Spring Finance Bill published

The government published the Spring Finance Bill 2023 on 23 March 2023. The Bill is officially known as the Finance (No 2) Bill, because it is the second Finance Bill of the 2022–23 Parliamentary session. The Bill contains the legislation for many of the tax measures announced in the recent Spring Budget as well as previously announced changes. The Bill is 478 pages long, with 352 clauses and 24 schedules. Explanatory notes to the Bill have also been published.

Some of the many measures included within the Bill are:

• The introduction of full expensing for expenditure on plant and machinery
• The extension of the 50% First Year Allowance
• The permanent increase to £1m of the Annual Investment Allowance
• Changes to R&D relief
• Changes to the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme
• Abolition of the pension’s lifetime allowance charge
• Changes to alcohol duty
• Air Passenger duty changes

The Bill received its first reading in Parliament on Tuesday 21 March, and the majority of measures will come into effect for financial year 2023-24. It will now follow the normal passage through Parliament.