The Finance (No.3) Bill 2017-19 received Royal Assent (later than originally planned) on 12 February 2019 following agreement by both Houses on the text of the Bill. The Bill is now an Act of Parliament known as Finance Act 2019. The Act contains the legislation for many of the tax measures announced by the government at Autumn Budget 2017 some of which had been the subject of further consultation. The Bill also includes other measures that were first announced in the Autumn Budget 2018.
Some of the measures included within the Bill are:
- The Income Tax rates, thresholds, and allowances for 2019-20. This includes meeting the government’s commitment to increase the basic personal allowance to £12,500 and the higher rate threshold to £50,000.
- The setting of the Corporation Tax rate for 2020-21 at 17%. The rate for 2019-20 remains at 19%.
- The temporary increase in the Annual Investment Allowance (AIA) from £200,000 to £1m for two years from 1 January 2019.
- The introduction of a new 30 day reporting and payment deadline for CGT on UK residential property gains from 6 April 2020.
- A number of changes to entrepreneurs’ relief.
- A reduction in the tax writing down allowance from 8% to 6% from April 2019.
- The current VAT registration limit (£85,000) and deregistration limit (£83,000) will continue to apply for a further two years; until 31 March 2022.
