Jeremy Hunt announcement – what’s left of the mini-budget?

17 October 2022

Jeremy Hunt the new Chancellor has confirmed he is making changes to a number of things announced in the recent mini-budget and the main points are below.

Income tax

The 1p-in-the-pound cut to the basic rate of income tax from 20 per cent to 19 per cent will not be going ahead. The 45 per cent top rate of income tax for those earning more than £150,000 has already been dropped.

Corporation tax

Plans to abolish a rise in corporation tax from 19 per cent to 25 per cent from April 2023 have been dropped and this was announced last week.

Energy bill guarantee

Help with energy bills for all households will only last until April 2023 instead of 2 years.  As regards businesses, the help will continue until the end of March as planned.  This will then be reviewed in April and a more needs-based approach taken.  Energy efficiency is likely to be favoured.

Stamp duty

Changes to stamp duty in England and Northern Ireland will remain. The threshold for stamp duty on house purchases has risen from £125,000 to £250,000. For first-time buyers it will rise from a £300,000 threshold to £425,000. The value of the property on which first-time buyers can claim relief has been raised from £500,000 to £625,000.

National insurance

A 1.25 percentage-point cut in national insurance contributions from 6 November 2022 will still happen on that date.

Divided tax

This will no longer happen.

IR35 reforms

The reversal of off-payroll working reforms introduced in 2017 and 2021 will not go ahead

Alcohol tax

The freeze on alcohol duty rates which those operators working in the hospitality sector were hoping for has been scrapped.

VAT

Plans for new VAT-free shopping for international tourists has been scrapped. This is a blow for operators working within the UK tourist industry.

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