Chancellor Jeremy Hunt yesterday used his first Autumn Statement to announce a number of measures aimed at raising an additional £25 billion in tax revenue, our sister publication Scottish Financial News reports.

Most of his headline announcements – including the reduction in the UK additional rate threshold from £150,000 to £125,140 – will not take effect in Scotland.

Sean Cockburn, chair of the Chartered Institute of Taxation’s Scottish technical committee, said: “With the exception of the freezing of the tax-free personal allowance, these changes will not apply to the Scottish income tax regime.

“For Scottish taxpayers with income from a job, self-employment, pension or rental income, they will need to wait until December, when the Scottish Government publishes its own income tax plans.”

He added: “When UK threshold freezes were first announced in the 2021 Spring Budget, the Scottish Government moved to provide some protection for lower earners by making modest changes to the Scottish basic and intermediate tax thresholds.

“This had the effect of ensuring that the amount of income taxed only at the starter and basic rate of Scottish income tax, rather than higher rates, increased in line with inflation.

“However, given the high levels of inflation that we have now, it is hard to see how such a policy could be replicated in the coming tax year, as inflation linked threshold changes would be much more expensive.

“So, if providing some protection for lower earners is under consideration, it may not be enough to protect those on lower incomes from paying more in tax as a result of inflation.”