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2025 Spring Statement:
A quick update for businesses

Today, Chancellor Rachel Reeves delivered the first Spring Statement under Labour's leadership. After all the big tax changes announced last October, we weren't expecting any major surprises (and we were right). Instead, today was more about setting the scene for the government’s financial plans going forward.

Rachel Reeves started her statement by confirming Labour's commitment to just one major fiscal event a year and stated there would be no unexpected tax increases in the announcement. She then updated us on how the economy has been performing since the general election and outlined the government’s spending plans.

The overall announcement was hopeful and positive that the difficult decisions and tax changes made in October 2024 were paying off, with reference to the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecasts throughout the Chancellor's announcement. Details around government spending were released, including plans to help people back into work, reforming the welfare system and increasing defence spending. None of the announcements related to taxpayers directly and instead the Chancellor stuck to discussing the economy and country’s growth as a whole. 

Of note from the announcement, the Chancellor confirmed the government was committed to clamping down on tax evasion and increasing HMRC’s capacity to tackle tax fraud. This may come in the form of increased tax investigations, or it may not. We'll keep an eye on this and share any updates if needed.

Quick recap on changes coming in from April 2025:

  • The Employer’s NI rate will increase and the threshold where NI becomes payable will decrease, resulting in a double hit for employers. 
  • Changes to Business Asset Disposal Relief will be introduced from April 2025, increasing the Capital Gains Tax payable on capital disposals, such as a sale of company shares. 

Take a look at the in-depth changes announced in October 2024 here.

What can you do next?

  • If you're considering selling (or exiting) your business in the next 1-2 years, we highly recommend that you book a call with our Mergers, Acquisitions and Exits specialist to discuss your options. We can see what planning needs to be done to minimise your CGT liability on sale. We also offer an Enhanced Business Valuation service, helping you prepare to achieve the best price for the sale of your business. 
  • With Employer NI going up, now’s a great time to explore alternative ways to reward your team. If pay rises aren’t an option, share schemes could be a smart way to motivate and retain key talent—our tax team can help you figure out if it’s the right move for your business.
  • With these changes around the corner, now is the time to review your company costs and forecasts. You will need to re-forecast, taking into account the increase in NI and increase to the National Living Wage - this is an important step to make sure you get an accurate picture of your company finances. Don't forget to check if you're eligible for the Employment Allowance to keep NI costs down. If you need assistance with any of this, please get in touch with the Wow team and we can help with this.  
  • If you have any problems once the NI increase comes in after April this year please let us know, Wow will be on hand to help you work out how you can best deal with the increased costs. 

Further advice 

As expected, today we haven’t seen any additional new changes to the tax rules, at Wow we are grateful for the stability in rules and see this as an opportunity to assess your personal position and ensure you are set up for the best year you can have financially working within the legislation which will come in from 6 April 2025. If you’d like to chat to us about any element of your tax position or plan for your future, please get in touch and we’d love to help. 

The full Spring Financial Statement 2025 is published here on the government website and details everything the Chancellor delivered in her statement today. You can also check out this BBC article for a full rundown.  

The information included in this article does not constitute advice. If you would like formal advice on any of the changes discussed in this article, please get in touch with us at Wow.