Autumn Budget 2021 Highlights

As organisations and media outlets start to react to the Chancellor’s Autumn Budget announced earlier today, we highlight some of the key points we feel are most significant to our clients.

• there will be a 50% discount on business rates for the 2022/23 tax year, at up to £110,000, for the retail, hospitality, and leisure sectors
• next year’s planned increase in business rates multiplier has been cancelled, after rates were frozen for the 2021/22 year
• there will be a new Business Rates Improvement Relief – no increase to business rates for twelve months when making improvements to business properties
• new proposals are set to change the way businesses are taxed on their profits. Transitioning from an accounts year basis to a tax year basis, from the 2023/24 tax year
• the Annual Investment Allowance of £1,000,000 has been extended again to March 2023. This was originally due to be reduced to £200,000 from 1 January 2022
• from next year, the National Living Wage is set to rise from £8.91 to £9.50 per hour, along with a rise to public sector wages
• there will be an increase to the basic/higher/additional dividend tax rate of 1.25% from 6 April 2022
• the current 30 days period to make CGT payments on property disposals will be extended to 60 days. This will affect disposals that complete on or after 27 October 2021

This budget was promoted as one that would prepare the country for post-Covid recovery and an ‘age of optimism’.  We will see whether this air of confidence still rings true, as we dig further into the details of Rishi Sunak’s full statement.  We will expand on the above highlights, along with other aspects of the announcement in our full Autumn Budget 2021 summary.  This will be available from tomorrow.