Finance Act enacted

On 22 July the Finance Act was enacted. This runs to 114 sections and 16 Schedules and formalises a great deal including the following:

• Increasing the adjusted and threshold income thresholds for the tapering of the pension annual allowance by £90,000
• Putting beyond doubt that functions given to an officer of HMRC may be carried out using automated processes or other means
• Clarifying the calculation of top slicing relief by setting out the basis of the personal allowance available and specifying how allowances and reliefs can be set against life insurance policy gains
• Legislating for changes to the loan charge following the independent review which was published on 20 December 2019
• Making changes to IR35 – effective from April 2021
• Introducing new rules to make an individual jointly and severally liable in certain circumstances involving insolvency or potential insolvency for amounts payable to HMRC by a company or LLP
• Introducing a restriction on the amount of capital gains that a company can relieve with its carried-forward capital losses from previous accounting periods
• Entrepreneurs’ Relief changes its name to Business Asset Disposal Relief and the lifetime limit is reduced to £1m
• Making a number of changes to the rules on Principal Private Residence Relief

The full Finance Act can be accessed here: legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2020/14/…