It is currently anticipated that this Wednesday's Budget will be a 'technical' Budget which will focus more on the detail rather than headline announcements.
However, this could still give the Chancellor the opportunity to raise revenue without increasing headline tax rates. Reviews have recently been undertaken into simplifying Capital Gains Tax (CGT) and Inheritance Tax (IHT) and there has been some speculation that these reviews might result in the restriction of CGT or IHT reliefs available to business owners.
There will no doubt be a balancing act for the Chancellor. Increasing the take from CGT and IHT will help fund the post-pandemic shortfall, but this will need to be weighed up against the fact that the overall take from these two taxes is relatively low compared to other taxes and could change the decision making process of those business owners who are likely to be key drivers of economic recovery.
We will be running a ‘hybrid’ Budget event on the morning of Thursday 28 October, where we will be examining the implications of the Chancellor's announcements the previous day on both businesses and their owners, with an in-person event in London also being streamed live.
It's been suggested that rates could be aligned more closely with income tax rates, which could mean scrapping the current tax rates of 10% and 20% (or 18% and 28% for property) and instead making everyone pay income tax rates on their gains. A report by the Office of Tax Simplification, published in November 2020, recommended that CGT rates should be increased to bring them into line with income tax. But it would be unlikely to raise significant extra amounts of tax, as it is typically paid by only about 275,000 taxpayers and raises less than £10bn a year.
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