Budget 2005: Proposed and Possible Legislation

Note: because it is expected that a General Election will be a called for 6 May it is likely that the Budget statement will be followed by a short Finance Bill enacting the minimum of measures, and followed by another Bill containing the rest of the measures should Labour win the election.

Corporate tax reform

The Government has again been consulting on reforms to the CT system, the main proposals are: Schedular reform, Capital assets and Leasing, draft legislation has been published. The proposals may be mentioned in the Budget, but a substantive response at this stage is thought unlikely.

The Revenue published some 70 pages of draft legislation and explanatory comment relating to the tax implications of international financial reporting standards (IFRS) and UK generally accepted accounting practice (GAAP) at the time of PBR. Further measures are promised in the Finance Act to address specific issues, and it is likely