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The Chancellor delivered his Autumn Statement last week, through which the news was delivered
Uk Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has granted BT CEO’s wish for the UK government to implement permanent tax breaks for infrastructure investment.
Last week, CEO of BT Phillip Jansen highlighted how tax breaks for businesses such as BT are essential for the success of the UK economy.
In a plea to Hunt ahead of his then upcoming Spending Review, Jansen explained that the introduction of a tax Super Deduction in April 2021 – which reduced tax on new plan and machinery equipment by 25% – had allowed BT to increase its fibre rollout targets from 20 million homes to 25 million homes.
This Super Deduction scheme was replace by a new policy of Full Expensing, which gave companies full tax relief qualifying plant and machinery investments from April this year, but this is set to expire in April 2026.
Jansen therefore called on the government in his final weeks as CEO to make these tax breaks permanent to ensure that the UK is able to meet government fibre and 5G targets. The tax breaks, Jansen said, “would give businesses like BT Group genuine long-term certainty to plan and shift the investment environment in Britain from good to great.”
When the Autumn statement was announced on 22nd November, Hunt confirmed that the ‘Super Deduction’, is set to be made permanent. This means that for every million pounds a company invests, they get £250,000 off their tax bill in the very same year.
During the Chancellor’s speech, Hunt said that “if we are to raise productivity, we need to increase business investment further.”
“That is the largest business tax cut in modern British history. It means we have not just the lowest headline corporation tax rate in the G7 but its most generous capital allowances,” said Hunt.
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