HLAS

The government has announced a comprehensive overhaul of the housing planning system, with all councils in England now required to meet new, mandatory housing targets. These targets aim to support the government’s commitment to delivering 1.5 million additional homes. The reforms will simplify the process for granting brownfield development permissions. Councils will also be required to review their green belt land where necessary and identify and prioritize 'grey belt' land. This term is defined as land on the edges of existing settlements or roads, as well as sites like old petrol stations and car parks. Land safeguarded for environmental reasons [...]

The widely reported IT outage in July caused significant global disruption. Although this particular incident was triggered by a bug in a security update rather than a cyber-attack, it highlighted the vulnerability of networks. During the King’s Speech, the government announced plans to introduce a Cyber Security and Resilience Bill. The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has reported that essential services like water, power, and healthcare are increasingly at risk. Both ransomware groups and state-affiliated actors have shown interest in targeting these critical systems. The NCSC has welcomed the proposed Bill, stating that it will help strengthen the UK's critical [...]

Chancellor Rachel Reeves visited the US and Canada last week, and during an interview with Bloomberg was asked whether she was considering increasing capital gains tax. She replied: “We’ve got a budget on October 30 and we will set out our policy then, but it’s always important when you’re deciding tax policy to strike the right balance. Of course, you need to bring in the revenue to fund public services, but we’ve also got to grow the economy. I won’t do anything that makes it harder to achieve that economic growth and prosperity.” The Chancellor has ruled out raising VAT, [...]

For businesses, having a strategic plan is essential for long-term success and sustainability. It acts as a roadmap, providing clear direction, setting priorities, and ensuring that resources are used effectively to achieve your goals. However, there are some potential drawbacks that you should be aware of to avoid common pitfalls. Rigidity A strategic plan can sometimes lead to rigidity, where the business becomes overly focused on the plan and resists adapting to new opportunities or market changes. To avoid this, it’s important to strike a balance between following the plan and remaining flexible. This balance is easier to achieve when [...]

The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) has issued a warning for businesses to beware of unsolicited payment requests. There has been a recent upsurge in these bogus requests being reported. The unsolicited request may ask for payment for trademarks, designs or patent services. Following payment, the ‘services’ may not be provided, or may not have any benefit to the payer. Invoices may also request payment for services at a much-inflated price that are available directly from the IPO at a much lower amount, or even free of charge. The IPO say that the payment request will usually come from an organisation [...]

Draft legislation has now been published for the government’s plan to end the VAT exemption for private school fees. The government is also legislating to remove private schools from being eligible for business rates charitable rates relief. Because business rates policy is devolved, the business rates policy change will only affect private schools in England. VAT policy, however, is reserved and so the VAT changes will affect private schools across the UK. The current situation for VAT Currently, private schools, as regulated education providers, qualify as exempt from VAT. This means no VAT is currently charged on private school fees. [...]

On 29 July 2024, the Chancellor announced that from 1 January 2025, all education services and vocational training provided by a private school, or a connected person, for a fee will be subject to VAT at the standard rate of 20%. Boarding services provided by a private school or a connected person will also be subject to VAT at 20%. Draft legislation issued on 29 July 2024 specifies that fees invoiced or paid on or after 29 July 2024 and before 30 October 2024 will be treated for VAT purposes as a supply taking place on the later of: (a) [...]

The government has issued draft legislation to abolish the special tax treatment of furnished holiday lettings (FHL) effective from 6 April 2025 for individuals (1 April 2025 for corporation tax). This change will remove the tax advantages currently received by FHL landlords in four key areas by: Applying the finance cost restriction rules so that loan interest will be restricted to the basic rate of Income Tax. Removing capital allowances rules for new expenditure and allowing relief when domestic items are replaced. Withdrawing access to reliefs from taxes on chargeable gains for trading business assets. No longer including this income [...]

The State Opening of Parliament took place on 17 July, and the King’s Speech outlined the measures the government intends to introduce in the next parliamentary session. Apart from mentioning the proposal to remove the VAT exemption for private school fees (which we covered in a previous edition of this newsletter), there was little said about measures affecting tax for businesses and individuals. Instead, we must wait for the Labour government’s first budget to learn about their tax plans. The budget is scheduled for 30 October 2024.

Employers may cover the cost of certain social events for staff without creating a tax liability, thanks to a statutory exemption provided certain conditions are met. This used to be a concession but is now enshrined in law. The exemption applies to an "annual party or similar function" as long as it is available to all employees or generally to those at a particular location. During the Covid-19 pandemic, HMRC confirmed that a 'function' could include a virtual party, where employers were unable to host a traditional party with employees physically present. A key condition is that the cost per [...]