Chancellor Jeremy Hunt will present the 2024 Spring Budget today. We will keep you up to date on the key Spring Budget announcements and supply a summary, which will appear on our website.

According to reports, the Chancellor is considering two main cuts: a reduction in national insurance (NI) and an extension to the cut in fuel duty. He is also expected to announce a 'vaping products levy', which would be charged on manufacturers and importers of the liquid in vapes.

The Chancellor said: 'We do want to move to a lower taxed economy, but we're only going to do so in a way that is responsible and recognises that there are things that taxes pay for, that we couldn't cut taxes by borrowing.

'We'll do so in a responsible way. But if we can spend money on public services more efficiently, then that will mean less pressure on taxpayers.'

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak claimed that the UK economy is 'on the right track', despite data recently showing that the UK fell into recession at the end of last year. He commented: 'I'm determined, as Prime Minister, to make sure that the UK is the best place in the world to invest and grow a business.'

However, borrowing costs have risen sharply and Mr Hunt recently admitted that forecasts on what 'headroom' the government has have 'gone against' him.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt could raise revenue on Air Passenger Duty (APD) in the Spring Budget, reports suggest.

Reports have hinted that the Chancellor is considering a range of options that would permit him to make billions of pounds of personal tax cuts. One of these options is to increase APD for business travel, which would mean a rise in business class air fares.

Mr Hunt is also said to be considering a tax on vapes and abolishing the non-dom tax status.

Commenting on the upcoming Budget, Mr Hunt stated: 'It is going to be a prudent and responsible Budget for long-term growth.

'When it comes to tax cuts, I do believe that if you look around the world, countries with lower tax tend to grow faster - North America, Asia - and so I do think in the long run we need to move back to being a lower taxed, more lightly regulated economy.

'It would be deeply unconservative to cut taxes in a way that increased borrowing, wasn't fully funded.'

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is reportedly considering scrapping the non-dom tax status in the upcoming Spring Budget.

According to reports, the Chancellor is exploring a range of options designed to reduce spending or increase the amounts held in government coffers to then be able to afford personal tax cuts.

Research carried out by Warwick University and the London School of Economics (LSE) found that scrapping the non-dom tax status could generate £3.6 billion. According to HMRC statistics, as of 2022 there were 68,800 non-dom taxpayers in the UK.

Reports suggest the Chancellor has not yet committed to removing the non-dom tax status, and is awaiting additional information from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) in regard to the issue.

Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves previously stated that abolishing the non-dom tax break in full would raise at least £3 billion per year. 

HMRC's tough approach to enforcing the IR35 rules is having a 'chilling effect' on legitimate economic activity, warns the Association of Independent Professionals and the Self-Employed (IPSE).

IPSE's warning comes after the tax authority was criticised by in a report by Parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

The report warns that HMRC's customer service levels have reached an 'all-time low'.

It also scrutinised issues around the IR35 rules on off-payroll working.

The PAC says it is concerned that HMRC's 'tough approach to tackling IR35 is deterring legitimate economic activity' and 'unnecessarily putting companies off using contractors'.

IPSE's Director of Policy, Andy Chamberlain, said: 'The PAC is absolutely right to highlight the chilling effect of IR35 on legitimate economic activity.

'HMRC has hounded individuals through the courts for years, often only to be proved wrong. This is making clients extremely reluctant to engage the freelance talent they need to deliver projects.

'If we really want to see a return to growth and engender a culture of economic confidence, we must harness the benefits of our flexible labour market, rather than stifling it with the unworkable off-payroll rules.'

Reports have suggested that Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is considering cutting national insurance in the Spring Budget on Wednesday 6 March.

According to economists, the Chancellor is seeking to make 'smart tax cuts' aimed at boosting the UK economy.

According to the BBC, Mr Hunt is considering slashing national insurance in the Budget on Wednesday, rather than income tax.

During the 2023 Autumn Statement, the Chancellor announced a significant cut in national insurance which saw the main rate reduced from 12% to 10%. The BBC stated that an additional cut to national insurance of just 1% would cost £4.5 billion per year.

However, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has warned that tax cuts should be implemented at a later date. Carl Emmerson, Deputy Director at the IFS, said: 'We don't think we should be implementing certain tax cuts now, essentially that are paid for by uncertain spending cuts that might never be delivered.

'There's lots of problems in our tax system - we need genuine tax reform - and if we want growth-friendly tax cuts we should be looking at stamp duty on purchases of properties and stamp duty on purchases of shares.' 

HMRC has revealed that March is the most popular month for Marriage Allowance applications, with almost 70,000 couples applying in the third month of 2023.

As well as reducing a couple's tax bill for the 2023/24 tax year by up to £252, there is the option to backdate the claim for the previous four tax years. This means eligible couples could receive a lump-sum payment worth more than £1,000.

