Ides of March

HMRC staff scheduled strike action for today. Not the most auspicious backdrop to today’s Budget. Jeremy Hunt has been Chancellor for five months now. It feels longer than five months, maybe because the UK has been getting through its Chancellors quicker than a...

Pushbacks

The change to how tax-return information is provided, Making Tax Digital, has been delayed again. April 2026 is now (for now) the planned start date. The current plan is for quarterly returns via spreadsheets or software from most self-employed taxpayers and...

A Budget by any other name

New Chancellor in the House. Key points for individuals from today’s announcements are: the removal of this July’s national insurance rise. That comes in November, which will be a significant challenge for payroll departments to put in place in only six...

Spring 2022 – not the Budget

The Chancellor has said previously that he prefers a ‘once-a-year’ approach to tax changes. Volatile circumstances have not helped him stick to this resolution. The Spring Statement is not when significant changes are supposed to be rolled out. However the...

Arts Council ACE grants announced as taxable

Very close to this 31 January’s deadline for 2021 income tax returns, HMRC suddenly – and rather casually – indicated that ACE Emergency Fund payments were now to be treated as taxable. ACE grants were specifically confirmed in Parliament back in...