UK Budget 2015
Mar 19th 2015, 9:39 am
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UK Budget 2015
Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, yesterday revealed the terms of his new budget, which many had expected to be a political pawn in the race towards the general election in May. We were told to expect a ‘people’s budget’, aimed at appealing to all ages and walks of life. Here we look at the main points.
Tax
• The personal allowance will increase to £10,600 from April 2015, rising to £10,800 in 2016 and £11,000 in 2017
• The 40% higher rate tax band will be moved up to £42,385 in April, a rise of £500 and to £43,300 by 2017/18
• Digital Tax Accounts will be introduced from 2016/17, which will abolish the annual tax return, with individuals encouraged to upload their accounts electronically
• The National Minimum Wage will increase by 20p to £6.70 an hour for adults in October of this year
• Class 2 National Insurance is to be abolished for the self-employed
• Savers will benefit from their first £1000 being tax free, with this being reduced to £500 for higher-rate tax payers
• Main corporation tax will drop to a flat 20% for all businesses
• Petroleum Tax Revenue (PRT) cut from 50% to 35%
• Bank levy raised to 0.21% set to generate an additional £900m p/a
• ‘Google Tax’ introduced to stop companies moving profits overseas to avoid tax
Pensions, Savings & Personal
• Individual Savings Accounts (ISA’s) will have their threshold increased from £15,000 to £15,240
• A new ‘Help to Buy ISA’ is being introduced to help first time buyers, with the government offering individuals £50 for every £200 they save, redeemable when they withdraw as part of a property purchase
• Capital Gains tax will be payable from 6th April 2015 in the UK for non-resident property owners
• A clamp down on inheritance tax avoidance through ‘deeds of variation’ is expected, through a series of new rules
• As of next year the Lifetime Pension Allowance will be reduced from £1.25m to £1m, which will put a squeeze on larger pension pots
• Loans of up to £25k made available to PhD students and research-based masters degrees
• £15m church roof repair fund set to be trebled
UK Economic Summary
• Last year the UK was the fastest growing major economy, growing at a rate of 2.6%
• Unemployment is set to fall to 5.3% over the course of this year
• Inflation is set to continue to fall, with the expectation being 0.2% this year, way off the 2% target
• The increase in fuel duty has been cancelled
• As of March this year duty rates on beer, spirits and low-strength cider will be reduced by 2%, whilst duty on wine is frozen
• 20 Cigarettes due to increase by 16p
• Growth forecasts for 2015 are at 2.4%, dropping to 2.3% for the next three years and rising to 2.4% again in four years time
How has is affected you?
Tax
• The personal allowance will increase to £10,600 from April 2015, rising to £10,800 in 2016 and £11,000 in 2017
• The 40% higher rate tax band will be moved up to £42,385 in April, a rise of £500 and to £43,300 by 2017/18
• Digital Tax Accounts will be introduced from 2016/17, which will abolish the annual tax return, with individuals encouraged to upload their accounts electronically
• The National Minimum Wage will increase by 20p to £6.70 an hour for adults in October of this year
• Class 2 National Insurance is to be abolished for the self-employed
• Savers will benefit from their first £1000 being tax free, with this being reduced to £500 for higher-rate tax payers
• Main corporation tax will drop to a flat 20% for all businesses
• Petroleum Tax Revenue (PRT) cut from 50% to 35%
• Bank levy raised to 0.21% set to generate an additional £900m p/a
• ‘Google Tax’ introduced to stop companies moving profits overseas to avoid tax
Pensions, Savings & Personal
• Individual Savings Accounts (ISA’s) will have their threshold increased from £15,000 to £15,240
• A new ‘Help to Buy ISA’ is being introduced to help first time buyers, with the government offering individuals £50 for every £200 they save, redeemable when they withdraw as part of a property purchase
• Capital Gains tax will be payable from 6th April 2015 in the UK for non-resident property owners
• A clamp down on inheritance tax avoidance through ‘deeds of variation’ is expected, through a series of new rules
• As of next year the Lifetime Pension Allowance will be reduced from £1.25m to £1m, which will put a squeeze on larger pension pots
• Loans of up to £25k made available to PhD students and research-based masters degrees
• £15m church roof repair fund set to be trebled
UK Economic Summary
• Last year the UK was the fastest growing major economy, growing at a rate of 2.6%
• Unemployment is set to fall to 5.3% over the course of this year
• Inflation is set to continue to fall, with the expectation being 0.2% this year, way off the 2% target
• The increase in fuel duty has been cancelled
• As of March this year duty rates on beer, spirits and low-strength cider will be reduced by 2%, whilst duty on wine is frozen
• 20 Cigarettes due to increase by 16p
• Growth forecasts for 2015 are at 2.4%, dropping to 2.3% for the next three years and rising to 2.4% again in four years time
How has is affected you?
