Spring Budget 2017: Commentary

Philip Hammond delivered the Spring Budget 2017 today. Our Partner, Jamie Smith, comments:

“A reasonably sanguine budget from a relaxed Chancellor who avoided the temptation presented by the last Spring budget to deliver any big surprises.

Not a particularly great day if you are a contractor working through your own limited company. The Chancellor stopped short of equalising NIC rates for self-employed and employed workers, which was widely expected with just a 1% increase from 2018.  In addition, he also reduced the tax-free Shareholder Dividend allowance from £5,000 to £2,000 effective from April 2018.

In my opinion, this is likely to be just the beginning of higher taxation for many limited company contractors as further measures to equalise taxation between self-employed and employed workers are expected to be announced later in the year.

For the time being at least, contracting through a limited company is still likely to remain an attractive option.”

To read the full article, click here.

We’ve created a Budget Summary containing what we believe are the key themes and announcements from the Spring Budget 2017. You can download it here.