On 23 September 2022, it was announced that the Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) nil-rate threshold on residential property would be increased from £125,000 to £250,000.

In his Fiscal Statement delivered on 23 September 2022, the previous Chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, introduced a Growth Plan including the tax cuts promised by Liz Truss in her Conservative Party leader campaign.

For dividends, although the associated 1.25 percentage point supplement on NICs is being removed from 6 November, income tax rates on dividends will not be reduced

We are, however, expecting the temporary 130% ‘super-deduction’ for company expenditure on qualifying new equipment to come to an end on 31 March 2023.

The 23 September Fiscal Statement included the unexpected news that the “off-payroll working” (OPW) rules would be scrapped from 6 April 2023.

Another of Liz Truss’ flagship policies was to halt the planned rise in corporation tax rates from 1 April 2023.

These increases will now go ahead. From 1 April 2023, corporation tax will increase to 25% where a company’s profits exceed £250,000 a year

In the original 23 September 2022 statement, it was announced that qualifying start-up companies would be allowed to raise £250,000 under the scheme, an increase over the current £150,000 limit.

The legislation to abolish the 1.25 percentage point increase in the rate of National Insurance Contributions (NICs) paid by workers, employers and the self-employed was already in progress when the U-turns were being made

The previous Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, had dangled a possible cut in the basic rate of income tax from 20% to 19% from 2024/25. This will now be brought forward by one year to 2023/24 and will apply to non-dividend income.

The much criticised “off-payroll” working rules were introduced for the public sector from 6 April 2017 and then extended to large and medium-sized private-sector organisations from 6 April 2021.

It was on 7 September 2021 that we first heard about a new 1.25% Health and Social Care Levy, imposed on employers, employees and the self-employed, coming in from 2023/24.

In the March 2021 Budget, Rishi Sunak announced that the rate of corporation tax would increase to 25% from 1 April 2023 where a company’s profits exceeded £250,000 a year, with the current 19% rate continuing to apply where profits were no more than £50,000 a year.

the SDLT announcement was still a surprise as house prices have been steadily rising. Increases in mortgage rates are likely to slow the market so the SDLT announcements are designed to stave off a housing slump.