It is once more the time to turn from sunny thoughts of summer holidays to dark contemplation of the Autumn Budget.
In July 2024, Rachel Reeves made her contentious House of Commons statement about the “£22 billion black hole” and, as one of the measures to fill it, severely restricted pensioner entitlement to the Winter Fuel Payment. One consequence of her ‘discovery’ was that the rest of that summer and the first part of autumn was full of speculation about what tax rises would be contained in the 2024 Autumn Budget.

Fast forward a year and there is a similar story playing out. The Winter Fuel Payment features again, but this time it is the £1.25 billion cost of the climbdown on means-testing that matters. To that can be added about the £5 billion expense of another reversal of policy, reform of disability benefits. This new black hole, alongside slowing economic growth, is generating a fresh round of speculation examining what taxes might be increased.

The Chancellor continues to rule out increases to income tax, national insurance and VAT for ‘working people’, leaving potential targets such as:

• A further freeze on income tax allowances and bands: The personal allowance and income tax thresholds were originally frozen for four years (2022/23–2025/26) by Rishi Sunak, to which another two years were added by Jeremy Hunt. Rachel Reeves could extend the freeze until April 2030.

 

• Pension contribution tax relief: A regular candidate for revenue-raising, so far, most Chancellors have merely nibbled this low-hanging fruit. Were Rachel Reeves to be bolder and, for example, introduce a flat rate of relief for all contributions, this could generate billions from the ever-growing number of higher and additional rate taxpayers.

 

• A wealth tax: This idea was resurrected recently by Neil Kinnock, a former Labour leader, and to date, the government has studiously refused to rule out the possibility. In practice, wealth taxes have proved difficult to administer and many countries have abandoned them. As if to underline the problems, according to a July 2025 report from the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee, “HMRC has no overview of an individual’s total wealth and faces challenges in getting all the data it needs to risk assess and target wealthy people”.

If your personal finances have not had a recent review, it could be a good move to take stock and make any necessary adjustments before autumn progresses too far. 

HMRC has tightened checks on pension relief after finding that a third of claims made by PAYE tax codes were incorrect.

The problem
Contributions into a personal pension are made net of basic rate tax, so only higher and additional rate taxpayers need claim relief. However, HMRC’s review found that many basic rate taxpayers were trying to claim. Claims were also made where relief had already been given through salary deduction

To make the situation worse, some claimants had simply guessed their paid pension contributions, rather than using the information provided by their pension provider.
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Claims going forward
From 1 September, it is no longer possible to make a claim over the phone; most claims must now be made online. Also:

• Previously, taxpayers only needed to upload or send proof of pension payments made if the payments were in excess of £10,000.      
• HMRC now require all claims to be backed up with supporting evidence each tax year.
• For personal pension contributions, this will mean a letter or statement from the pension provider showing the amount contributed.

 
Postal claims are only possible for those unable to claim online.
 
The changes have no impact on individuals who complete a self-assessment tax return. Claims for pension relief will continue as normal on the tax return.
 
Who can claim
 
Higher and additional rate taxpayers (in Scotland, taxpayers paying the intermediate rate or higher) paying into a personal or workplace pension can make a claim for the additional amount of tax relief for which they are entitled. For example, an additional rate taxpayer will receive a further 25% in relief.
 
Taxpayers can also make a claim if tax relief is not given automatically on their pension contributions.
 
HMRC’s guidance on claiming tax relief on pension payments can be found here.

An important consideration when selling your business is whether business asset disposal relief (BADR) will be available to minimise the capital gains tax (CGT) cost. BADR will be less advantageous from April 2026, so company owners may be looking to sell sooner rather than later.
BADR is currently at a flat rate of 14%, which is 10% lower than the higher rate of CGT. The rate will go up to 18% from 6 April 2026.

Calculating the gain
In many cases, the gain will just be the difference between the selling price and the nominal value of the shares sold. However, establishing the base cost will be more problematic if shares were inherited or received as a gift. Any further amounts invested in the business as share capital will also increase the base cost.
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Capital gains tax
There are various conditions attached to BADR, which are basically:

• The company has to be a trading company;
• A 5% shareholding test must be met; and
• You must be a director (or employee) of the company being sold.

