Business rates reform
The publication of a long-awaited review of business rates brought with it a series of measures to adjust the system.
This included a 50% cut to rates for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure businesses in 2022 to 2023, up to a cap of £110,000.
Additionally, the rates multiplier will be frozen for 2022 to 2023, which the Treasury says will save businesses in England £4.6 billion over the next five years.
Other reforms included the introduction of a new investment relief for green technology, an improvement relief for businesses expanding their properties, and a move to three-yearly revaluations from 2023, instead of five years as it stands now.
Taken together, Chancellor Rishi Sunak said the measures announced in the Budget amounted to a £7bn cut to business rates.
Annual investment allowance extended
The annual investment allowance will remain at its current level of £1 million until 31 March 2023, instead of ending on 31 December 2021 as planned.
The allowance, which allows companies to deduct qualifying capital allowances from their profits before tax, previously stood at £200,000 but was raised from 1 January 2019 onwards to encourage investment.
R&D tax credit changes
The Chancellor also announced plans to reform R&D tax reliefs, by including data and cloud costs as qualifying expenditure, as well as refocusing the reliefs on activity in the UK.
Details on these changes have not yet been released, but the Government says these will form part of its "further tax administration and maintenance announcements" later in the autumn.
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