2025 UK Budget

Earlier this week, the Institute’s Northern Ireland Tax Committee wrote to new the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, Dan Tomlinson MP to highlight a range of tax policy and tax administration recommendations and concerns ahead of the next Budget on Wednesday 26 November. In our Pre-Budget Submission, the Institute continues to press the Government to reframe the draft legislation on agricultural property relief and business property relief given the disproportionate impact this will have on family-owned farms and businesses in Northern Ireland (NI). The Institute’s UK Tax Manager, Leontia Doran, is scheduled to deliver oral evidence on this issue on Monday 20 October to the House of Lords Finance Bill Sub-Committee as part of its inquiry into the draft Finance Bill 2025-26 clauses. The Institute is telling the Government that it is not too late to reframe this policy ahead of April 2026. However, if the Government is not willing to do so, we continue to recommend that a specific carve out from the rules is included in the draft legislation to protect NI. Given how deeply connected agriculture is throughout the island of Ireland, the unique circumstances of NI farmers cannot be ignored and must be addressed. The cross-border nature of NI’s agri-food industry, where Ireland is its largest export market, means that NI needs to remain competitive in order to be able to serve its largest market, particularly if its dual market access to the EU is to grow to its true potential. This will only be achieved via a coherent tool kit of economic policies, not the least of which should include pro-business and pro-family succession tax reliefs. It is for this reason that the Government should exclude NI from these changes. The Committee also highlighted a range of other issues in the submission as follows: The campaign to reduce the rate of corporation tax in NI, The tax burden and complexity arising from cross-border and remote/hybrid working on the island of Ireland, Tax simplification and the lack of progress in this area, Making Tax Digital for Income Tax and the implementation of mandatory tax adviser registration from 1 April 2026, and The ongoing need for climate and environmental objectives to feature significantly in UK budgets, which includes a range of tax policy recommendations.

Last week the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, announced in a You Tube video that the next UK Budget will take place on the later than anticipated date of Wednesday 26 November. As usual, the Institute will be reacting on the day to the Budget announcements and will issue a special newsletter to members. In recent months, the Chancellor remains under pressure to balance public finances, whilst trying to also boost economic growth and maintain the confidence of investors in financial markets. However, growth remains sluggish and inflation has been increasing. Economists therefore continue to say that further tax rises are needed. Speculation has been rife about what options the Chancellor has for tax rises, given that the Government pledged in its election manifesto not to increase taxes on working people. Last Monday also saw a reshuffle of some roles in Government including the appointment of Daniel Tomlinson MP to the role of Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, after James Murray MP was moved into the role of Chief Secretary to the Treasury.

Last week, members of the Institute’s Tax and Public Policy team met with senior representatives from the Department of Finance and the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs in Northern Ireland in our continued effort to highlight the disproportionate impact that the April 2026 restrictions to the Inheritance Tax (IHT) reliefs, agricultural property relief and business property relief, will have in Northern Ireland (NI). The meeting followed on from a recent letter from the Minister of Finance in response to the Institute having previously shared with local government its April 2025 letter to the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury (XST) on this issue. The Institute continues to call on the UK Government to introduce a special derogation for the region from these changes and will be making further representations on this key issue for the agricultural and family owned business sectors in NI ahead of the Autumn Budget on 26 November. During the meeting it was clear that local government shares our concerns in relation to this. Government representatives also outlined the wide range of work being undertaken locally to discuss this, particularly by the Minister of Finance, with Westminster. This includes direct engagement with the Chancellor of the Exchequer at a meeting last month in Stormont Castle. At present, HM Treasury continues to insist in discussions and in the policy paper published with the draft legislation on L-day in July that their data shows these changes will have minimal impact. They are also resisting all representations on how the draft legislation could be mitigated. The Institute set out a range of mitigations in its letter to the XST earlier this year to reduce the impact on genuine farming activity and the family owned business sector. During the meeting, the Institute also took the opportunity to highlight its recently launched refreshed campaign for a lower rate of corporation tax in NI as outlined in the position paper “Enhancing Our Competitiveness”, which was launched in June.