25 business-related legislative policies

Here are our top 25 changes that businesses should note from John Healey’s first budget. Some of those listed may have already been announced but are now confirmed in the Autumn Budget.

1. Fuel Duty: Extend the temporary 5p-per-litre duty cut and defer the planned Retail Prices Index (RPI) increase to 1 July 2027.
2. Mileage Rates: Increase the tax-free and tax-deductible car and van rates to 55p for the first 10,000 business miles from 6 April 2026 and the higher mileage rate to 35p from 6 April 2027.
3. Business Rates: Increase business rates relief for pubs, social clubs and live music venues by 20ppts to 35% from 1 April 2027.
4. Business Rates: Increase valuation thresholds for Small Business Rate Relief for retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) properties from £12,000 to £18,000 for 100% relief and from £15,000 to £21,000 for tapered relief from 1 April 2027.
5. Business Rates: Introduce a transitional support package, including a two-year real terms bills freeze for RHL businesses and a one-year extension of the 2023 Supporting Small Business support, part funded by extending the Transitional Relief Supplement for two years from 1 April 2027.
6. Trading Allowance: Increase the Income Tax Trading Allowance to £3,000 from £1,000 from 6 April 2027.
7. Business Rates Retention: Devolve a share of business rates income and growth to Mayoral Strategic Authorities from April 2027.
8. Business Asset Disposal Relief (BADR): Reduce the lifetime limit to £500,000 from 6 April 2027.
9. Founders’ Relief: Introduce a new CGT relief for qualifying founders of high-growth, innovative companies from 6 April 2027.
10. R&D Tax Reliefs: Remove the Claim Notification Form from 1 April 2027 and simplify the Additional Information Form from Autumn 2027.
11. Enterprise Management Incentives 2 (EMI2): Increase the individual option limit to £120,000, extending the exercise period to 15 years and remove interaction with EMI option limit from 6 April 2027.
12. E-invoicing: HMRC will require VAT invoices to be issued in a specified electronic format from 1 April 2029.
13. Employment expenses: Remove the £2,500 Income Tax Self Assessment expenses threshold from 6 April 2028.
14. VAT and PAYE: Require direct debit arrangements for VAT and PAYE return liabilities from 1 and 6 April 2029 respectively.
15. Debt Management: Enable HMRC to recover lower-value tax debts from the bank accounts of taxpayers who can afford to pay but repeatedly fail to do so from July 2029.
16. Online Marketplace Liability: Extend to UK businesses with a minimum annual sales threshold per platform of £90,000 from 1 October 2027.
17. Distributions: Modernise the distributions framework from 6 April 2028.
18. Advance Corporation Tax (ACT): Abolish Advance Corporation Tax from 1 April 2031.
19. Business Rates: Remove reliefs for vape shops and Adult Gaming Centres from 1 April 2027.
20. Writing-down Allowances: Reduce the main rate writing-down allowance to 12% from April 2027 and increase the main rate First Year Allowance to 50% from 1 January 2027.
21. Property Income: Increase tax rates on property income by 2ppts at the basic, higher and additional rate from 6 April 2027.
22. Heavy Goods Vehicles: Reduce Vehicle Excise Duty to £1 for 12 months from 1 July 2026.
23. Corporation Tax: Make the foreign permanent establishment exemption mandatory, preventing their losses from reducing UK corporation tax receipts for accounting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2027.
24. British Business Bank: Expand the Growth Guarantee Scheme to support £6.5 billion of additional SME lending across this Parliament.
25. Temporary Staffing: Amend Group 7 of Schedule 9 to the VAT Act 1994 to restore the tax treatment of medical deputies to its previously intended position.