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Autumn statement: Key business tax announcements

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The government has announced that it will:

  • reduce the main rate of corporation tax to 23% by 2014, as already announced;
  • publish on 6 December further details of the Patent Box and reform of the Controlled Foreign Company rules and R&D tax credits;
  • ensure that tax relief given to employers making asset-backed pension contributions to registered pension schemes accurately reflects the amount of payments made;
  • launch a new Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) from April 2012, offering 50% income tax relief on investments and a capital gains tax exemption on gains realised in 2012/13 and then invested through SEIS in the same year – the government will also simplify the Enterprise Investment Scheme by relaxing the connected person rules and the definition of shares that qualify for relief, and remove the £1m investment limit per company for VCTs;
  • introduce an ‘above the line’ tax credit in 2013 to encourage research and development activity by larger companies – the government will consult on the detail at Budget 2012 and ‘will ensure that SME R&D incentives are not reduced as a result of this change’;
  • increase the rate of the Bank Levy to 0.088% from 1 January 2012, to offset a forecast shortfall in receipts for 2011 and future years;
  • defer the 3.02 pence per litre fuel duty increase that was due to take effect on 1 January 2012 to 1 August 2012, and cancel the inflation increase that was planned for 1 August 2012;
  • proceed with the extension of Air Passenger Duty to flights taken aboard business jets from April 2013;
  • extend the current small business rate relief holiday for a further six months from 1 October 2012, and give businesses the opportunity to defer 60% of the increase in their 2012/13 business rate bills;
  • subject to due diligence, expand the existing Enterprise Zone in the North East to include land around the Port of Blyth, and consider an Enterprise Zone in Battersea linked to the redevelopment of the power station;
  • make 100% capital allowances available in the Black Country, Humber, Liverpool, North Eastern, Sheffield, and Tees Valley Enterprise Zones ;
  • approve proposals from the Lancashire and Humber Local Enterprise Partnerships to form Enterprise Zones on and around BAE Systems’ sites;
  • remove the VAT relief for low value goods (below £15) sent to the UK from the Channel Islands with effect from 1 April 2012, as announced earlier this month;
  • introduce a VAT exemption for services shared between VAT exempt bodies, including charities and universities, following consultation;
  • put beyond doubt that manufactured overseas dividends cannot be used to obtain repayment or set off of income tax that the Exchequer does not receive (as announced in September);
  • increase the climate change levy discount on electricity for climate change agreement participants available from 1 April 2013; and
  • provide compensation for indirect carbon price floor costs and indirect EU emissions trading system costs. 
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