Plans to make businesses and self-employed people file multiple tax returns each year have been shelved by the Government and were therefore absent from the Finance Act, which received Royal Assent on 27 April 2017.
These plans will be delayed by at least a year and may be scrapped altogether. People who are self-employed with a turnover of more than £85,000 per year were due to be hit worst by the changes which would require filing at least 5 tax returns a year compared to once a year currently.Other provisions dropped include the tax-free allowance on trading income for self-employed people who earn £1,000 or less and the reduction in the tax-free dividend allowance.The Government's "pragmatic" approach has been welcomed by the Chartered Institute of Taxation, which had warned about the risks of rushing numerous tax changes through without proper parliamentary scrutiny. However, the institute also predicts that many of the provisions will return after the general election.Read more about the changes to the Finance Bill here
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