One thing is for certain, this years Autumn Statement is going to be carefully watched by many interested parties. Arguably, even more so than most budgets because of the unique set of political circumstances we find ourselves in at the moment.
The Brexit Vote and The US Presidential Elections effects on our economy and their impact on the pound, seemingly, have our economy on a knife edge.
The chancellor will need to be very careful with his announcements for fear of driving the exchange rate further down and tipping us into a recession.
So what will Phillip Hammond do?
It’s unlikely that he will continue George Osbourne’s austerity plan but, hopefully, will carry on with the plan to reduce corporation tax to 17% by 2020. Although most think that he will scrap the plan to lower it further.
We are hoping for some relaxation on the private landlord’s tax changes that threaten to force many private landlords to sell. But we won’t hold our breath.
We don’t dare to hope for a reversal of the much maligned dividends tax change that sees most small business owners, who trade through a limited company, up tp £2,000 a year worse off. We are hoping that, at least, the government will continue with the employment allowance for NIC, possibly increasing it or making it permanent.
There is some hope for the construction industry with signs of a commitment from Phillip Hammond about infrastructure investment going forward but we will wait and see.
Whatever happens, we will produce a list of the key changes and how they affect your business and update our blog in due course.
When is the Autumn Statement?
The Autumn Statement is at 12:30pm on Wednesday 23rd November 2016.
