The Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, delivered his Autumn Statement this afternoon, promising 110 measures to promote growth.
The tax changes include:
- National Insurance – Employees
- Class 1 main employee rate to be reduced by 2% to 10% from 6 January 2024
- National Insurance – Self-employed:
- Class 2 National Insurance to be abolished. Entitlements, including to State Pension, will be maintained
- Class 4 National Insurance to be reduced by 1% to 8%
- Capital Allowances: full expensing relief to be made permanent
- Minimum Wage: the National Living Wage will increase to £11.44 per hour, from April 2024. The main rate will apply to everyone 21 and over, rather than 23 and over.
- Alcohol Duty: frozen until 1 August 2024
- State Pension: increase by 8.5% from April 2024, implementing the triple lock in full
- R&D Tax Relief:
- the existing R&D Expenditure Credit and SME Schemes to be combined
- tax rate within merged R&D scheme for loss-making entities to be reduced from 25% to 19%, and the threshold for the additional support for R&D intensive loss-making SMEs to be reduced to 30%
- Tax relief for visual effects expenditure: to be introduced from April 2025
- Business Rates:
- the 75% business rates relief for retail, hospitality and leisure will be extended until 2025
- small business multiplier to be frozen until 2025
Further details will follow in our full summary. Please contact Katharine Arthur or Mark Pattenden if you have any queries.
