SPRING STATEMENT

Rishi Sunak, has announced a number of measures aimed at boosting the economy in his Spring ‘mini-budget', including an immediate cut to fuel duty, plans to reform and reduce taxes and initiatives to boost investment, innovation, and growth.

• Fuel duty was cut by 5p per litre for 12 months from last night to help drivers across the UK with rising costs.

• Employment Allowance will also increase to £5,000, from April this year, allowing smaller businesses to reduce their employers' National Insurance contributions bills each year. Around 50,000 more SMEs will be taken out of paying NICs and the Health and Social Care Levy by the move.

• The planned 1.25 percentage point increase in national insurance will go ahead in April, but the NIC threshold will be increased by £3,000 to £12,570 from July, bringing it into line with the income tax personal allowance.

• As well as the future R&D reforms planned later this year, from April 2023, companies will be able to claim R&D tax relief on the storage of their vital data and pure maths research which is intended to boost sectors where the UK is a world-leader, including AI, robotics, manufacturing, and design. Draft legislation will be published this summer.

• Once the super-deduction for businesses ends in 2023 there are planned reforms of the UK’s existing capital allowances regime, which the government will consider ahead of April 2023, aimed to encourage business investment once the super-deduction ends to drive forward productivity growth.

Please get in touch at hello@richardsonswift.co.uk for all further advice.