Stephen Relf FCA CTA, lead tax writer at Croner-i, takes a look at the key changes announced in Budget 2018, from reform of off-payroll working rules (IR35) in the private sector and business rate cuts to the freeze of the current £85,000 VAT registration threshold until 2022

In a Budget which he described as ‘paving the way for a brighter future’ and with a pledge that ‘austerity is coming to an end’, Chancellor Philip Hammond announced that the government’s commitment to introduce a personal tax allowance of £12,500 and to raise the higher rate threshold to £50,000 would be brought forward by a year, and will now be implemented from April 2019

The freezing of the VAT threshold until 2020 was just one of a number of VAT announcements in Budget 2018 affecting businesses from VAT grouping to pre-payment on unsupplied services, explains Philip Munn, VAT partner at RSM

From April 2019, the government is to introduce a series of measures to reduce cost and administrative burdens on charities in order to ensure that they are ‘able to maintain effective delivery of their charitable aims’

The government is to carry out a number of consultations into current tax and accounting policy, including R&D reliefs and the implementation of IFRS 17 Insurance Contracts, and has yet to determine a direction for the long-standing issue of taxation of trusts

The IR35 off-payroll working rules which have already been introduced for the public sector are to be extended to the private sector the Chancellor has confirmed in the Budget, saying that the move was ‘essential to ensure fairness between individuals working side by side for the same employer’

The Treasury is consulting on a detailed policy proposal for a ‘breathing space’ and a statutory debt repayment plan, concepts which are intended to give people in problem debt the opportunity to take control of their finances and put them on a sustainable footing

A taskforce established by the Treasury, the Bank of England and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has concluded that distributed ledger technology (DLT) has the potential to deliver benefits to financial services and other sectors, but also carries significant risk

The government has amended the interest provisions for late payment, repayment and penalties, bringing PAYE liabilities into the frame in Budget 2018

Following a consultation carried out earlier this year, the government announced in the Budget that it intends to reform the corporate intangibles regime, including taxing property realised in low-tax regimes

The Chancellor has confirmed that the extension of offshore time limits as announced at Autumn Budget 2017 will form part of the legislation in Finance Bill 2018-19, with the new limit to be set to 12 years from next April

The Chancellor’s Budget included a handful of initiatives intended to bolster his statement that ‘the UK is entering a new chapter and the era of austerity is finally coming to an end’, including a special Brexit coin, money for veterans’ charities and funding for community projects

The government will legislate in Finance Bill 2018-19 to increase the rate of remote gaming duty (RGD) to 21% with effect from 1 October 2019

The government is making minor amendments to the residence nil rate band (RNRB) to clarify downsizing rules and provide certainty over when a person is treated as ‘inheriting’ property, with these changes being effective immediately

HMRC has opened a consultation on plans to reform the rules for the relief of corporate capital losses from 1 April 2020, action which was announced in the Autumn Budget 2018

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has begun a major project which aims to challenge existing thinking about corporate reporting and consider how companies should better meet the information needs of shareholders and other stakeholders, as well as alternative ways of delivering that information

There has been a spike in the number of companies entering insolvency in Q3 2018, up by 8.9% compared to the previous quarter and 19.3% higher than in the same quarter of last year, according to official statistics from the Insolvency Service which show a sharp increase in creditors’ voluntary liquidations (CVLs)

Hilary Budd, senior VAT consultant at Croner Taxwise, discusses the criteria for a limited company to be enrolled in Making Tax Digital (MTD) by explaining what is classed as taxable turnover

This article, the ninth in our series on charity accounts, will focus on what types of charities need to have audited accounts as well as covering Practice Note 11, accounting and financial standards and various filing methods. Helena Wilkinson and Iain Storey of Price Bailey explain