Spring Statement 2019
Philip Hammond presented his Spring Statement on Wednesday 13 March 2019. So, what exactly did the Chancellor say and, more importantly, what did it actually mean?
Dated: 13 March 2019 Author: Richard McNeilly, Managing Partner
Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond presented his Spring Statement to Parliament on Wednesday 13th March; the wider implications of which are sure to impact upon SMEs across the UK.
The Chancellor announced a while ago that the Spring Statement would not be a fiscal event, and all tax measures would be announced at the Autumn Budget. Given the record of recent Chancellors one could be forgiven for being sceptical, but it appears that he is indeed being true to his word and no new tax measures have been announced.
Budget speeches are always accompanied by a certain amount of detail in supporting documents, but in this case there is very little and it mainly continues measures announced at the Budget.
So from a tax perspective there is nothing in the Spring Statement to concern businesses or individuals. However, both Brexit and the introduction of Making Tax Digital (MTD) are very close now, and the impact of each is still unclear.
Especially after the recent parliamentary defeat of ‘The Deal’, of course, Brexit is definitely the more urgent issue. It seems that the position will not be at all clear until very close to the 29th of March, but it is certainly possible to take some steps to smooth over the administrative impacts of an exit, even if the economic ones are somewhat open.
MTD at least can be acted on with some certainty. If you think you may be within the scope of it, and have not done so already, you should definitely be taking action to confirm that you are compliant.
Download our Spring Statement Guide here.
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