As announced, the government is consulting on changes to the conditions that an overseas pension scheme has to meet to get UK tax relief for contributions or transfers.

This document provides guidance in relation to the changes to the conditions to be an ‘overseas pension scheme’ and a ‘recognised overseas pension scheme’ and the UK taxation of payments pout of the funds that have had UK tax relief.

If you would like to comment on this draft guidance, please send responses via email: pensions.policy@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk by 1 February 2017.

As announced, the government is consulting on changes to the conditions that an overseas pension scheme has to meet to get UK tax relief for contributions or transfers.

This document provides draft regulations setting out the changes to the conditions to be an ‘overseas pension scheme’ and a ‘recognised overseas pension scheme’, together with a draft explanatory memorandum.

If you would like to comment on these drafts, please send responses via email: pensions.policy@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk by 1 February 2017.

This measure introduces a new tax allowance for property and trading income each of £1,000 for tax year 2017 to 2018 onwards.

At Autumn Statement 2016 the government confirmed that it will reform the intermediaries legislation in Chapter 8 Part 2 Income Taxes (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003 (“ITEPA 2003”) often known as IR35. The government has published draft legislation for Finance Bill 2017 that introduces a new Chapter 10 Part 2 ITEPA 2003.

Subject to Parliamentary approval and Royal Assent the measure will introduce Off-payroll working in the public sector legislation applying to payments made on or after 6 April 2017. The measure applies to contracts entered into before that date. If work is completed before 6 April 2017 but payment made on or after 6 April 2017 it will be within the new legislation.

A tax information and impact note has also been published.

The measure will also allow for appropriate sanctions against a person or business possessing unlicensed tobacco manufacturing machinery.

The measure aligns the rules for tax and employer National Insurance contributions (NICs) by making employer NICs payable on termination payments above £30,000.

Update

On 2 November 2017 the government announced that the introduction of the National Insurance Contributions Bill will be delayed.

The introduction of employer NICs on termination payments above £30,000 will now take effect from 6 April 2019 rather than 6 April 2018.

This consultation seeks comments on options for better targeting the non-statutory advance assurance service for the:

• Enterprise Investment Scheme
• Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme
• Venture Capital Trusts scheme

Options range from restricting access to the schemes to certain types of companies to providing a new service for discrete questions.

Consulting on draft legislation

The government has committed to confirming the majority of measures for inclusion in the Finance Bill at least 3 months prior to introduction of the Bill itself and, where possible, to publish draft legislation for each of these measures. This provides taxpayers with certainty about future tax changes and allows time for pre-legislative scrutiny. The consultation on draft clauses is intended to ensure that the legislation works as intended. The final contents of Finance Bill 2017 will be subject to confirmation at Budget 2017.

Many of the measures covered here were first announced at Budget 2016 and, where appropriate, consultations on policy have been carried out over the summer. The government’s responses to these consultations are mostly published on the GOV.UK website.

What has been published?

The government is publishing draft provisions for Finance Bill 2017 for consultation. Where secondary legislation will give substantive effect to the Finance Bill clause, this has also been published in draft.

Each provision is accompanied by:

• a tax information and impact note (TIIN) which sets out what the legislation seeks to achieve, why the government is undertaking the change and a summary of the expected impacts
• an explanatory note which provides a more detailed guide to the legislation

TIINs are published in the overview of legislation in draft document, and are also available individually on the tax information and impact notes page.

Contacts and closing date

If you wish to comment on any of the draft clauses, please use the contact details provided at the end of the relevant explanatory note. The closing date for comments is Wednesday 1 February 2017.