reduced to £34,370 so that the threshold at which the 40% band applies will remain at £42,475.

The 50% band currently applies where taxable income exceeds £150,000.

If dividend income is part of total income this is taxed at 10% where it falls within the basic rate band, 32.5% where liable at the higher rate of tax and 42.5% where liable to the additional rate of tax.

Tax credits

The child element of Child Tax Credit will rise by £135 per year in 2012/13 which is in line with the inflation increase but the additional increase above inflation of £110 which was planned has been dropped.

The disability elements of tax credits will be uprated by the increase in the Consumer Price Index of 5.2% but there is to be no uprating of the couple and lone parent elements of Working Tax Credit.

Integration of the operation of income tax and NIC

Following an invitation for people to express views on a proposed integration of the operation of income tax and NIC the Government has decided to continue with the review. The Government will establish a number of working groups with stakeholders to explore options for integration. Depending on the results of the working groups, further rounds of consultation will proceed after Budget 2012. It is unlikely that there will be any substantive change in reality before 2017.

Junior ISAs

Provisions to allow these accounts were introduced this tax year. At present there is not a wide availability of these accounts although some building societies have launched products. The key features of the accounts are:

the accounts are available to any child who does not qualify for a Child Trust Fund
all returns will be tax free
funds placed in the account will be owned by the child and would be locked in until the child reaches adulthood although they can manage the account from the age of 16 years
investments will be available in cash or stocks and shares
annual contributions will be capped at £3,600
there will be no Government contributions into the account.

Comment

These accounts provide a way of increasing the tax free income available to a family in addition to the use of adult ISAs for the parents.

Child Trust Funds

These ceased to be available for children born on or after 1 January 2011 although existing accounts remain in place and can be added to by parents and family members. The maximum annual contribution has been increased to £3,600 to keep in line with the Junior ISA. No further Government contributions will be made to any account.

Furnished holiday lettings

From 6 April 2012 the tests which determine whether a property can qualify for treatment as a furnished holiday let will change. The number of days for which the property is available for letting increases from 140 days to 210 days and the number of days actually let increases from 70 to 105 days.

If an individual can show there was a genuine intention to meet the letting conditions but has been unable to do so they will be able to make an election to continue to treat the property as a furnished holiday let. This will protect the special tax treatment that such properties receive.

Statutory Residence Test

There is currently no definition of ‘residence’ in UK tax law and yet the liability to income tax and capital gains tax (CGT) rests on knowing an individual’s UK residence status for a tax year. Currently the determination of residence is based on old case law and, as a recent Supreme Court decision has shown, it can lead to significant uncertainty and large tax liabilities.

The Government published a consultation document in summer 2011 on the introduction of a Statutory Residence Test (SRT) which would come into effect in April 2012. The SRT is based on three parts and an individual would consider each part in turn. If a definite answer on their residence status is found on the first part then there is no need to proceed further. Similarly if the second part gives a definitive answer there is no need to move to the third part. That final test then provides a definitive answer.

The parts and the conditions are as follows:

Part A – satisfy any one of three conditions and the individual is conclusively non-resident in the year:
an individual with no UK residence in the three previous tax years spends less than 45 days in the UK
an individual who has been UK resident in one of the three previous tax years spends less than ten days in the UK
an individual goes to work abroad in a full time employment or self- employment and spends less than 90 days in the UK and has less than 20 working days in the UK.
If no definite answer under Part A then proceed to Part B
Part B – satisfy any one of three conditions and the individual is conclusively resident for the year:
an individual spends 183 days or more in the UK
an individual has their only home in the UK or if they have more than one home all are in the UK
an individual works full time in the UK for a continuous period of at least nine months and not more than 25% of duties are outside the UK.
If no definite answer under Part B then proceed to Part C
Part C – here the rules combine the time spent in the UK and a number of connection factors which are deemed to link an individual to the UK. Five connection factors have been identified:
spouse and/or minor children are resident in the UK at any time in the year
the individual has accessible accommodation in the UK and uses it in the year
the individual spends at least 40 working days in the UK
in either of the two previous tax years the individual spent at least 90 days in the UK
the individual spent more time in the UK than in any other single country in the tax year.
Part C then provides for a combination of factors and time which will make an individual resident in the UK.

A day will count as being in the UK if the individual is physically present in the UK at midnight unless they satisfy specific rules for those in transit through the UK.

