Highlights of the CIOT autumn conference

Capital allowances – the latest developments

Steven Bone began with annual investment allowance (AIA) for plant and machinery which has now been made permanent – or as permanent as anything is in tax. The £1m limit in place since 2019 is now confirmed with no sunset clause. The super-deduction (April 2021 – March 2023) and full expensing rules (April 2023 – March 2026) are first year allowances (FYAs) with very similar rules. There is no spend ceiling but the qualifying assets must be new unused plant and machinery and assets are not pooled. Consequently any disposal of an asset on which these FYAs are claimed will be subject to a balancing charge. As AIA is claimed on pooled assets there is no balancing charge on disposal unless the proceeds exceed the pool value.

For this reason it may...