Over the next few weeks, we will post more detailed information on key issues i.e. IR35, Welsh Business Rates so keep checking the website.
Response to Coronavirus
- 5bn emergency response fund to support the NHS and other public services
- Statutory sick pay will be paid to all those who are advised to self-isolate, even if they have not presented with symptoms
- Self-employed workers who are not eligible for sick pay will be able to claim contributory Employment Support Allowance
- The money will be available from day one, not after a week as now
- £500m hardship fund to help vulnerable people
- Firms with fewer than 250 staff will be refunded for sick pay payments for two weeks
- Small firms will be able to access “business interruption” loans of up to £1.2m
- Business rates in England will be abolished for firms in the retail, leisure and hospitality sectors with a rateable value below £51,000, the Welsh Assembly yet to decide if they will do the same. It will up to the Welsh Assembly whether the same will apply here in Wales
Personal Taxation, wages and pensions
- National Insurance Contributions tax threshold to rise from £8,632 to £9,500 – saving 500,000 employees just over £100 a year
- No other new announcements on income tax, national insurance or VAT
- Tax paid on the pensions of high earners, including doctors, to be recalculated
Business
- System of business rates to be reviewed later this year
- Entrepreneurs’ Relief will be retained, but lifetime allowance will be reduced from £10m to £1m
- £5bn to be spent on getting gigabit-capable broadband into the hardest-to-reach places
- An extra £900m for research into nuclear fusion, space and electric vehicles.
- VAT on digital publications, including newspapers, books and academic journals to be scrapped from December
- The previously proposed reduction in the corporation tax rate to 17% effective from April 2020 will not go ahead. The corporation tax rate will remain at 19% for the financial years beginning 1 April 2020 and 1 April 2021.
- The rate of capital allowances, Structures and Buildings Allowance will increase from 2% to 3% with effect from April 2020.
- An increase in the Employment Allowance from £3,000 to £4,000 from 6 April 2020, providing increased relief for businesses on their employer secondary Class 1 NIC liabilities.
- A proposed, lifting of the restriction for pre-Finance Act 2002 intangible assets from being brought within the intangible fixed asset regime for acquisitions after 1 July 2020. This will allow companies to claim relief for older intellectual property rights.
- The benefit charge for vans and the fuel benefit charge for cars and vans will be increased but only in line with the Consumer Price Index from 6 April 2020.
- As part of the package to combat COVID-19, the Chancellor announced a temporary measure, promising a refund to companies with fewer than 250 employees on their costs of providing statutory sick pay (SSP) for the first 14 days of an employee’s sick leave. Self-employed workers who are not eligible for SSP will be able to claim a ‘new style’ Employment Support Allowance.
Environment
- Plastic packaging tax to come into force from April 2022
- Manufacturers and importers whose products have less than 30% recyclable material will be charged £200 per tonne
- Subsidies for fuel used in off-road vehicles – known as red diesel – will be scrapped “for most sectors” in two years’ time
- Red diesel subsidies will remain for farmers and rail operators
- £120m in emergency relief for communities affected by this winter’s flooding and £200m for flood resilience
- Total investment in flood defences to be doubled to £5.2bn over next five years
Transport, travel and housing
- More than £600bn is set to be spent on roads, rail, broadband and housing by the middle of 2025
- £2.5bn will be made available to fix potholes and resurface roads over five years
- Stamp duty surcharge for foreign buyers of UK properties to be levied at 2% from April 2021
- £1bn fund to remove all unsafe combustible cladding from all public and private housing higher than 18 metres
Duties
- Fuel duty to be frozen for the 10th consecutive year
- Duties on spirits, beer, cider and wine to be frozen
- Business rate discounts for pubs to rise from £1,000 to £5,000 this year
