The Autumn Budget 2026 is the government’s tax and spending plan for the years ahead, delivered to Parliament on 28 October 2026 and published as Budget 2026 (HC 726) on GOV.UK the same day. For freelancers, it is a mixed bag: no change to the rates of tax on your earnings, but real changes to mileage, side income, Making Tax Digital, parental pay, and HMRC’s powers to collect unpaid tax.

We checked every figure in this article against the Budget report itself on 28 Oct 2026, not against news summaries. Where the report gives a date, we give it. Where it does not, we say so.

This is general information, not legal or financial advice. If the amount is large or the situation is disputed, get proper professional advice.

Do your earnings tax rates change?

No. The Budget keeps the rates of tax paid on earnings unchanged, and says 84% of income tax payers will be unaffected by the changes to tax on savings and property income. The extra money comes from assets, not from your day rate.

From 6 April 2027, the rates on property income in England, Wales and Northern Ireland rise by a further two percentage points, to 24% at the basic rate, 44% at the higher rate, and 49% at the additional rate. The same three rates apply to savings income from the same date. If you let a room or a flat alongside freelancing, that is the change to price into your 2027/28 planning. The cash ISA limit stays at £20,000.

No rise to the personal allowance is announced in this Budget. If you were waiting for one, this is not the Budget that delivers it.

Driving for work: 55p stays, and 35p above 10,000 miles

If you drive your own car or van for work, start here. The 55p per mile rate for the first 10,000 business miles, announced as a temporary rate in May, is now permanent. Above 10,000 business miles, the rate rises from 25p to 35p per mile from 6 April 2027.

The Budget report says around 1 million self-employed people will benefit, and puts the saving at £120 a year for a basic-rate taxpayer driving 6,000 business miles, and up to £300 a year at 15,000 business miles, in 2027/28.

In plain terms: 12,000 business miles at the new rates gives you £6,200 of tax-free mileage allowance (10,000 miles at 55p plus 2,000 miles at 35p), against £6,000 at the old above-10,000 rate. The habit that matters is the log. Miles without a record are miles you cannot claim, so keep the log contemporaneous, not reconstructed in January.

Side income: the trading allowance triples to £3,000

From 6 April 2027, the trading allowance rises from £1,000 to £3,000. That means you can receive up to £3,000 of trading and miscellaneous income tax-free each year.

This matters most if you are starting out, or if freelance work sits alongside a job. A first £3,000 of side income no longer needs to be taxed. It does not remove every obligation: if your trading income goes above the allowance, or you need to register for other reasons, the normal self-assessment rules still apply. Check HMRC’s guidance for your situation rather than assuming the allowance covers everything.

Making Tax Digital: a penalty-free first year for the April 2027 wave

If you join Making Tax Digital for Income Tax in April 2027, you will not receive penalty points for late submission of your first four quarterly updates for the 2027/28 tax year. The Budget calls this a 12-month penalty easement.

The Budget also defers the roll-out of MTD for Income Tax to several taxpayer groups until further notice. The report does not name those groups, so we will not guess which ones. If you are in the April 2026 wave, none of this changes your position: your second quarterly update is still due by 7 November 2026, as our MTD checklist explains. And if you are in the £30,000 wave starting April 2027, our MTD £30,000 guide covers your timetable.

The easement is breathing room, not a reason to skip quarters. The quarterly habit is the point of MTD, and late filing still creates a mess even without points.

Parental pay finally reaches self-employed fathers and partners

From April 2029, eligible self-employed fathers, partners and adopters in Great Britain will be able to access parental pay for the first time. The Budget says this will benefit over 150,000 parents a year. People who are recently employed or unemployed, or who have a broken or irregular pattern of employment and therefore do not qualify for statutory paternity or adoption pay, will also benefit if they have sufficient work and earnings history.

