The Autumn Budget 2026 is on Wednesday 28 October, when John Healey delivers his first Budget as Chancellor. Income tax, employee National Insurance and VAT rates are ruled out, so the changes most likely to reach creatives involve capital gains tax, self-employed National Insurance, the VAT threshold and business rates.
Key Takeaways
- The Autumn Budget 2026 takes place on Wednesday 28 October, with Chancellor John Healey presenting it to the Commons.
- Rises to income tax, employee National Insurance and VAT rates are ruled out, and corporation tax stays capped at 25%.
- Income tax thresholds remain frozen until April 2031, so higher fees will keep pulling more of your income into higher bands.
- Making Tax Digital for Income Tax reaches sole traders with gross income over £30,000 from April 2027.
- The VAT registration threshold is set at £90,000 at the moment.
- Capital gains tax and the self-employed National Insurance gap are the rumoured changes most likely to cost creatives more.
- Pubs, social clubs and live music venues in England get a 20% business rates cut from April 2027.
Table of contents
1. When is the Autumn Budget 2026?
John Healey will present the Budget to the Commons on Wednesday 28 October 2026 – usually from around 12:30pm. It’s the first Budget of Andy Burnham’s government, which took office this summer, and it comes eleven months after last November’s Budget raised dividend tax and extended the threshold freeze.
The Office for Budget Responsibility publishes its economic and fiscal forecast the same afternoon.
You can expect it to shape what’s possible: ten-year gilt yields were close to 5% in late August, according to Hargreaves Lansdown, so there’s little room to cut one tax without raising another.
Nothing announced on the day is law yet!
Parliament debates the Budget resolutions over the following four days, and the measures then pass through the Finance Bill. Most changes start on 6 April 2027, although some have applied from Budget day itself – the capital gains tax rise in October 2024 being the obvious example.
2. What’s already decided before 28 October
A lot of what will hit your 2027/28 tax bill is already confirmed, whatever Healey announces.
These are the changes to plan around now:
- Dividend tax rose by 2 percentage points in April 2026, to 10.75% at the basic rate and 35.75% at the higher rate.
- Tax on savings and property income rises by 2 percentage points from April 2027, to 22%, 42% and 47%.
- Income tax thresholds, including the £12,570 personal allowance, stay frozen until April 2031.
- Making Tax Digital for Income Tax applies to sole traders and landlords with gross income over £30,000 from April 2027, and over £20,000 from April 2028.
- The cash ISA allowance falls to £12,000 for savers under 65 from April 2027, inside the same £20,000 overall limit.
- Unused pension pots count towards your estate for inheritance tax from April 2027.
- From April 2029, salary sacrifice pension contributions above £2,000 a year lose their National Insurance relief.
The MTD change is the one most freelancers will notice first.
HMRC uses the gross income on your 2025/26 return to decide, so if your creative work brought in more than £30,000 last year, quarterly updates under Making Tax Digital for Income Tax start next April.
3. What could change for freelancers and sole traders?
Three rumours matter most if you’re self-employed.
Self-Employed National Insurance
BDO expects the government to look at ending the gap between employed and self-employed National Insurance. You currently pay 6% Class 4 on profits between £12,570 and £50,270, against 8% for employees, so closing it would raise costs for sole-trader photographers, musicians and illustrators.
VAT Registration Threshold
BDO also tips the VAT registration threshold to rise from £90,000 to £100,000. If your turnover sits just below £90,000 and most of your clients can’t reclaim VAT, that extra room would protect your margins.
4. What could change for limited companies and studio owners?
For directors and studio owners, the rumours centre on capital gains tax and business rates.
CGT rose to 18% and 24% in October 2024. BDO expects small rate rises this time rather than an overhaul, while Which? reports pressure to remove the CGT uplift on death, a change estimated to raise £1.5bn–£2bn a year.
Business rates are where some creative businesses gain.
Pubs, social clubs and live music venues in England get a 20% cut from April 2027, following the 15% relief in place for 2026/27. The government has also promised wider reform of Small Business Rates Relief, and BDO points to a possible rise in the £12,000 rateable value threshold towards £17,000: good news for studios, galleries and workshops on modest premises.
5. Getting advice on the Budget
WallsMan Creative are specialist accountants for the creative industries, working from Somerset House and Kingston upon Thames with freelancers, studios, agencies and production companies. After every Budget, we work out what the announcements mean for creative income:
- day rates
- royalties
- dividends
- project-based cash flow.
This Budget is unlikely to touch headline tax rates. We’ll publish our breakdown on 28 October.
If you’d like to talk through how any of this affects your own plans, book a free call with the team.
