Finance Act 2003

The Finance Act 2003 (c 14) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom prescribing changes to Excise Duties, Value Added Tax, Income Tax, Corporation Tax, and Capital Gains Tax. It enacts the 2003 Budget speech made by Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown to the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

In the UK, the Chancellor delivers an annual Budget speech outlining changes in spending, tax and duty. The respective year's Finance Act is the mechanism to enact the changes.

The rules governing the various taxation methods are contained within the various taxation Acts. (For instance Capital Gains Tax legislation is contained within Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992. The Finance Act details amendments to be made to each one of these Acts.

Stamp duty land tax
Stamp duty land tax (SDLT), a new tax on land transactions was introduced by the 2003 Act. SDLT largely replaced stamp duty from 1 December 2003. SDLT is not a stamp duty, but a form of self-assessed transfer tax charged on "land transactions".