Last week Chancellor Jeremy Hunt set out the government’s tax and spending plans. The headline announcements in the Spring Budget spanned national insurance, childcare, and fuel duty. Of significance to BVRLA members are the plans to extend full expensing to rental and leasing, following extensive consultation including the BVRLA and other associations.
BVRLA response to Spring Budget. The BVRLA has welcomed the extension of full expensing to rental and leasing, but warned that the government has missed a timely opportunity to support the transition to cleaner, greener road transport. The landmark shift in Government tax policy is poised to unlock up to £1bn worth of additional investment in commercial vehicles.
Over three million van drivers – 1-in-10 workers – are at risk of being left behind in the transition to cleaner, greener vehicles, unless the Government takes steps to support the move to Zero-Emission vans. That was the overriding message from an open letter to the Chancellor last week, ahead of the Spring Budget on Wednesday 6 March.
The CBI has called on the Chancellor to extend full expensing to leased and rented assets in next month’s Spring Budget. This mirrors one of the BVRLA’s key asks on behalf of members and represents a priority area for the association.
The Chancellor’s recent Autumn Statement had a heavy focus on supporting workers via various wage support measures. For companies, a major change was announced to incentivise investments, but it came with a longstanding sting in the tail.
In today’s Autumn Statement, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt confirmed that full expensing would be made permanent but retained the historic exclusion of the vehicle rental and leasing sectors. A formal government consultation into if the exclusion could be removed in the future was confirmed, following the creation of an industry working group earlier this year*.
A host of tax cuts are expected to be announced by Chancellor Jeremy Hunt in his Autumn Statement tomorrow (22 November) lunchtime. The fiscal statement will set out the Government’s tax and spending plans for the coming months.
The BVRLA has announced its key asks of government for the fleet sector, calling for certainty, focus and fairness in the transition to zero-emission road transport.
According to the latest figures, the BVRLA leasing broker fleet sees personal contract hire (PCH) volumes under pressure, but this decline is alleviated by growth in business leasing. The toughening economic climate means new registrations are down, but overall fleet size is holding up because of the number of contract extensions.