There are a number of issues which have been raised in the consultation process on which clarification has been sought and it is hoped that these will be clarified in the draft legislation. It is intended that the new rules will apply from 6 April 2012. From that point they will supersede all existing case law and practice. However residence status for years up to 2011/12 is determined using the present rules.

Comment

The proposed rules do seem to work to give a definitive answer to the question ‘Am I resident in the UK?’ The answer may not be the one that you want but it should then be possible to identify the factors which need to change in order to achieve the desired result.

Individuals planning a move into or out of the UK after 6 April 2012 should be taking the new rules into account in their planning. They should also note that they are going to need to keep comprehensive records not just of their time in the UK but also, where relevant, their working days in the UK and the time they spend in each other country that they may visit.

Some individuals who are currently outside the UK, particularly those working abroad, will need to note that the new rules could change their residence status and they may wish to review plans for visits back to the UK and the impact of any potential connecting factors.

Changes for non-domiciled individuals

Following changes in 2008 all UK resident individuals are taxable on overseas income and gains overseas arising in the tax year. Individuals who are not domiciled in the UK or who are not ordinarily resident can make a claim to be taxed only on sums actually remitted to the UK in the year. These rules, known as the ‘remittance basis rules’ are complex but can mean a significant tax saving.

There are currently two downsides to making a remittance basis claim:

the individual automatically loses their personal allowance for income tax and their annual exempt amount for CGT unless the remittances amount to almost all of the overseas income and gains arising
an individual who has been resident in the UK for at least seven out of the preceding nine UK tax years must pay a remittance basis charge of £30,000 in addition to the tax actually due.

Two significant changes are planned in the remittance basis rules from 6 April 2012:

the remittance basis charge will be increased to £50,000 where an individual has been resident in the UK for 12 out of the preceding 14 tax years
if an individual remits funds to invest in a UK business then that remittance will be tax free if the remittance basis is claimed (although the remittance basis charge will still be payable). A consultation paper has proposed a wide definition of business and indicates that the business vehicle can be a company or an unincorporated business. When the investment is realised it will be necessary for the individual to either reinvest the funds immediately in another qualifying venture or remove the funds from the UK within 14 days otherwise they will be treated as a remittance for that year.

Some administrative changes in the remittance basis rules will also be introduced.

BUSINESS TAX

Corporation tax rates

In accordance with the plans announced in March the main rate of corporation tax will fall from 26% to 25% from 1 April 2012. The small company rate is 20% and there has been no announcement of the rate for next year.

Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS)

Changes announced in the March Budget are due to come into effect on 6 April 2012. These are:

the maximum amount that an individual can invest in total in a tax year rises from £500,000 to £1m.
the maximum funds that a company can receive under EIS rises from £2m to £10m
the size of a company that can benefit from EIS (subject to meeting all the qualifications) is increased to £15m gross assets and fewer than 250 employees.

A number of other changes were announced in the Autumn Statement:

the rules which identify individuals who are deemed to be connected to the company are to be relaxed in some circumstances
the £1m per company limit that currently applies for Venture Capital Trusts will be removed
anti-avoidance rules will be introduced to exclude companies set up for the purpose of obtaining the relief, and to exclude the purchase of shares in another company
investment in Feed-in-Tariffs will be excluded.

Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS)

This is a new relief which will be introduced from 6 April 2012. It will provide income tax relief at 50% in respect of investment in a small company whose total assets before the investment are less than £200,000. The relief will be limited to investments of up to £150,000 in each company and a maximum of £100,000 investment for an individual. In addition an individual who makes a capital gain in 2012/13 and reinvests some or all of the gain in a SEIS company in the same year will obtain exemption from CGT for the sum invested.

Comment

This relief will encourage business angels or perhaps family members to invest in small enterprises and obtain a tax refund of half their investment. The details of the conditions which the recipient company will have to meet are not yet known.

Annual Investment Allowance (AIA)

The AIA is a capital allowance available for many businesses on most purchases of plant and machinery, long-life assets and integral features. Relief is given on the full cost up to a current maximum allowance of £100,000 for a full year. This allowance is to be reduced to £25,000 with effect from 1 April 2012 for companies and 6 April 2012 for unincorporated businesses.

Where a business has an accounting period that straddles the date of change the allowances have to be apportioned on a time basis. For example a company with an accounting period ending on 30 September 2012 will have an allowance of £62,500 (£100,000 x ½ + £25,000 x ½). However it should be noted that for expenditure incurred after the 1/6 April, the maximum allowance that can be attributed to that expenditure is a fraction of £25,000. The fraction will be the amount of the £25,000 that is included in the calculation of the overall AIA for the accounting period.

