Francesca Lagerberg, head of tax at business and financial adviser Grant Thornton, said: “There has been a great deal of publicity about stamp duty avoidance.
“We expected the Government to act in the Autumn statement so it would be a surprise if did not provide clarity and close the perceived existing loopholes in March."
Lagerberg also predicts that Chancellor George Osborne will discard the much debated mansion tax championed by the Liberal Democrats.
“It is likely that the Chancellor will rule out the creation of two new top-level council tax bands or a mansion tax,” she said.
“The Liberal Democrats believe installing this measure would enable the Treasury to raise the income tax threshold to £10,000 but Conservative ministers oppose the measure as it breaches the Tory manifesto commitment not to revalue homes for council tax."
However she believes the 50p tax will stay in the government’s plan for the time being.
She said: "We do not yet have the report on the money raised by the 50% tax rate but Osborne cannot remove it while public sector workers are undergoing a pay squeeze.
“Therefore, I expect it to stay until the end of this parliament although it is unlikely that we will get any firm date for it to be scrapped outlined this time."
She added that it was likely the personal allowance would rise as planned.
"Osborne will reaffirm the coalition target of raising the personal allowance to £10,000 by April 2015,” she said. “Although there are suggestions of a more rapid rise, this is unlikely to feature as the cost of implementing it is so high."
Overall Lagerberg said this Budget will focus entirely on growth and galvanising the corporate world into pulling the UK away from a double dip recession.
“Osborne is unlikely to set out bold tax rises but instead I suspect we will see rewards for innovation and making it more attractive to base a company on British soil,” she said.
"There may be targeted but small tax breaks for the most vulnerable sections of society including families on low incomes and the elderly but expect a focus on further anti-avoidance measures including a clampdown on stamp duty land tax avoidance.”
