General

HMRC’s free tax app is available to download from the App Store for iOS and from the Google Play Store for Android. The latest version of the app includes some updated functionality to update your name, save your National Insurance number to your digital wallet and to obtain help from HMRC's digital assistant.

The APP can be used to see:

• your tax code and National Insurance number
• your income and benefits
• your income from work in the previous 5 years
• how much you will receive in tax credits and when they will be paid
• your Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR) self-assessment
• how much self-assessment tax you owe
• your Child Benefit
• your State Pension

The app can also be used to complete a number of tasks that usually require the user to be logged on to a computer. This includes:

• get an estimate of the tax you need to pay;
• make a self-assessment payment;
• set a reminder to make a self-assessment payment;
• report tax credits changes and complete your renewal;
• access your Help to Save account;
• using HMRC’s tax calculator to work out your take home pay after Income Tax and National Insurance deductions;
• track forms and letters you have sent to HMRC;
• claim a refund if you have paid too much tax;
• update your name and / or postal address;
• save your National Insurance number to your digital wallet; and
• choose to be contacted by HMRC electronically, instead of by letter.

Homes and businesses will be able to install rooftop solar panels more easily, under new rules that were recently announced.

Changes to permitted development rights rules will mean more homeowners and businesses will be able to install solar panels on their roofs without going through the planning system. 

Currently those who have to go through the planning system are having to wait over eight weeks and face extra costs.  

The move will encourage more people to install solar panels on their properties, slashing their energy bills in the process and cutting down on harmful emissions.

Energy Security and Net Zero Minister Graham Stuart MP said:

“… we are cutting through red tape to make it easier for businesses to install solar panels on their rooftops.

Removing the 1MW restriction for industrial rooftop solar will help us meet our target of 70GW of solar power by 2035 while supporting hundreds of long-term skilled British jobs, bolstering our world-leading renewables sector and reducing bills for consumers with panels.”

The changes will mean homes with flat roofs will be able to install panels without planning permission, bringing rules in line with those for businesses. 

Current rules that require businesses to apply for planning permission if solar panels will generate more than one megawatt of electricity will also be scrapped, meaning organisations will be able to install more solar panels on rooftops without the delay and cost of applying for planning permission.

The Government is clear that where possible already developed land should be used for solar panels, which is why the changes will make it easier for panels to be installed in canopies above car parks, if they are over ten meters away from people’s homes.  

These measures also support ambitions set out in the British Energy Security Strategy published by government last year – taking the necessary steps to combat climate change and bring greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050.

If you are concerned that an organisation is holding personal information you have a legal right to ask for a copy of the information that they hold about you.

If it is a public organisation, write to their Data Protection Officer (DPO). Their details should be on the organisation’s privacy notice.

If the organisation has no DPO, or you do not know who to write to, address your letter to the company secretary.

How long it should take

The organisation must give you a copy of the data they hold about you as soon as possible, and within one month at most.

In certain circumstances, for example particularly complex or multiple requests, the organisation can take a further two months to provide data. In this case, they must tell you:

• within one month of your request; and
• why there’s a delay.

When information can be withheld

There are some situations when organisations are allowed to withhold information, for example if the information is about:

• the prevention, detection or investigation of a crime;
• national security or the armed forces;
• the assessment or collection of tax; or
• judicial or ministerial appointments.

An organisation does not have to say why they are withholding information.

How much it costs

Requests for information are usually free. However, organisations can charge an administrative cost in some circumstances, for example if:

• you are asking for a large amount of information; or
• your request will take a lot of time and effort to process.

The government published the Autumn Finance Bill 2023 on 29 November 2023. The Bill is officially known as Finance Bill 2023-24. The Bill contains the legislation for many of the tax measures announced in the recent Autumn Statement.

The Autumn Finance Bill will likely be followed by the main Spring Finance Bill 2024 which will be published after the Spring Budget and will cover any remaining tax measures needed ahead of April 2024.

Some of the many measures included within the Bill are:

• Making full expensing permanent for expenditure on plant & machinery.
• Extending the sunset clause for the Enterprise Investment Scheme and the Venture Capital Trust scheme to 6 April 2035. 
• Reforming the film, TV and video games tax reliefs to refundable expenditure credits.
• Expanding the ‘cash basis’ – a simplified way for over four million smaller, growing traders to use a simpler method of calculating their profits and pay their income tax.
• Legislating for more generous support for loss-making R&D intensive SMEs as announced in the spring.
• Setting the rates of excise duty and certain environmental taxes.

