In a written ministerial statement of 25 February 2020 the UK confirmed that the Finance Bill 2020 is to be published on 19 March 2020, in the week following the announcement of the budget proposals on 11 March. The statement confirmed the government’s commitment to the measures already published in July 2019 as the draft Finance Bill 2020, however the introduction of those measures is subject to confirmation in the budget announcements.
The draft Finance Bill 2020 issued in July 2019 included measures such as changes to the IR35 off-payroll working tax rules and the introduction of a 2% digital services tax. However the US and other stakeholders have been critical of the digital services tax and the government announced on 2 March 2020 that is considering the criticism of the digital tax proposal in relation to the planned trade talks with the US. It is therefore not certain that this tax would go ahead in April 2020.
