First thoughts on the 2023 Autumn Statement

Readers of Taxation will need little reminding that the most interesting parts of a fiscal statement are often not the headline announcements but the developments hidden away in the small print. That is certainly the case this time round: the media attention might all be on the cuts to National Insurance but I want to consider some of the changes that are most likely to have a material effect on the day-to-day work that readers of the magazine are most like to encounter.

Cash basis

I will start off with something which certainly took me by surprise – the proposals on cash basis. We knew that HMRC had consulted on widening the cash basis but the outcome was something that I do not think anybody had expected. The intention in a nutshell is to make the cash basis the default for all sole trader and...