Two gaps to be honest about. First, the Budget report does not state a weekly rate for this new parental allowance, so we will not quote one here. The Parental Leave and Pay Review concludes in early 2027 and should fill in the detail. Second, the measure is for Great Britain, not Northern Ireland, as written in the report.

If you are planning a family after April 2029, this is worth diarising, not acting on yet. The eligibility detail and the rate are still to come.

HMRC gets sharper teeth: bank-account recovery from July 2029

From July 2029, HMRC will have a new power to recover lower-value tax debts through regular instalments directly from the bank accounts of individuals and companies who can afford to pay but repeatedly fail to do so. A Code of Practice setting out safeguards comes first, and the power itself needs a future Finance Bill.

Read that sentence carefully: it targets people who can pay and repeatedly do not, not someone who misses a single deadline. But the direction is unmistakable, and it sits alongside 670 additional HMRC compliance officers to be recruited by 2029/30, on top of a previous commitment to recruit 5,500. If you owe HMRC money, call them and agree a plan before it becomes a recovery case.

In the same direction, from April 2029 the government will require Income Tax Self Assessment taxpayers who make payments on account to make more regular in-year payments towards their final bill. The report gives no payment schedule yet, so the practical step for now is cash-flow planning: if you currently pay twice a year, start thinking in smaller, more frequent chunks.

VAT-registered? E-invoicing and direct debit arrive in 2029

From 1 April 2029, HMRC will require VAT invoices to be issued in a specified electronic format. Full policy and technical details arrive by April 2028, and a consultation is open on future uses of the structured invoice data. If you invoice from Word or a PDF template today, 2029 is your horizon for switching to software that can issue structured e-invoices. No rush, but do not buy a system in 2028 that cannot do it.

From April 2029, taxpayers will also have to set up a direct debit instruction for VAT and PAYE return liabilities. You can still use other payment methods before a specified cut-off date; the direct debit collects any unpaid balance. For a VAT-registered freelancer, that means one less deadline to miss, and one less reason for HMRC to chase you.

If you also let property, or plan to sell your business

Property income tax rates in England, Wales and Northern Ireland rise to 24%, 44% and 49% from 6 April 2027, as above. If you claim Business Asset Disposal Relief when you sell your business, the lifetime limit falls from £1 million to £500,000 from April 2027. The report says three-quarters of claimants will still receive relief on their entire gain.

If you buy equipment, the main rate first-year allowance rises from 40% to 50% from 1 January 2027, while the main rate writing-down allowance falls from 14% to 12% from April 2027. For a big kit purchase, the timing across that January to April boundary is worth a conversation with your accountant.

What this Budget does not do

It does not change the rates of tax on your earnings. It does not raise the personal allowance. And for all the talk about late payment, it announces no new late-payment law and no date: the report repeats a commitment to tackling late payments to support small business cashflow, and nothing more. Our existing late payment rights guide still describes the law as it stands.

That last point is worth stating plainly. A Budget that does not legislate on late payment does not make your invoices safer. Your contract terms and your chasing habit still do the work.

What to do this week

  • Check your mileage log. If you drive for work, make sure every business mile is recorded. The 55p rate is permanent now, and the 35p rate above 10,000 miles starts 6 April 2027.
  • If you have side income under £3,000, note the new trading allowance from 6 April 2027, and check whether anything else still requires you to file.
  • If you join MTD in April 2027, use the penalty-free first year to build the quarterly habit, not to skip it.
  • If you are a self-employed father, partner or adopter planning a family after April 2029, watch for the Parental Leave and Pay Review in early 2027 for the rate and eligibility rules.
  • If you owe HMRC, agree a payment plan now. The 2029 recovery power is aimed at repeated non-payment, and a plan agreed early beats a recovery case later.
  • If you are VAT-registered, put structured e-invoicing on your 2028 software checklist.

Sources: Budget 2026 (HC 726), HM Treasury, published on GOV.UK 28 October 2026. All figures above were checked against that document on 28 Oct 2026.