Chancellor Jeremy Hunt will deliver his Autumn Statement on Wednesday, November 22.
The Chancellor has warned that tax cuts are “virtually impossible” despite the Government borrowing less-than-expected this year.
He has said the country faces “difficult decisions” – blaming record interest payments on the national debt and the poor state of the public finances.
It is likely he will turn to some tried and tested areas in the Autumn Statement to demonstrate that the Government is taking action to boost growth.
This will include providing updates on planned reforms, cutting red tape to help businesses, tackling anti-avoidance and seeking to boost UK investment without spending too much Government money.
Experts at accountancy and business advisory firm BDO, have given their predicitons on what to expect ahead of the Autumn Statement.
Updates on planned reforms
There are a number of reform projects already underway where progress updates and final decisions can be expected.
R&D tax relief – Last year the Government announced that it planned to merge the UK’s two R&D tax relief schemes (SME and RDEC) into a single scheme to simplify the rules and cut down on the cost of the SME scheme from April 2024. Draft legislation was published in July but HMRC and the Treasury have been consulting on changes to the proposals to simplify them for companies at both ends of the spectrum and to make the UK regime more competitive internationally.
Given the recent changes we have seen to the R&D regime, we would like to see a delay in the implementation of the new scheme to give businesses time to make the transition without too much disruption.
Inheritance Tax – There has been much press speculation and many calls for the reform or removal of inheritance tax.
While removing it would be a tax cut that cannot be funded right now, it is just possible that the chancellor may open a consultation on reform, to lay the ground for a future announcement at the Spring Budget or as a General Election manifesto pledge.
Boosting investment
Maintaining high levels of business investment is central to boosting growth.
Help to Save – It is rumoured that the chancellor wants to use taxpayer’s savings to boost investment in UK companies. Following Brexit, reforms to the ISA rules that favour investment exclusively in UK listed companies are now possible, although achieving this without increasing the complexity of the widely understood ISA rules may be challenging. We would expect the Government to consult on reform proposals and announce its response to the ongoing consultation on reforms to the ‘Help to Save’ rules.
Housing market – Boosting the housing market is a well-established tactic for getting the economy moving so the chancellor may just use any spare funding he can find to cut SDLT rates for first time buyers – it would be a popular move but cost relatively little in revenue terms.
Pension fund investment – Similarly, we would expect a progress update on the Government’s proposals to liberalise pension fund investment. It is expected that the chancellor will announce that a new fund will be launched by the British Business Bank to allow pension funds to invest securely in smaller high-growth businesses.
Jonathan Hickman, a tax partner at BDO said: “We recognise the bind that the chancellor is in. While taxes are at historically high levels, the state of the public finances gives him very little room for manoeuvre.
“However, there are improvements that he could make to the tax system now which do not cost huge sums and that would make life much easier, particularly for the entrepreneurial, mid-market businesses that play such an important role in powering the UK economy.’
