Commenting on the Scottish Budget, Alan Turner, KPMG’s head of tax in Scotland, said: "From a tax perspective three main changes were announced. On income tax, while there are no changes to the rates of income tax, inflationary rises have been made to the basic and intermediate rate thresholds. This means that Scottish taxpayers will pay up to £2.50 less income tax next year – a very modest saving.
"On Land & Buildings Transaction Tax, a new 2% band was introduced for non-residential leases entered into from February 7, 2020. On this, the devil will be in the detail and care will need to be taken in drafting to ensure that only those leases intended to be caught are brought into the new regime. On Business Rates, we welcome the introduction of an intermediate property rate, taking more businesses out of the higher rate.Coupled with agreement over the Non-Domestic Rates Bill earlier this week, this provides relief and certainty for many Scottish businesses.
“Overall, today’s tax changes are fairly limited – unsurprising given the backdrop to the timing of this Scottish Budget. The forthcoming UK Budget means that a number of assumptions had to be made in preparing today’s statement – certainty will only be available when Sajid Javid stands up in Westminster on March 11.It remains to be seen what further changes may need to be made to today’s draft Budget to get it agreed. As a minority government, the Scottish Government will need the support of at least one other party in the Scottish Parliament.”