 
These conditions have to be met for a minimum of two years before the sale, so it may be worth postponing a sale where the two-year ownership condition is not met.
 
BADR has a lifetime limit of £1 million of qualifying gains. This will not be an issue for many company owners, but it might be a problem if relief has been claimed previously.
 
Other considerations
 
While it will suit most company owners to sell their shareholding in return for cash, the buyer might prefer to purchase the assets of the company instead; this complicates the tax situation.
 
Furthermore, rather than a straight cash sale, the buyer will often want the seller to accept shares or loan notes as part of the consideration. Such an arrangement will keep the outgoing owner involved once the business has been sold. To the same end, the buyer may propose a phased payment plan, with an initial amount upfront, followed by further payments linked to future business performance.
 
Professional advice is essential when selling a business, so please contact us well in advance of any planned disposal.
 
HMRC’s guide to BADR can be found here.

From 1 January 2026, crypto investors will face new reporting requirements when buying, selling, transferring or exchanging cryptoassets, such as Bitcoin. This means HMRC will be able to link cryptoasset activity to your tax record.
The latest figures show that seven million people in the UK own some form of cryptoasset, with the value of Bitcoin having increased significantly over the past year.

Capital Gains Tax (CGT) treatment
For CGT purposes, cryptoassets are treated similar to shares, with each type of cryptoasset pooled. There will be a CGT disposal if you:

• Sell cryptoassets (even if the proceeds are not withdrawn from the exchange);
• Exchange one type of cryptoasset for a different type of cryptoasset;
• Use cryptoassets to pay for goods or services; or
• Make a gift of your cryptoassets to another person (unless it’s to your spouse or civil partner).

 
There is no disposal if, for example, you simply move cryptoassets between different wallets.
 
Reporting requirements
 
Individual investors will have to provide their name, date of birth, home address and either their national insurance number or their unique tax reference.

Using a non-UK based cryptoasset service provider will not avoid the reporting requirements if the provider is based in a country following the same rules. However, several countries that host providers have not yet signed up to the reporting requirements, and the use of a decentralised exchange might also circumvent the new rules.

Failing to disclose information to a cryptoasset service provider, or submitting an inaccurate or incomplete report, will be subject to a £300 fine.

HMRC
Cryptoasset service providers will report the collected cryptoasset data to HMRC. The first reports covering 2026 will be reported by May 2027, making it easier for HMRC to see if disposals have not been reported on an investor’s self-assessment tax return. Previously, compliance has relied largely on voluntary disclosure.
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Tax returns from 2024/25 onwards now include a dedicated section for gains made on cryptoassets in the CGT pages.
HMRC’s detailed guidance on the new cryptoasset reporting requirements can be found here.

Unfortunately, it’s all bad news. The government has confirmed that most unused pensions will fall within the scope of inheritance tax (IHT), and that it will review the State pension age (SPA).
On top of this comes the news that almost half of working-age adults are not making any provision for a private pension.

Unused pensions
The government has published draft legislation to take effect from 6 April 2027. The change will see most unused pension death benefits brought into charge for IHT purposes, although one change has been made in response to industry feedback. All death-in-service benefits will now be excluded from the charge to IHT.

State pension age
By March 2028, the SPA will have increased to 67. The next planned increase to age 68 is set to take place between 2044 and 2046, impacting those born on or after 6 April 1977. There have been recommendations that this timeline be brought forward, but any further changes have until now been shelved due to recent uncertainty about life expectancy.

However, with the government’s recent announcement of the next review of the SPA, further increases are possible.
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Lack of pension provision
The government – not surprisingly – is very concerned about the number of people not saving privately for a pension:

• Low earners and the self-employed are less likely to be contributing to a pension, with more than three million self-employed people without such savings.
• The situation is worse among women and some ethnic groups.
• Overall, some 40% of people are currently not saving enough for their retirement.

 
For a moderate lifestyle, it is estimated that a single person currently requires nearly £32,000 a year, with nearly £44,000 required for a couple; the full State pension is just under £12,000.
 
These latest findings come despite employees being automatically enrolled into pension saving. The relaunched pensions commission will therefore look at what is preventing greater pension saving, reporting back in 2027.
 
The currently legislated timetables for SPA can be found here.