On 9th November 2018, the CCCUK and KPMG jointly organised the seminar on interpretation of the British Autumn Budget to help Chinese enterprises in the UK understand the new tax policies, and to assist enterprises and individuals in abiding by the new tax regulations properly. KPMG partner WANG Haoyu and more than 50 representatives from KPMG’s UK-China Business Team and the CCCUK’s members attended the seminar and participated in the discussions.

KPMG partner WANG Haoyu delivering a welcome remarks

At the seminar, WANG Haoyu presented the development and impact of the Autumn Budget 2018 in the first instance. He remarked that the budget issued each autumn, as financial responses and commitments to hot social issues, makes proper arrangements for overall income and expenditure. The budget echoes the reorientation of the British national economic policy, and plays an important guiding role for Chinese enterprises in the UK in terms of business scope and development orientation.

KPMG’s team representative delivering a speech

The team of KPMG performed a detailed analysis of the impact of the policy changes in the present budget on the growth of Chinese enterprises in the UK in the following aspects. From a corporate perspective, the UK will further reduce the business rates on SMEs, helping the slow-growing bricks-and-mortar retail sector weather the crisis. The corporate income tax will be reduced to 17% in 2020, which means the burden on enterprises will be remarkably reduced. Furthermore, the new tax law will impose a digital service tax on Internet giants with an international turnover of more than ￡500 million; however, relevant service sectors like finance, online payment, software development, television broadcast, etc. will not be affected.

From employees’ point of view, the threshold for personal income tax will be raised to ￡12,500 per year, while that for high tax rate to ￡50,000. Home buyers who buy a shared-ownership house under ￡500,000 for the first time will be exempt from stamp duty. The new policy took effect upon its introduction; more importantly, the transactions completed after 22 November 2017 may receive tax refund under the new policy.

Exchange and exploratory investigation

Delegates from both sides had in-depth discussions with the team of KPMG on related business issues. After the seminar, Wu Lin, Secretary-general of the CCCUK presented a concluding remark. According to her, the CCCUK will keep on creating favorable conditions for Chinese enterprises to grow in the UK, hoping to establish extensive cooperation with local enterprises in various areas, thereby turning the CCCUK into a better service platform.