EY Budget commentary: “A help yourself business Budget”

Chris Sanger, EY’s Head of Tax Policy, comments on the Chancellor’s Spring Budget:

“This is an incentives-based, help-yourself Budget, where business is asked to do as the Chancellor directs to get the reliefs on offer. Whether you’re a big business investing and getting full expensing, a small business spending 40% of more on R&D or a company investing in a designated zone, you’ll benefit from the Chancellor’s announcements today. Otherwise, businesses are left with a Corporation Tax rate that increases to 25 percent from April.

“The largest of these new measures is the immediate capital expensing, costing over £10bn in 2024/25. The Chancellor has delivered this for three years and vowed to extend when it can be afforded. This measure t helps the Chancellor to balance his books and actually generates extra tax receipts in 2027/28 as the timing effect reverses, but uncertainty over the longevity may limit the effectiveness.

“These large projects take time to become ‘shovel ready’, not least due to planning and other requirements. The sooner the Chancellor can achieve his aspiration and reassure businesses that this incentive will cover projects with long lead times, the greater the investment the UK is likely to attract.”