The Bill received its first reading in Parliament on Monday 27 November 2023. It will now follow the normal passage through Parliament.

A separate Bill called the National Insurance Contributions (Reduction in Rates) Bill, was published on 23 November 2023 and will enact the NIC changes for employees and the self-employed as announced in the Autumn Statement. 

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt, has delivered his Autumn Statement to the House of Commons. The government continues to be faced with challenging economic conditions as the cost of living crisis continues to affect many families across the UK.

The Chancellor, however, had some good news with inflation falling to 4.6% in October, down from a peak of over 11% last year. This together with the prospect of an upcoming general election suggested that there may have been more giveaways than in a usual Autumn Statement and this seems to have been borne out.

The OBR also provided good news and forecast inflation to continue to fall gradually. CPI inflation is expected to be 4.8% in Q4 2023 and fall further to 2.8% in Q4 2024. The OBR expects CPI inflation to average 1.8% over 2025 before returning to the 2% target in the medium term.

The following summary of the measures announced by the Chancellor as part of the Autumn Statement measures is split into two sections:

1. Taxation changes
2. Other announcements

Please call if you need to discuss how these changes may affect your business or tax affairs in the coming months.

National Insurance

The Chancellor announced a number of changes to the National Insurance contributions (NICs) rates.

His first announcement concerned the removal of Class 2 NICs for the self-employed. This means that self-employed people with profits above £12,570 will no longer be required to pay Class 2 NICs from 6 April 2024. Class 2 NICs are currently paid by the self-employed who make profits above £12,570, in order to qualify for benefits such as the state pension. This change effectively abolishes Class 2 NICs for some two million self-employed people. The self-employed benefitting from this change will continue to receive access to contributory benefits including the State Pension. Those currently paying Class 2 NICs voluntarily will still be able to do so at the same rate.

In addition, the Chancellor announced that the main rate of self-employed National Insurance, Class 4 NICs, on all earnings between £12,570 and £50,270 will be cut by 1%, from 9% to 8% from April 2024.

The Chancellor saved his largest giveaway of the Autumn Statement for the end of his speech with the announcement of a reduction in the main rate of Employee National Insurance. This will see Class 1 NICs reduced by 2% from 12% to 10%. Unusually, this measure will come into effect before the start of the next tax year, effectively, from 6 January 2024. Perhaps this can be seen as a not-so-subtle hint of an earlier than expected general election? The Chancellor said this change will save the average worker some £450 a year.

Business Tax – Full expensing

The major announcement in the Autumn Statement affecting business investment related to ‘full expensing’. Full expensing was introduced at Spring Budget 2023 and offers companies the ability to write off the purchase of qualifying plant and machinery. The relief was initially introduced for a 3-year period from 1 April 2023 until 31 March 2026. In the Autumn Statement, the Chancellor announced that the government will now make full expensing permanent. According to the Chancellor, this means that the UK will now have one of the most generous capital allowances regimes in the world.

Full expensing is available on expenditure that includes, but is not limited to, warehousing equipment such as forklift trucks, tools such as ladders and drills, construction equipment such as bulldozers and excavators, machines such as computers and printers, vehicles such as tractors, lorries and vans, office equipment such as chairs and desks, and some fixtures such as kitchen and bathroom fittings and fire alarm systems. This effectively allows qualifying purchases to be written off completely against company taxable profits in the year when purchased.

Business Tax – R&D

The existing R&D Expenditure Credit and Small and Medium Enterprise Scheme will be merged from April 2024, simplifying the system and boosting innovation in the UK.

The rate at which loss-making companies are taxed within the merged scheme will be reduced from 25% to 19%, and the threshold for additional support for R&D intensive loss-making SMEs will be lowered to 30%, benefiting a further 5,000 SMEs.

Other announcements

National Living Wage increases

Promoted as the “Biggest ever increase to the National Living Wage (NLW)” the Chancellor confirmed the following changes that will apply from 1 April 2024. For the first time, eligibility for the NLW will be extended to 21 year olds. The increase will see the NLW rate increased to £11.44 per hour.

The National Minimum Wage (NMW) rates are also to be increased from the same date, 1 April 2024.

