Finance Act 2017 receives Royal Assent, but with provisions omitted

The Finance Bill received Royal Assent on 27 April 2017 to become the Finance Act 2017. However, as it was fast-tracked through the legislative process to receive Royal Assent before Parliament was dissolved on 3 May 2017 for the general election, several key provisions had to be omitted. In particular, the provisions changing the law on the taxation of termination payments and reducing the annual tax-free dividend allowance from £5,000 to £2,000 were both dropped. These provisions were expected to come into force in April 2018.It will now be up to the next government to decide whether to present these provisions again in a new Finance Bill or similar legislation. This is highly likely to happen if the next government remains Conservative and is probably likely to happen regardless of who wins. There would still be plenty of time for the legislation to pass through Parliament before the intended implementation date.