Other news in brief

It was announced at the 2023 Autumn Statement (and reiterated during the 2024 Spring Budget) that the window to claim Freeport tax reliefs for English Freeport tax sites will be extended to 30 September 2031 and for Investment Zones, Scottish Green Freeport and Welsh Freeport tax sites, the window will be extended to 30 September 2034. The Special Tax Sites (Applicable Sunset Date) Regulations 2024 were published on 30 April 2024, bringing these extensions into effect.

Following a short consultation which resulted in no changes being made, “The Mutual Societies (Transfers of Business) (Tax) (Amendment) Regulations 2024” have now been finalised. These regulations update existing regulations on the use of trade losses for Corporation Tax (CT) purposes in the event of transfers of business by building societies. Building Societies did not benefit from the wider changes to the CT loss relief rules introduced in 2017 as part of the “CT Loss Reform” project and these regulations are intended to “restore the level playing field”. The amendments apply retrospectively to transfers of business by building societies occurring from 1 January 2023 so that they cover certain transfers that have already taken place of which HMRC were aware.

In the latest of their series of “Guidelines for Compliance”, on 7 May 2024 HMRC published “Help to avoid errors in claims for plant and machinery allowances -  GfC5”. HMRC state that they “want to share information to help you manage the risk of an incorrect claim” by highlighting common areas of error in claims. The guidance runs through the various aspects of making a claim such as what is qualifying expenditure, leased assets, disposals etc. It covers both the capital allowances available for expenditure on plant and machinery now as well as the old super-deduction and special rate first year allowances that were available to claim for some plant and machinery expenditure incurred on or after 1 April 2021 and before 1 April 2023.

The Department for Business and Trade has published a list of employers who failed to pay the National Minimum Wage (NMW). It can be easy to get NMW wrong and the consequences of non-compliance can be significant. This article looks at what errors led to the breaches and what employers can learn from this.