MEMBERSHIP INSIGHT
Autumn Budget 2017
CIPP’s policy team outline the key announcements
A rmed with the prime minister’s cough sweets, the chancellor of the exchequer, Phillip Hammond (see image), delivered the 2017 Autumn Budget on 22 November, taking just over an hour to do so. A ‘balanced approach’ Budget was assured with some fiscal loosening that aimed to get Britain “firing on all cylinders” and “fit for the future”. We were also promised a future full of change (the payroll profession is certainly used to that), new challenges and, above all, new opportunities. There weren’t really any surprises for payroll, save perhaps for the absence of any reforms to pensions tax relief. There are certainly going to be several consultations in 2018 which the policy team will review, report on, and survey members and the wider profession accordingly. Thank you in advance for your input. It is your views, your comments and your experience that give our consultation responses the valuable detail required to help influence policy. Read on for a summary of announcements. Further detail on the Autumn Budget 2017 announcements, the ‘red book’ and all associated documents are available on GOV.UK (goo.gl/z2TZGR). Tax rates and thresholds The tax-free personal allowance will increase in April 2018 to £11,850 and the higher rate threshold will increase to £46,350. Both figures are increasing in line with inflation and continue their progression towards the government’s targets for April 2020 of
● Fuel duty – This will be frozen for an eighth year in 2018–19. The government will review whether the existing fuel duty rates for alternatives to petrol and diesel are appropriate, ahead of decisions at Budget 2018. In the meantime, the government will end the fuel duty escalator for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). The LPG rate will be frozen in 2018–19, alongside the main rate of fuel duty. ● Vehicle excise duty (VED) – From 1 April 2018, VED (car tax) rates for cars, vans and motorcycles registered before April 2017, and the first-year rates for cars registered after April 2017, will increase in line with the retail price index. However, the heavy goods vehicle VED and road user levy rates will be frozen from 1 April 2018. Expenses and benefits in kind ● Electric vehicles – Electricity provided by employers to charge employees’ electric vehicles will not be treated as a benefit in kind from April 2018. ● Taxation of employee business expenses – Following the call for evidence published in March 2017, the government will make several changes to the taxation of employee expenses: m there will be consultation in 2018 on extending the scope of tax relief currently available to employees and the self- employed for work-related training costs m from April 2019, employers will no longer be required to check receipts when reimbursing employees for subsistence when using benchmark scale rates. The
£12,500 and £50,000, respectively. Rules for the marriage allowance (also known as the transferrable tax allowance) will be revised to allow claims to be made following the death of a partner, backdated by up to four years.
...promised a future full of change...
Transport tax ● Company cars, vans and fuel – The cash equivalent where a van is made available to an employee for private use will increase to £3,350 for 2018–19. The value of the multiplier for calculating the cash equivalent of the fuel benefit for a car will increase to £23,400 for 2018–19. The flat rate charge for the van fuel benefit will increase to £633 for 2018–19. As previously announced, the van benefit charge for zero-emission goods vehicles will increase from 20% to 40% of the standard charge from April 2018. The company car tax diesel supplement will increase from 3% to 4% from April 2018. The supplement is used when calculating the taxable benefit of a diesel car that is available for private use and will apply to diesel cars registered on or after 1 January 1998 that are not certified to the real driving emissions 2 standard. The supplement will not apply to diesel hybrids or to vehicles other than cars.
| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward | February 2018 | Issue 37 8
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