U.K. Government Temporarily Doubles Surcharge on Banks
By Michael Hennessey
The U.K. government said it would temporarily double the bank corporate tax surcharge from January as it seeks to weather "global economic storms."
Treasury chief John Healey said in Wednesday's U.K. budget that the bank surcharge would increase to 6% from 3% from January for 15 months, to pay for "immediate support on energy bills."
The bank surcharge was first introduced in 2016 in the wake of the global financial crisis, and originally stood at 8% on profit above 25 million pounds.
Analysts had expected an increase of 5 percentage points to the surcharge on bank profits to return the levy to its previous level of 8%. Shares in British banks rose, with NatWest up 4.1%, Lloyds 3.8% higher while Barclays gained 3.4%.
In 2023, when the U.K.'s main corporation tax rate increased to 25% from 19%, the surcharge was cut to 3% by the Conservative government, with the threshold raised to 100 million pounds.
Write to Michael Hennessey at michael.hennessey@wsj.com
Corrections & Amplifications
This item was corrected at 1418 GMT to clarify that analysts had expected an increase of 5 percentage points, not an increase of 5%, to the surcharge on bank profits.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 28, 2026 09:35 ET (13:35 GMT)
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