Thirty-Two Days to 21 September: Predevelopment Costs and Land Remediation Relief
As of 20 August 2026, HM Treasury’s consultations on the tax treatment of predevelopment costs and reforming Land Remediation Relief both close in thirty-two days on 21 September — after the 7 September Finance Bill technical window.
HM Treasury’s Tax treatment of predevelopment costs consultation and Consultation on reforming Land Remediation Relief both close at 11:59pm on 21 September 2026. As of 20 August, developers, brownfield investors, tax advisers, and industry bodies have thirty-two calendar days — and those windows sit after the main Finance Bill 2026-27 draft-clause technical close on 7 September.
The predevelopment pack follows the Supreme Court judgment in Orsted West of Duddon Sands (UK) Ltd and others v HMRC [2026] and seeks evidence on early-stage project costs that sit before plant and machinery can be installed or operated. Land Remediation Relief remains a 150% Corporation Tax relief for qualifying brownfield regeneration; the second consultation explores timing, planning alignment, and long-term derelict land definitions.
Who should still respond
Businesses that incur feasibility, planning, and regulatory predevelopment spend — and their tax advisers — should respond to [email protected] with concrete cost examples after Orsted, not general policy slogans.
Brownfield developers, housing providers, and commercial landlords using Land Remediation Relief should email [email protected] on timing mismatches between expenditure and relief, and on how contamination definitions interact with planning.
State whether you respond as a business, individual, or representative body. Meeting requests for July–September stakeholder sessions also close through the same addresses by 21 September.
Thirty-two-day diary
Finish Finance Bill draft-clause comments by 7 September so the 8–21 September window is free for predevelopment and LRR evidence packs.
Gather invoices and workpapers that show which costs were treated as revenue, capital, or abortive — the consultation expressly steps around some abortive and land-transaction categories.
Keep NICs recovery time-limits (closing 12 October) on a later track so October capacity is not double-booked.
Do not wait for a government response summary before diarying possible rule changes into 2027 modelling.
How FinnAccountings helps while policy drafts evolve
Policy drafts change; clean project and property books do not. FinnAccountings helps Ireland and UK businesses prepare bookkeeping and tax packs with Chartered Accountant insight before you or your ICAEW/ACCA or Chartered Accountant (Ireland) adviser files. Start a free trial for review-ready drafts — we prepare records; we do not draft Treasury consultation responses for you.
Related reading
Today’s thirty-one-day predevelopment and LRR countdown continues this briefing.
Finance Bill draft clauses still close seventeen days from today’s countdown.
Read the earlier predevelopment-only briefing for Orsted context.
Land Remediation Relief respondents can also use the dedicated LRR overview.
Sources & references
This article draws on official guidance and publications from the sources below.
- 1.Tax Treatment of Predevelopment costs
HM Treasury · Accessed 2026-08-20
- 2.Consultation on Reforming Land Remediation Relief
HM Treasury · Accessed 2026-08-20
- 3.Finance Bill 2026-27 — draft legislation and technical tax documents
HM Revenue & Customs · Accessed 2026-08-20
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