Comment

Planning the timing of purchases of significant items of plant becomes very important over the next year to ensure that the maximum available AIA can be secured.

Suppose the company with the 30 September year end wishes to buy new plant costing £35,000. If they buy it in February 2012 they will be able to claim an AIA on the full £35,000 but if they buy it in June 2012 they will only be able to claim an AIA of £12,500. They would actually then be better off if they waited until October when they would have a full £25,000 available.

Writing down allowances

Writing down allowances are to be reduced from April next year. The normal rate of 20% will be reduced to 18% and the lower rate of 10% which applies to integral features and long-life assets will reduce to 8%. It will be necessary to calculate hybrid rates where the accounting period straddles 1/6 April which will give a rate between 20% and 18% (or between 10% and 8%) for that period.

Capital allowances in Enterprise Zones

Over the past year the Government has designated a number of very specific areas as Enterprise Zones. Businesses in these areas enjoy certain reliefs, for example, a relief from business rates. The Chancellor has announced that 100% capital allowances will now be available for the Zones in the Black Country, Humber, Liverpool, North East, Sheffield, and the Tees Valley.

Compulsory pooling

The Government is considering whether to introduce a requirement that businesses should pool their expenditure on fixtures within a short period after acquisition in order to qualify for capital allowances.

Research and development expenditure (R&D)

There are currently a number of restrictions which effectively limit the scope of this relief and it is planned to remove these for expenditure incurred on or after 1 April 2012. The proposals include:

removing the rule limiting a company’s payable R&D credit to the amount of PAYE and NIC it pays
removing the £10,000 minimum expenditure condition
changing the rules governing the provision of relief for work done by subcontractors under the large company scheme
increasing the additional deduction for R&D expenditure by SMEs by a further 25% making the total deduction 225% of actual expenditure.

The Chancellor has announced a consultation next year on the introduction of an ‘above the line’ tax credit in 2013 for larger companies.

Controlled Foreign Companies (CFCs)

The CFC regime can apply to a UK company which has a subsidiary operating in a country with a low rate of corporation tax. The rules have been in place for 25 years but are seen as complex and in some cases disadvantageous to business. Some interim changes were made in 2011 but a major overhaul is planned for 2012. The aims of the new rules will be:

to target and impose a CFC charge on artificially diverted UK profits, so that UK activity and profits are taxed fairly
to exempt foreign profits where there is no artificial diversion of UK profits
to not tax profits arising from genuine economic activities undertaken offshore.

General Anti-avoidance Rule (GAAR)

The Government commissioned an independent report from a leading tax lawyer on whether or not it would be appropriate to introduce a GAAR into the UK tax system. This is a route that has been used in a number of other countries.

The reviewer has just presented his report to the Government and recommends that a moderate rule targeted at abusive arrangements would be beneficial to the UK tax system. Such a GAAR would apply for income tax, CGT, corporation tax and NIC. It would not apply to ‘responsible tax planning’.

It is now likely that the Government will undertake a consultation process in this matter but legislation is not likely until 2013 at the earliest.

High risk tax avoidance schemes

Certain types of tax avoidance schemes are currently subject to a disclosure regime which requires the scheme promoter to disclose details of the scheme to HMRC and for the users of the scheme to indicate their involvement on their tax return. Such schemes are usually challenged by HMRC but this procedure can take many years with Tribunal and Court hearings being required. If the scheme is blocked the scheme users have to pay the tax due but HMRC is concerned that the delay can still give them a significant cash-flow advantage.

HMRC is currently consulting on a proposal to introduce an additional charge on scheme users where the scheme fails. A user will be able to prevent this charge by paying the disputed tax to HMRC ahead of the challenge.

Tax treatment of asset-backed pension contributions

Rules are to be introduced from 29 November 2011 to limit tax relief for employers who enter into arrangements to make asset-backed contributions into their pension schemes. The new rules will ensure that the tax relief obtained more accurately reflects the actual costs to the employer.

EMPLOYMENT TAX

Employer-provided cars

From 6 April 2012 the CO₂ emissions bands used to work out the taxable benefit for an employee who has use of an employer-provided car will be shifted downwards by 5gm/km. This will have the effect of increasing the charge for each vehicle.

In addition, the current graduated table of employer-provided car bands will extend down to a 10% band and will apply to cars with CO₂ emissions between 76 and 99gm/km. As a result ‘qualifying low emission cars’ will no longer exist as a separate category.

