[15.03.23]

• The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecast that the UK will not now enter a technical recession this year.  The economy is now forecast to contract by 0.2% in 2023, then grow by 1.8% in 2024 and 2.5% in 2025.  The OBR also forecasts that inflation will reduce to 2.9% by the end of 2023
• The planned increases to Corporation Tax will go ahead – companies with profits over £250,000 will pay 25%, with a sliding scale of between 19% and 25% for profits over £50,000
• There will be a new full capital expensing policy from 1 April 2023 until 31 March 2026 and an extension to the 50% first-year allowance in the same period
• SMEs will be able to claim a credit worth £27 for every £100 they spend, when they spend at least 40% of their total expenditure on R&D
• The pensions annual tax-free allowance will increase from £40,000 to £60,000; and the Lifetime Allowance has been abolished
• Fuel duty – the 5p cut to fuel duty on petrol and diesel, due to end in April, will be kept for another year
• From 1st August alcohol duty on draught products in pubs will be 11p in the pound lower than the rate in supermarkets
• The Government subsidies limiting typical household energy bills to £2,500 a year is extended for three months, until the end of June

Castletons Accountants