During the Summer Economic Update, the Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced his Plan for Jobs, which included a new incentive for users of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) to keep furloughed workers employed until January 2021.

The Job Retention Bonus (JRB) will encourage employers to bring back furloughed employees by allowing them to claim a £1,000 payment for every previously furloughed worker that is retained.

To qualify for the JRB, an employer must bring employees back to work in roles that pay above the Lower Earnings Limit of £520 per month on average, between the end of the CJRS and the end of January 2021.

If an employer keeps the employee in employment and meets the criteria of the scheme a JRB payment will be made from February 2021 for each eligible employee.

Further information about the JRB is expected from the Government on 31 July 2020.

In the next few weeks, employers may need to submit additional information or change the way they manage their Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) claims. To help you prepare, here are some key dates and actions you may need to take:

31 July 2020 – Submit your CJRS claim for periods ending on or before 30 June 2020. This is the last date you can make these claims. You need to have claimed at any point on or before 31 July to be able to claim for future months.

1 August 2020 – The CJRS will no longer pay for employers’ National Insurance (NI) and pensions contributions for furloughed employees. Employers have to make these payments from their own resources after this date.

1 September 2020 – Employers will have to start contributing to the wages of furloughed employees. Grants will be for 70 per cent of usual wages in September, but furloughed employees will continue to be entitled to receive at least 80 per cent of their usual wages and so employers are expected to make up the difference from their own resources.

Employers that are struggling to administer the changes to the CJRS should seek professional support to ensure they are compliant as HM Revenue & Customs is taking a tough, proactive approach to errors and fraudulent claims.

The Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, has commissioned the Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) to undertake a review into how Capital Gains Tax (CGT) is paid by small businesses and individuals.

It is estimated that the UK Government has already incurred hundreds of billions of pounds in costs in its economic fight against the Coronavirus and it is clear that it will need to recover this spending in some way.

The decision to commission a review of CGT has left many concerned of a ‘stealth wealth tax’, using CGT as a means of increasing the tax bill of small businesses and those with high-value assets.

The OTS investigation into CGT is said to be wide-ranging and will include a look at all of the allowances, exemptions and reliefs associated with CGT, the treatment of losses within the tax and its interaction with other levies, such as inheritance and income tax. This review will also look at whether current rules alter taxpayer’s behaviour and encourage inappropriate actions to be taken.

Many fear that the extensive free rein given to the OTS may be a precursor for big changes in a Budget later this year.

One suggestion is that the Chancellor may be seeking an equalisation of CGT and income tax rates. At present, the highest rate of CGT for most assets, apart from property, is 20 per cent, whereas the top rate of income tax is 45 per cent.

As an alternative, some have suggested that the Chancellor could seek a flat rate of CGT rather than the five rates that currently exist (0, 10, 18, 20 or 28 per cent).

The review may also look to close loopholes and ambiguities in existing reliefs to ensure that taxpayers do not get an advantage from structuring their estate and disposals around CGT.

Another area of potential reform is the capital gains uplift, which currently applies when a person inherits assets, which allows assets to be acquired at the market value on the date of death, rather than the amount originally paid.

This could tie in with the Government’s previous review of Inheritance Tax (IHT), during which the OTS recommended the uplift be removed in cases where IHT exemptions or reliefs apply.

IHT continues to be an area of contention and one that has been explored numerous times. However, it may also be in the spotlight as the Government seeks to recover the multi-billion-pound cost of COVID-19.

As part of the OTS investigation, Rishi Sunak has also tasked the OTS with looking at how CGT is paid by small businesses. This will include “the position of unincorporated businesses and standalone owner-managed trading or investment companies”.

It is important that all taxpayers continue to monitor the Government’s plans for taxation and seek advice if any future changes affect their financial affairs or the passing of wealth to future generations.

The Treasury has released new details on the next steps it intends to take as part of its long-term tax digitisation plan.

Its timeline for a modernised digital tax system will see HM Revenue & Customs’ (HMRC) Making Tax Digital (MTD) programme gradually extended over the next few years to cover most businesses.

Under the current MTD rules, businesses above the VAT threshold of £85,000 are required to keep digital records and provide VAT returns through MTD-compliant software.

However, under the new plan, the programme will be extended to all VAT-registered businesses with turnovers below the VAT threshold (£85,000) from April 2022.

It will then be extended further from April 2023 to all taxpayers who file income tax self-assessment tax returns for business or property income above £10,000 annually.

The Treasury said that the extension of MTD will only affect the way that tax is reported and not the amount that is collected.

Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Jesse Norman, said: “We are setting out our next steps on Making Tax Digital today, as we bring the UK’s tax system into the 21st century.

“Making Tax Digital will make it easier for businesses to keep on top of their tax affairs. But it also has huge potential to improve the productivity of our economy, and its resilience in times of crisis.”

In a Written Ministerial Statement to Parliament on MTD the Treasury also said that “the Government remains committed to extending Making Tax Digital to other taxes”.

It is hoped that the long deadline to comply with the extension of MTD will give businesses, landlords and agents time to prepare and allow for the development of new products, including free software for businesses with the simplest tax affairs.