In summary the new rules from 6 April 2012 will be:

no emissions 0%
75gm/km or less 5%
99gm/km or less 10%
100gm/km 11%
graduated increases of 1% per 5gm/km up to a maximum, including diesel supplement, of 35%

Real Time Information (RTI)

HMRC have produced draft legislation to introduce probably the most significant change in the PAYE system since its introduction in 1944. Under the RTI scheme, employers will electronically provide monthly information to HMRC related to wages and salaries paid to employees. Once the scheme is ‘bedded in’ employers will no longer have to complete year end returns such as the P35 and P14. The new system will also see the end of the use of the P45 when an employee leaves an employment.

Volunteer employers are to pilot the new scheme from 6 April 2012. The intention is that it will apply to employers on a phased basis from 6 April 2013 so that all employers are operating the system by October 2013.

Comment

This really is a major change but the success or otherwise of the scheme will depend on the ability of the HMRC computer system to cope. History suggests that this could be the problem.

CAPITAL TAXES

CGT rates

The current rates of CGT are 18% to the extent that any income tax basic rate band is available and 28% thereafter. The rate for disposals qualifying for Entrepreneurs’ Relief (ER) is 10% with a lifetime limit of £10m for each individual.

No announcement has been made of the rates for next year.

Comment

The ER limit is very generous and owners of businesses should ensure that they meet all the conditions necessary to secure the relief throughout the twelve months up to the date of a disposal.

CGT annual exemption

The CGT annual exemption has been frozen at £10,600 for 2012/13.

Inheritance tax (IHT) nil rate band

The IHT nil rate band remains frozen at £325,000 until 6 April 2015.

Reduced rate of IHT for the charitable

The Government will introduce a reduced rate of IHT for an estate where a minimum level of legacy has been left by the deceased to charity. The actual legacy to charity remains exempt from IHT and it is the rate of tax on the balance of the estate that would be reduced to 36% from 40%.

The intention is that the reduced rate will apply where charitable bequests satisfy a 10% test. A comparison will be made between:

the total value of charitable legacies for IHT purposes and
the value of the net estate as reduced by:
any available nil rate band
the value of assets passing to the surviving spouse or civil partner and
other IHT reliefs and exemptions for example Business Property Relief.

If the first figure is at least 10% of the second then the balance of the estate will qualify for the reduced IHT rate of 36%.

The changes will apply to estates where the individual dies on or after 6 April 2012.

Comment

Because the benefit of the reduced IHT rate will be dependent on whether or not the amount of the charitable legacy is sufficient for the estate to pass the 10% test there will be a ‘cliff edge’ effect. Where the amount of the charitable legacy is close to the critical 10% point, a small difference to the amount of the legacy could have a much larger impact on the estate’s IHT liability. There are no plans to apply any taper or other mechanism to mitigate this.

OTHER TAXES

VAT – Low value consignment relief (LVCR)

LVCR is an administrative simplification to reduce the costs for businesses, Royal Mail and other carriers and consumers all of whom would otherwise be involved in the collection and/or payment of small amounts of VAT on large numbers of low value packages coming into the UK from outside the EU. It is the main reason that suppliers of DVDs and CDs often use a base in the Channel Islands from which to ship their products.

The amount at which LVCR was to apply was reduced from £18 to £15 from 1 November 2011.

The Government recently announced that the relief is to be abolished from 1 April 2012 for goods imported as part of a distance selling transaction from the Channel Islands.

VAT cost sharing exemption

The Government is to introduce an EU VAT exemption for organisations that wish to share costs between themselves on a non-profit basis. The exemption can be used, amongst others, by organisations such as charities, universities and higher education colleges and housing associations wanting to make efficiency savings by working together to achieve economies of scale.

Under current UK legislation a VAT cost can arise creating a barrier to the sharing of services. The exemption once implemented would also, in certain circumstances, remove this VAT barrier.

Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) holiday for first time buyers

Currently first-time buyers do not have to pay SDLT on house purchases where the cost is no more than £250,000. This relief is due to expire at midnight on 24th March 2012.

Air Passenger Duty (APD)

The Government intends to proceed with the introduction of APD to flights taken aboard business jets from 1 April 2013.

Disclaimer – for information of users

This summary is published for the information of clients. It provides only an overview of the Autumn Statement and previous announcements. No action should be taken without consulting the detailed legislation or seeking professional advice. Therefore no responsibility for loss occasioned by any person acting or refraining from action as a result of the material contained in this summary can be accepted by the authors or the firm.