Very little about tax in today’s Spring Statement. Much of the Statement focused on targets already set being met amid global uncertainties, including maintaining ‘fiscal headroom’.
The main tax news for self-employed taxpayers is administrative. The Making Tax Digital changes, delayed many times, are moving forward starting in April 2026, and bringing in more taxpayers. By April 2028 on the current schedule, everyone self employed (or letting a rental property) with income over £20,000 per year will need to make five submissions per year to HMRC. The extra time and software needed (HMRC is not at this time offering a free online tool for submission as it currently does) is bound to come at a cost, which will hit smaller businesses disproportionately. One of the difficulties for tax advisers is that many of the software processes are not yet clear, and many of the promised software products not yet available.
There was already a commitment not to raise taxes further. The rise in employer National Insurance, included in the Autumn Budget, takes effect this April.
Plans for swingeing cuts to Civil Service spending were announced in recent weeks, as well as further and faster cuts in subsidies previously available to farmers. Coming out of today’s Statement, although Universal Credit will rise, various welfare reductions will run alongside measures to get more people into work. Personal Independence Payments will also be reviewed. With rising inflation and costs of living, it remains to be seen whether cuts, rather than support, will provide the incentive envisaged.