The Marriage Allowance saves couples money by allowing the lower or non-earner to reduce the amount of tax their partner pays by transferring up to £1,260 of their Personal Allowance to their husband, wife or civil partner.

To benefit from the tax relief, one partner must have income less than the Personal Allowance of £12,570, and the higher earning partner's income must be between £12,571 and £50,270 (£43,662 in Scotland).

People can find out in 30 seconds if they are eligible by using the online Marriage Allowance calculator.

Angela MacDonald, HMRC's Deputy Chief Executive and Second Permanent Secretary, said: 'The Marriage Allowance keeps money in your pocket by reducing the amount of tax you and your spouse pay by up to £252 a year.'

The so-called 'Tourist Tax' is unlikely to be reversed in the Spring Budget, Nigel Huddleston, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, has warned.

Eradicating the tax would allow international visitors to shop in the UK tax-free. However, Mr Huddleston emphasised the complexity associated with removing the tax, and highlighted challenging legislative hurdles involved with abolishing the tourist tax and introducing an alternative.

Huddleston, sad it was 'not possible to introduce the same system as before, given that it would now need to be open to visitors from the EU as well as the rest of the world'. 

He added: 'Any new scheme, no matter the design, would take time to legislate for and implement in order to prevent non-compliance risks and ensure operation.'

Business groups, such as the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), have urged Chancellor Jeremy Hunt to use the Budget to ditch the Tourist Tax.

Shevaun Haviland, Director General of the BCC, recently said: 'It was great to be at Heathrow . . . to hear how a new internationally competitive tax-free shopping scheme would turbocharge Britain's economy, helping retailers and hospitality venues across the country.'

The BCC estimates that the tax costs the British retail sector £1.5 billion per year and adversely affects the UK tourism and hospitality sector.

The government recently named and shamed more than 500 UK employers for underpaying their employees.

524 businesses were named for failing to pay the minimum wage, with offending employers ordered to pay nearly £16 million plus an additional financial penalty to 172,000 workers.

The National Living Wage (NLW) is set to rise to £11.44 an hour from 1 April 2024.

Offending employers include major high street brands, the government said. It stated that anyone entitled to be paid the minimum wage should receive it, and that enforcement action will be taken against employers who do not pay their staff correctly.

Patricia Rice, Independent Commissioner at the Low Pay Commission (LPC), commented: 'Since its introduction nearly twenty-five years ago, the National Minimum Wage (NMW) has played a vital role in protecting the earnings of the lowest-paid workers in the UK. At a time when the cost of living is rising, it is more important than ever that these workers receive the pay to which they are entitled.

'NMW underpayment not only cheats workers of their rightful due, it leaves compliant firms undercut by those who do not abide by the law. By naming the firms responsible for significant underpayment, we raise awareness of the nature and the scale of underpayment and encourage all employers to ensure that they fully comply with the law.' 

HMRC recently published guidance on the Making Tax Digital for Income Tax Self Assessment (MTD for ITSA) requirements for sole traders and landlords.

MTD for ITSA will require businesses and landlords with qualifying income to maintain digital records and update HMRC each quarter via compatible software.

In the guidance, HMRC stated that MTD for ITSA will be introduced in two phases:

• from April 2026 for those with qualifying income over £50,000
• from April 2027 for those with qualifying income over £30,000.

HMRC said that MTD 'exploits the opportunities offered by digitalisation to make it easier for everyone to get tax right'. It said that digitalising government tax services helps to reduce the risk of unintentional customer errors; save taxpayers time when they submit their tax returns; supports wider productivity and less time managing paperwork; and enables HMRC to better tailor its services to its customers.

In its latest guidance, HMRC estimates a transitional cost to business of around £561 million and a net increase in the continuing costs of tax compliance of around £196 million for businesses mandated to use MTD for ITSA.

The guidance can be found here.

Research carried out by the London School of Economics has revealed that less than 3% of adults in the UK paid capital gains tax (CGT) over the last decade to 2020.

The research showed that total capital gains nearly tripled over the last decade, reaching £65 billion by 2019/20.

According to the research, capital gains are 'incredibly concentrated', with three in every seven pounds of gains in the UK going to individuals earning over £150,000. 52.2% of all taxable gains in 2020 went to just 5,000 people, and gains are 'strongly concentrated' in southern England.

Almost 40% of individuals with incomes exceeding £5 million received some gains, the research highlighted.

Commenting on the data, Arun Advani, Associate Professor at the University of Warwick's Economics Department and CAGE Research Centre, said: 'Capital gains are absurdly concentrated, with half the gains in the entire country going to as many people as could fit in the Albert Hall. Less than one in thirty people have any gains at all over the course of a decade.'