Spring Statement 2019 - Boodle Hatfield

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28 Mar 2019

Spring Statement 2019

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There was little mention of tax in Philip Hammond's Spring Statement but the papers released afterwards contained details of forthcoming government tax policies.

Most of these have been announced before.

Papers published on 13 March include:

  • An updated version of “No Safe Havens” and a further report on “Tackling tax avoidance, evasion and other forms of non-compliance.” These largely concentrate on steps the government has already taken and set out general strategies for the future rather than specific suggestions.
  • Structures and Buildings Allowance – Draft legislation, published for comment and to be laid early this summer, on introducing a new, permanent allowance for investments in non-residential structures and buildings.

In the coming months the government will publish:

  • CGT private residence relief: A consultation on changes announced at Budget 2018 to lettings relief and the final period exemption.
  • Offshore receipts in respect of intangible property: Draft regulations to ensure the provisions apply as intended.
  • General Anti-Abuse Rule (GAAR) amendments: A technical note and draft legislation on minor procedural and technical changes.
  • Social Investment Tax Relief: A call for evidence on why this scheme has been used less than anticipated and its impact on social enterprise’s access to finance.
  • Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) approved funds guidelines: outlining HMRC’s proposed policy and practice for approving funds.

The government will also publish summaries of responses to the following documents:

  • Protecting your taxes in insolvency: A consultation launched in February 2019 to make HMRC a secondary preferential creditor for certain tax debts.
  • Corporate Capital Loss Restriction: A consultation on the restriction from 1 April 2020 of the amount of carried-forward capital losses a company can offset to no more than 50% of the chargeable gains arising in a later accounting period.
  • Stamp Taxes on shares consideration rules: A consultation on aligning the consideration rules of Stamp Duty and Stamp Duty Reserve Tax plus a general market value rule for transfers between connected persons.
  • Amendments to tax returns: A call for evidence on simplifying the process of amending a tax return.

Finally, we also await the publication of the Office of Tax Simplification’s second paper on its review of Inheritance Tax and HMRC’s response to the Taxation of Trusts review, which closed in February.