The new rates will be:

• 18 to 20 year-old rate will be £8.60 per hour
• 16 to 17 year-old rate will be £6.40 per hour
• The apprentice rate will also be £6.40 per hour

It is interesting to reflect that the impact of these increases will fall on employers, not the government.

Back to Work

The government is expanding its programme of employment support for the long-term unemployed for two years from 2024 across England and Wales.

Mandatory work placements will boost skills and employability for those who have not found a job after 18 months of intensive support. Those who choose not to engage with the work search process for six months will have their claims closed and benefits stopped.

Making Tax Digital

It was announced during the Autumn Statement that the government will introduce a package of changes to simplify the design of Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax Self-Assessment (ITSA). This will benefit 1.7 million businesses and landlords set to be mandated to use MTD.

It was announced late last year that the introduction of MTD had been delayed until April 2026. From that date, those with annual income over £50,000 will be mandated to join the scheme, followed by those with income over £30,000 from April 2027. The government has said they will keep under review the decision on whether MTD for ITSA will be extended to businesses and landlords with income below £30,000.

Business Rates

The Chancellor announced a business rates support package worth £4.3 billion over the next 5 years. This included a rollover of 75% Retail, Hospitality and Leisure relief for 230,000 properties and a freeze to the small business multiplier, which will protect around 90% of ratepayers for a fourth consecutive year.

Investment Zones

The Investment Zones programme and freeport tax reliefs will be extended from 5 years to 10 years. This will double the envelope of funding and tax reliefs available in each Investment Zone from £80 million to £160 million, to provide greater certainty to investors.

The Chancellor also announced that three advanced manufacturing Investment Zones will be established in Greater Manchester, East Midlands, and West Midlands.

Alcohol duty

As part of the Autumn Statement measures the Chancellor announced, to a big cheer, that the duty rates on beer, cider, wine and spirits will be frozen at the current rates until 1 August 2024.

Tobacco duty

The duty rates on tobacco products were increased by 2% above the rate of inflation (based on RPI) effective from 6pm on 22 November 2023. The Chancellor also announced that the duty for hand-rolling tobacco increased by RPI plus 12% at the same time. The government remains committed to maintaining high tobacco duty rates as a tool to reduce smoking.

Benefits Uprating

Benefit payments will rise by September Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation – 6.7% rather than what many had predicted which could have seen the Chancellor using the lower 4.6% October rate.

This means the government will raise benefits, including Universal Credit and other working age benefits by 6.7% from April 2024. 

The new full State Pension will increase by 8.5%, in line with average earnings growth, from £203.85 per week in 2023-24 to £221.20 per week in 2024-25.  The basic State Pension and Pension Credit standard minimum guarantee will also increase by the same percentage.

Local Housing Allowance

To support low income households, the government will increase the Local Housing Allowance rate to cover the lowest 30% of rents from April 2024. This will benefit 1.6 million households with an average gain of £800 next year.

UK motorists will be protected at the pumps under tough new powers that will shine a light on any attempt from retailers to unfairly hike up fuel prices.

Under new amendments tabled on 15 November 2023, to the Digital Markets, Competition & Consumers Bill, the CMA will become the body responsible for closely monitoring road fuel prices and reporting any sign of malpractice to the government. The move aims to help improve competition in the market, making sure customers across the country are given a fair choice of prices when they buy fuel.

Fuel retailers, including supermarkets, will be forced to come clean on how much they are charging customers on their forecourts versus their profits. Those that fail to comply could face a fixed fine from the watchdog of up to 1% of their worldwide turnover, or an ongoing fine of up to 5% of daily turnover.

The Energy Security Secretary has cautioned retailers that she will not hesitate to hold them to account, if there is any evidence of unfairly hiking up prices and holding back savings from UK motorists.

The warning follows a report from the CMA earlier this year that revealed some supermarkets had failed to pass on savings in oil prices – charging drivers 6p more per litre for fuel, which amounted to £900 million in extra costs in 2022 alone. It forms the latest step in the government’s drive to halve inflation and reduce costs for families across the country.

You may have been entitled to a Cost of Living Payments of £301 (paid April/May 2023) and should be about to receive £300 (payable early November 2023) and a further £299 due spring 2024. Payments are limited to persons claiming the following benefits.

