Progress on tax related Bills passing through Parliament

Finance Bill

We discussed the content of Finance Bill 2024-25 in the last edition of Tax Matters Digest. The Bill had its second reading in Parliament on 27 November 2024. The next stage is the Committee of the whole House which will take place on 10 and 11 December. The Committee of the whole House will consider just the draft legislation on capital gains tax rates and reliefs, oil and gas, VAT on private school fees and stamp duty land tax (SDLT). The remainder of the Bill will then be scrutinised by the Public Bill Committee - at the time of writing the date of the first meeting had not been set but it has been confirmed the Committee will conclude by 4 February 2025.

National Insurance Contributions (Secondary Class 1 Contributions) Bill

This Bill contains the headline measures announced at the Autumn Budget impacting employers, primarily a 1.2 percentage point increase in employer’s National Insurance Contributions (NIC) from 6 April 2025 – taking the rate to 15 percent – and a significant reduction in the secondary threshold to £5,000 (on an annualised basis). It also increases the annual employment allowance (which currently reduces the employer’s NIC liability of eligible employers by up to £5,000) to £10,500 and removes the qualifying requirement to have a total secondary Class 1 NIC liability of less than £100,000 in the prior year, making this relief in practice available to all eligible employers.

The Bill had its second reading on 3 December 2024. At the time of writing the dates for the Committee stage had not been published.

Non-Domestic Rating (Multipliers and Private Schools) Bill

This Bill contains draft legislation to introduce higher non-domestic rating multipliers for large businesses, lower multipliers for retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) businesses and for the removal of charitable relief from non-domestic rates for private schools in England. The aspects covering Business Rates reform were discussed in the last edition of Tax Matters Digest.

The Bill had its second reading in Parliament on 25 November 2024. The next stage is the Public Bill Committee which is due to conclude by 17 December 2024.

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