Research Briefing
Published Friday, 05 March, 2021
The Chancellor Rishi Sunak presented the 2021 Budget on 3 March. It is anticipated that the Finance (No.2) Bill 2019-21 will be published on 11 March.
Each year the Chancellor of the Exchequer presents the Budget, which contains all the tax measures for the year ahead. Traditionally the Budget has been in March, prior to the start of the tax year on 6 April. The statutory provisions to give effect to these tax measures are set out in a single Bill: the annual Finance Bill.
In 2011 the Coalition Government reformed the Parliamentary timetable, moving the Queen’s Speech and the beginning of the annual session to the spring. In turn provision was made to allow for the Finance Bill to be carried over from one session to the next to ensure that this did not substantially reduce the amount of time available for its scrutiny.
It has been the practice in recent years for Chancellors to make tax announcements twice a year, using the Pre-Budget Report or Autumn Statement as a second fiscal event. In his Autumn Statement in November 2016 the then Chancellor Philip Hammond announced that from autumn 2017 the Government would present a single autumn Budget, to allow for greater Parliamentary scrutiny of Budget measures ahead of their implementation.
Mr Hammond presented the last Spring Budget on 8 March 2017, and the first Autumn Budget on 22 November 2017. Following this, the Government published details of a revised annual Budget timetable for policy announcements, consultations, and the passage of legislation. As this explained, “under the new cycle of a single fiscal event each year, most tax policies will continue to be developed through an established cycle, whereby a policy announcement at the Budget is followed by a policy consultation, the publishing of draft legislation, and proposals are finally legislated in the next Finance Bill. However, to reflect the move of the Budget from spring to autumn, the timing of this cycle will change. Policies will be announced at the Budget in the autumn, and consulted on in winter and over the spring. Draft legislation will then be published in July for technical consultation ahead of the Finance Bill being introduced in the autumn.”[1]
Over the last two years this timetable has been affected by the timing of the 2019 General Election and the Covid-19 pandemic. In the first case the 2019 Budget, planned for 6 November, was deferred to 11 March 2020.[2] In the second case, the Chancellor’s presentation of three economic statements over 2020, resulted in the Autumn Budget being postponed to 3 March 2021.[3]
For further details see, The Budget and the annual Finance Bill, Commons Library briefing CBP813, 4 March 2021.
On 3 March the Chancellor Rishi Sunak presented the Johnson Government’s second Budget.[4] The Budget report – HC 1226 – and associated documents are collated on Gov.uk, including:
Commons Briefing Papers are available on the context for the 2021 Budget (CBP 9136, 25 February 2021), and a summary of the measures announced (CBP 9154, 3 March 2021).
The Institute for Fiscal Studies published its post-Budget briefing on 4 March; this included some analysis of the impact of the Budget on household finances, and the major changes announced to business tax. The Treasury Committee are to hold three evidence sessions on the Budget over 8-11 March; details are on its site.
It is anticipated that the Government will publish a number of tax consultations and calls for evidence on 23 March.[5] The current status of ongoing and closed tax consultations is provided by the Treasury’s public tax tracker.
It is anticipated that the Finance (No.2) Bill 2019-21 will be published on 11 March (Written Statement HCWS799, 25 February 2021).
It is long-standing practice for there not to be a single impact assessment on the Bill; as noted, HMRC publish tax information & impact notes on individual Budget measures.[6] Similarly, given the scale and scope of the annual Finance Bill, the Library does not publish a single paper on the Bill, but aims to publish briefing material relating to the clauses selected for debate by the Committee of the Whole House.
Notes :
[1] HM Treasury, The new Budget timetable and the tax policy making process, 6 December 2017
[2] HC Deb 11 March 2020 cc278-293
[3] HC Deb 3 March 2021 cc251-262
[4] HC Deb 3 March 2021 cc251-262. HM Treasury press notice, Budget 2021 sets path for recovery, 3 March 2021
[5] HM Treasury press notice, Government to publish rage of tax consultations and calls for evidence on 23 March, 18 February 2021
Copyright © 2025 · All Rights Reserved · Institute of Revenues Rating and Valuation
Warning: Undefined array key "User_id" in /home/irrvnet/public_html/forumalert/inc_footer.php on line 4