The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt, delivered the Spring Budget today.
The principal measures are set out in our full briefing which can be found here.
Against a backdrop of elusive economic growth and high public debt, leaving little room to manoeuvre, the Chancellor delivered a Budget with relatively few surprises.
For businesses, general measures included the potential extension of full expensing to leased assets, the extension of Freeport tax reliefs and an increase in the VAT registration threshold, but there were no announcements to rival last year's Autumn Statement, when full expensing was made permanent.
Rather, with a general election looming, the focus was on personal taxation. The big giveaway was the heavily trailed 2% cut to National Insurance contributions, for both employees and the self-employed. To help pay for this reduction, the Chancellor made what was probably his most noteworthy announcement – abolition of the longstanding 'non-dom' tax regime. The rules, allowing UK-resident non-domiciled individuals to pay tax on foreign income and gains only when they are remitted to the UK, were seen by many (including the Labour party) as ripe for reform, and abolishing them aligned with the Chancellor's aim of asking "those with the broadest shoulders to pay a bit more". The replacement residence-based rules will be introduced from April 2025, and we await further details in advance of implementation.
Other notable announcements included a one year extension of the end date of the Energy Profits Levy for oil and gas companies, confirmation of the Reserved Investor Fund proposal, a number of reforms to the taxation of residential property, including abolition of Multiple Dwellings Relief and Furnished Holiday Lettings Relief, and a reduction in the higher rate of Capital Gains Tax on residential property disposals.
Further information and details of several of today's announcements will be made available with publication of Spring Finance Bill 2024 (expected shortly after its First Reading in Parliament on 13 March 2024). The Government also notes that a set of 'tax administration and maintenance announcements' will be made later in the Spring on 18 April 2024.
A link to the Government's Spring Budget 2024 website and full Government documentation can be found here.
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