With the recent announcement of an unexpected general election on 8th June, the time available for examining legislations has been cut short.
Due to these time constraints, the Finance Act was somewhat rushed through Parliament and many other original clauses including Making Tax Digital, changes for Non Domiciled individuals and corporate losses did not make it to final legislation.
After the General Election, the clauses are likely to be reinstated, when, hopefully, there will be more time to debate and scrutinise the regulations in greater detail. The clauses that will make it through the Finance Act are contained in the version of the Finance Bill introduced in the House of Lords.
A business reaction to General Election
In response to the announcement of the General Election, businesses across the country will be looking to each party to assess and understand their plans to support economic stability. CBI Director-General Carolyn Fairbairn stated “Distraction from the urgent priorities of seeking the best EU deal and improving UK productivity must be kept to a minimum. Firms will want to hear commitments from all parties to work in close partnership with business and back a new Industrial Strategy to make the UK economy the most competitive in the world”.
Clearly, the unforeseen Election could bring a number of further changes to tax law affecting many business, both small and large. Further comment from Anita Monteith, Tax Manager at ICAEW said “Making Tax Digital plans remain controversial and need more scrutiny by those who will be affected, and most importantly proper parliamentary debate – a clear roadmap as to how MTD will work in practice is needed”.
For more in depth information, please contact one of our tax experts today.
