The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves MP, has used her speech at the Labour Party conference to announce a package of measures intended to help close the tax gap.  

The government will: 

• consult on the introduction of electronic invoicing (e-invoicing) to promote its wider use across businesses and government departments. The government believes that e-invoicing has a number of advantages, including reducing errors in tax returns, and will provide further details soon; 
• appoint the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, James Murray MP, to be chair of HMRC’s board. The purpose of the board is to provide “challenge and advice on HMRC’s performance, delivery, strategy, capability and risk”. It “does not advise on policy development nor the affairs of individual taxpayers”;
• publish a digital transformation roadmap in spring 2025, setting out HMRC’s vision to be a digital first organisation; and 
• continue to deliver on its plan to recruit 5,000 more HMRC staff over five years. Some new staff are expected to join HMRC’s training programme in November 2024 with offer letters sent to 650 potential recruits. 

In her speech, the Chancellor confirmed that the government would deliver on its manifesto commitments at the Budget on 30 October 2024 by: 

• not increasing the rates of income tax, national insurance or VAT;
• capping the main rate of corporation tax at 25% for this Parliament;
• abolishing the so-called ‘non-dom’ regime; 
• charging VAT on private school fees; and
• reforming business rates. 

ICAEW has published its pre-Budget submission, setting out the actions ICAEW believes are needed to deliver on the government’s commitment to boost economic growth.  

On 1 November 2024, ICAEW’s Tax Faculty will present a webinar looking at the main announcements from the Budget.