Finance Bill – yet more delays and uncertainty

The Government has announced that it intends to reintroduce the provisions withdrawn from the pre-election Finance Bill in a new Bill as soon as possible after the summer recess.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 Bills would be included over the next two-year parliamentary session. The first of these would reintroduce the measures previously dropped when the General Election was called, with the second and third bills coinciding with the move to annual autumn Budgets.

In terms of reintroducing the measures dropped before the Election, we expect that most provisions will be unchanged. However, revised draft legislation has been published covering corporate interest restrictions, corporation tax loss relief reform, amendments to the anti-hybrid rules, the “non-dom” reform, inheritance tax on UK residential property and tackling avoidance on disguised remuneration. The measures will apply from the dates previously announced.

So, there is yet more uncertainty for taxpayers, and this surely cannot be good for business or the economy.

Separately, the Government has also announced a relaxation of its making tax digital (MTD) approach, with provisions due to be included in the Bill to this effect. Most commentators always thought that the Government’s timetable for MTD was ambitious, and, apart from VAT, it may be some years before we see a full MTD system.