Wed, 22 Oct 2025

Wed, 22 Oct 2025 Reeves considering tax hike for lawyers and accountants

The chancellor has indicated any tax rises in next month's Budget are likely to be focused on wealthy individuals.

* Chancellor Rachel Reeves is considering changes to the tax system that could see some lawyers, accountants and doctors paying more in next month's Budget.
* The reforms would affect those who use limited liability partnerships (LLPs), which are treated as self-employed and not subject to employers' National Insurance.
* A new charge on LLPs would be slightly lower than 15% rate of employers' National Insurance, but could still increase the tax burden on high-earning professionals.
* Some experts have suggested extending employers' National Insurance to partnerships to make the tax system fairer and reduce inequality.
* However, critics argue that this could erode the financial viability of small doctor-led practices and make private care less accessible to patients.
* Estimates suggest imposing employer national insurance on all forms of partnerships would raise around £2bn a year.
* The Treasury has not commented on speculation about future tax changes, but analysts expect the Chancellor to raise taxes or cut spending by around £20bn to meet her financial rules.
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