The £500 million has been pledged to make HMRC a digital-first organisation – by 2029/30, at least 90% of customer interactions will be digital, serve-serve, while outbound post will be stopped.
That’s not to say the tax office will be easing off on its compliance activity, though. Along with creating new efficiencies, AI is likely to play a big role in supporting HMRC’s compliance efforts – effectively giving the tax authority more data, information and resource than ever before.
As ever, compliance is paramount.
The investment in and ambition for clean energy, transport and more affordable housing could become a job creation catalyst, just as vacancies fall and unemployment creeps up – a trend driven by the recent hike to employers’ national insurance.
With businesses burdened by high employment taxes, flexible workers – such as contractors, consultants and freelancers – will be relied upon to deliver these projects.
The Chancellor reiterated the government’s pledge to ban zero-hour contracts. For vulnerable workers, who need and want greater security, this is the right thing to do.
However, a one-size-fits-all approach could also pose a risk, especially to hundreds of thousands of flexible workers who work this way out of choice, not necessity. Careful thinking is needed here.
Promises to help start-ups access the finance they need to scale are all well and good – but the elephant in the room for many entrepreneurs and small business owners is the tax burden. What good is access to finance if the level of taxation here in the UK is actually the biggest blocker to growth?