• income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA)
• income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
• Income Support
• Pension Credit
• Universal Credit
• Child Tax Credit
• Working Tax Credit

The payments will be made separately from your benefit payments.

You will not get a payment if you are only receiving New Style ESA, contributory ESA, or New Style JSA.

If you have a joint claim on the qualifying dates, a single payment of £301, £300 and £299 will be sent using the same payment method used between these dates if you are eligible.

If you are getting both Child Tax Credit and Working Tax Credit, you will receive a Cost of Living Payment for Child Tax Credit only, which will be paid by HMRC.

If you are getting tax credits from HMRC and a low income benefit from the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), you cannot receive a Cost of Living Payment from both HMRC and DWP. You will usually be paid by DWP.

Your payment might come later, for example if you’re awarded a qualifying benefit at a later date or you change the account your benefit or tax credits are paid into. You will still be paid the Cost of Living Payment automatically.

If you have received a Cost of Living Payment, but later it is found that you were not eligible for it, you may have to pay it back.

One of the many ways that payments can be made to HMRC is by using a direct debit. The direct debit can be set up online.

You can pay your tax bill using direct debit if you have an online account with HMRC for:

• Self-assessment
• Employers’ PAYE and National Insurance
• Construction Industry Scheme (CIS) deductions
• VAT
• Corporation Tax
• Machine Games Duty
• Soft Drinks Industry Levy

You can also make miscellaneous payments (if your payment reference begins with ‘X’) if you have an online account with HMRC for one of these taxes.

In addition, you must be the authorised signatory on the account you want to make payments from, and it must be a UK bank account.

When making a payment for Self-Assessment you should use your 11-character payment reference. This is your 10-digit Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR) followed by the letter ‘K’.

It is also possible to pay HMRC by other methods including bank transfer, cheques, corporate credit cards, corporate debit cards and personal debit cards. The use of corporate cards is subject to a fee. Payment by personal debit cards is currently fee-free. There is also no charge for payment by direct debit, bank transfer or cheque. HMRC has not accepted personal credit cards since January 2018 when credit card surcharges on personal credit cards were banned.

Humza Yousaf, Scotland's First Minister, has announced that council tax rates will be frozen in the next financial year to support people struggling with the effects of high inflation. 

First Minister Humza Yousaf said that the:

“Announcement will bring much needed financial relief to those households who are struggling in the face of rising prices. Council tax is already lower in Scotland than elsewhere in the UK, and some 2.5 million households will now benefit from this freeze.

Of course, the public sector across the UK is facing budget pressures as a result of UK Government austerity, and we know councils are facing financial challenges themselves. That’s why the Scottish Government will be fully funding this freeze to ensure they can continue providing the services on which we all rely. This is on top of the real-terms increase to local government revenue funding this financial year.

The Scottish Government remains wholly committed to the Verity House Agreement, and as part of that are continuing work with COSLA on a new fiscal framework for local authorities. We are also working on longer term reforms to the council tax system, which are being considered by the working group on local government funding that we are chairing jointly with COSLA.”

The council tax freeze will be fully funded by the Scottish government and will mean that council tax rates in Scotland will remain the same in the 2024-25 council tax year. This means that households will not see any increase in council tax rates until April 2025 at the earliest.

HMRC’s free tax app is available to download from the App Store for iOS and from the Google Play Store for Android. The latest version of the app includes updated functionality to check your Child Benefit and State Pension, set a reminder to make a Self-Assessment payment and the option to be contacted by HMRC electronically instead of by paper.

The APP can be used to see:

• your tax code and National Insurance number;
• your income and benefits;
• your income from work in the previous 5 years;
• how much you will receive in tax credits and when they will be paid;
• your Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR) self-assessment;
• how much Self-Assessment tax you owe;
• your Child Benefit; and
• your State Pension.

The app can also be used to complete a number of tasks that usually require the user to be logged on to a computer. This includes to:

• get an estimate of the tax you need to pay;
• make a Self-Assessment payment;
• set a reminder to make a Self-Assessment payment;
• report tax credits changes and complete your renewal;
• access your Help to Save account;
• use our tax calculator to work out your take home pay after Income Tax and National Insurance deductions;
• track forms and letters you have sent to us;
• claim a refund if you have paid too much tax;
• update your postal address; and
• choose to be contacted by HMRC electronically, instead of by letter.