The Headlines “The UK will be prepared for every possible Brexit outcome.” “At this Budget we choose a balanced approach.” There was a lot of talk about encouraging innovation and technology but not a lot of real substance or new money/incentives. Investment in 5G and fibre broadband, and Artificial Intelligence. Yes, a few changes to EIS and R&D but is it enough? A lot of…

The Chancellor will deliver the second Budget of 2017 on 22 November. Our view is that it could be one or two things. Either it could be a “steady as you go Budget”, no doubt making a number of small legislative changes, or it could be far more radical and seek to raise taxes overtly rather than covertly. Much of the detailed content is already…

I’m not going to mince my words. I think that tax avoidance is morally wrong. I have no time for it. I do not advise on it – I never have and I never will. Not the view of many tax advisors, I appreciate that. But with such a spotlight on it at the moment, I think I have a duty to be clear to…

Here we go again! And the next one is on…….  Wednesday 22 November at 12.30pm. This is the first of what will become an annual autumn Budget, and replaces the Spring Budget and the former Autumn Statement. It will now become the main announcement of tax and fiscal changes each year. Of course, this year is slightly different. We’ve already had a Budget in March,…

The Government has announced that it intends to reintroduce the provisions withdrawn from the pre-election Finance Bill in a new Bill as soon as possible after the summer recess. Parliament returns on 5 September and we expect to see the new Bill published soon after that. You may recall that as part of the announcements in the Queen’s Speech, it was stated that three Finance…

I write this just after the Prime Minister has announced that she will seek a snap General Election on 8 June. Customarily, I do not comment on political issues, but in this case I believe that it will have such an impact on the economy, the business world, and stability in general that a brief comment is necessary. In my view, the world has far…

The Headlines This Budget could be re-named an attack on the self-employed and SMEs, especially those in traditional manufacturing, construction and service industries! It could have been worse, but we’re struggling to see how. It’s a give with one hand and take away with the other. Larger companies, the employed and those in high-tech industries have got off very lightly. Class 4 NICs (self-employed NICs)…

The Chancellor, Philip Hammond, present his first Budget on 8 March. It is the first of two this year, and the last to be held in the Spring. The Budget then moves to the Autumn, so we’ll have a second Budget this year in October/November. We don’t expect this Budget to be very exciting, for three main reasons. First, there was an Autumn Statement only…