No major tax announcements in UK Government Spring Statement.
As was widely anticipated, the Chancellor announced no tax increases and no major tax changes in today’s Spring Statement.
Her announcements were focused on spending changes with a view to growing the economy and improving productivity.
From a tax perspective, her focus was on closing the “tax gap”, the difference in the amount taxpayers should be paying and what HMRC actually collects. The gap derives from tax evasion and the late or non-payment of tax due.
The Government will provide extra funding to HMRC to invest in more compliance staff to collect tax and better use of technology to streamline the tax payment and collection system. They confirmed they are pushing ahead with the already announced plans to use Making Tax Digital (MTD) for sole traders and landlords and announced that there will be increased late payment penalties for those taxpayers once they are in the MTD regime.
HMRC will also be increasing its counter-fraud capabilities and introducing a new and improved rewards scheme for whistleblowers.
There were no changes to any tax rates or allowances, including no change to the limit on how much can be contributed to cash ISAs. However, in the Autumn Budget last October, the Chancellor did make many announcements which come only into force on 5 April 2025 and no changes to those measures were announced today.
If you have any queries on the Spring Statement, last Autumn’s Budget or any other matters, please do get in touch.
