On Wednesday 5 December 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 and some of these proposals are summarised here. Draft legislation relating to many of these areas will be published on 11 December. We will provide an update for you on 12 December if significant changes are announced.
Our summary also provides a reminder of other key developments which are to take place from April 2013.
The Chancellor’s statement
His speech and the subsequent documentation was a ‘mini-Budget’ announcing tax measures in addition to the normal economic measures.
Our summary concentrates on the tax measures which include:
changes to personal allowances and tax bands
changes to pensions reliefs
a tenfold increase in the Annual Investment Allowance to £250,000
a further reduction in the main rate of corporation tax
announcements regarding the General Anti Abuse Rule and other ‘abusive arrangements’.
