Other news in brief

On 30 November 2022, Autumn Finance Bill 2022 passed all remaining stages in the House of Commons with no amendments and at this point became ‘substantively enacted’ for IFRS and UK GAAP purposes. The Bill is now making its way through the House of Lords, where it had its first reading on 1 December 2022. All remaining stages in the House of Lords are scheduled to take place on 20 December 2022. It should be noted that the House of Lords does not have the power to make any amendments to the Bill as it is a ‘money bill’ and therefore these stages are a formality only. Royal Assent will take place once the stages in the House of Lords have been completed, however no date for this had been published at the time of writing.

On 22 November 2022, the OECD released the latest mutual agreement procedure (MAP) statistics and awards covering 127 jurisdictions for the calendar year ended 31 December 2021. The MAP statistics summarise the developments made in resolving international disputes, largely resulting from different countries’ application of the arm’s length principle (both the ‘actual’ transfer pricing of transactions, as well as profit attribution to permanent establishments). Read a recent KPMG International report to find out the key takeaways from the latest statistics.

The first three of eight English Freeports received final Government approvals on 7 December 2022, meaning that they are now fully operational. The three Freeports are located in Plymouth, Solent and Teesside. As noted in our previous Freeports article, businesses in Freeports are able to benefit from certain tax incentives within Freeport tax sites, including the 100 percent enhanced capital allowance for companies investing in plant and machinery, the new 10 percent rate for the structures and buildings allowance and stamp duty land tax Freeports relief.