Two days after the Spring Statement, Finance (No. 2) Bill 2017–2019 received Royal Assent and was enacted as Finance Act 2018. Readers are reminded that new allowances and bands also come into operation for 2018/19. HMRC have published those that are relevant to employers.

Finance Act 2018 brings into force legislation which includes the following:-

• partnership tax changes (Schedule 6)
• amendments to the corporate interest restriction rules (Schedule 8)
• the increase to 12 percent from 1 January 2018 of the R&D expenditure credit (Section 19)
• new anti-avoidance rules for offshore trusts (Schedule 10)
• the freezing of the indexation allowance for companies from 1 January 2018 (Section 26); and
• relief from stamp duty land tax for first time buyers (Section 41)