Tax Matters podcast: How will the UK Autumn Statement 2022 affect your business?

The UK Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has delivered the much anticipated Autumn Statement 2022 following a period of political and economic instability in the UK.

The Autumn Statement 2022 comes at a difficult time for the UK economy with inflation at its highest rate for decades and a significantly increased budget deficit forecast. In view of this, the Chancellor has made clear that both spending cuts and increased tax revenues are required to reduce the “fiscal black hole”.

In our latest podcast, London Tax partners Paul Davison and Jill Gatehouse and London Tax senior associate Josh Critchlow discuss the business tax measures they found the most noteworthy in the Autumn Statement 2022, including: 

• Changes to the Energy Profits Levy – the windfall tax on oil and gas companies enacted in Summer 2022;
• The introduction of a new Electricity Generator Levy – a temporary 45% tax to be levied on extraordinary returns from low-carbon UK electricity generation;
• Confirmation that the UK will introduce the OECD Pillar 2 proposals, including further detail on the structure of these rules and when the rules will take effect;
• Reforms to rebalance R&D tax reliefs – involving proposals to increase the rate of the Research and Development Expenditure Credit and decrease the SME additional deduction and credit rate;
• Confirmation that both the reduction in the bank corporation tax surcharge rate to 3% and the increase in the diverted profits tax rate to 31% will go ahead as planned in April 2023;
• The new share-for-share exchange anti-avoidance measure that has immediate effect; and
• Reflections on tax measures that were not introduced.