Posted: 26 / 10 / 2018

The Autumn budget is upon us, and other than the controversy of the day changing from a Wednesday to the Monday, the jury is out on what we are to expect from the annual announcement.

Sedulo Tax Partner, David Evans, predicted some potential outcomes for the 29th October:

New tax for digital services

The Chancellor mentioned that he is considering a new digital services tax during his speech at the Conservative Party conference.This will be aimed at the likes of Google and Facebook in an effort to take some tax from the value generated by UK users looking at adverts.

Likelihood of being announced: 5/10

Capital Gains Tax exemption for landlords

This has received a lot of coverage in the press over the last couple of weeks. We understand that the Chancellor is considering a Capital Gains Tax relief for private landlords who sell residential property to their tenants. The driver for this is to further incentivise landlords to release housing stock so that first-time buyers can get onto the housing ladder.

Likelihood of being announced: 5/10

Removal of dividend allowance

The last couple of years have seen a major change in the way dividends are taxed. We currently have a dividend allowance where the first £2,000 of dividends received are tax-free. Will the Chancellor remove this allowance?

Likelihood of being announced: 2/10

Reduce tax relief on pensions

Every year we expect the Chancellor to make a change to the tax relief given on pensions.
This could be done in a number of ways, such as reducing the annual allowance, reducing the lifetime allowance or removing tax relief for higher rate taxpayers.

Likelihood of being announced: 3/10

Off-payroll working in the private sector

A Government consultation has recently ended which sought comments on how the recent changes to off-payroll working in the public sector can be applied to the private sector. The Government are looking at ways to police workers who are engaged through their own personal companies instead of being employed by the end client.

Likelihood of being announced: 5/10