If anyone has had a chance to go over the changes from yesterday's budget, I'd welcome any commentary on how the changes might affect any of us planning to move back to the UK and buy a property. I hope my move will be in the Spring. I will try to delve into it myself but I value the viewpoints expressed here. Thanks in advance.

Stamp duty increases - https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c89v7ednx8zo

If you would count as a first time house buyer (not sure how the government defines that), the stamp duty threshold reduces next April, so depending on your plans, it might make sense to buy a house before then - though the glacial pace of UK estate agents could well make that difficult.

If you plan to start a business employing 4 or more people, the *employer* NI changes were quite drastic - threshold almost halved is the main thing, as it adds at least £415 (I think) to your costs for any employee who earns ca. £9k, and for higher salaries an additional cost of ca. £120 for every additional £10k of their salary.

I can't think of any other changes that would directly affect someone returning to the UK. IHT rule changes will affect a lot of people, but this is not related to returning per se.

No changes to stamp duty on buying your primary home.

If you are planning on selling shares after returning then the tax on capital gains is going up.

There is actually a change for first-time buyers, that was missed by most commentators (though Sunak did mention it in his HoC rebuttal). From 31st March next year, the threshold for stamp duty for FTB will be reduced. This change was nor formally announced, but is implicit from the omission of any mention of the current freeze, which expires next March.

As per my comment above, the OP may or may not be classed as FTB.

Have pasted a paagraph from Rightmove below:

"The previous Conservative government adjusted stamp duty thresholds until March 2025, which meant that home-movers would pay lower stamp duty fees, and in many cases (mostly for first-time buyers), meant no stamp duty to pay at all. There were no announcements around an extension to the current elevated thresholds, meaning these are set to drop back at the end of March 2025. Tim says: “With the rate at which no stamp duty is charged for home-movers due to fall from £250,000 to £125,000, anyone purchasing a property over this amount could face paying up to £2,500 more in stamp duty land tax. Meanwhile, the threshold rate at which first-time buyers do not pay stamp duty is likely to fall from £425,000 to £300,000. If a first-time buyer buys a property at the average UK price of £370,759 they will pay £3,538 in stamp duty from March 2025, compared with nothing now.”

Thank you all very much, very helpful. I have owned property in the UK before, but not since the early 2,000s so not a first-time buyer. I hope to return in April, but will need to reapply for my Resident status, which will require me to be in the UK for 6 months in the previous 12 months. I need to investigate, but I think that means 6 months in the previous tax year, which will make me liable for the non-resident's stamp duty if I buy within that period, which might take it to 2026, during which time property prices could increase. Swings and roundabouts.....

Thanks for the clarification, I had missed that.

You can claim the non-resident stamp duty surcharge back too once you've been resident for 183 days - https://www.gov.uk/guidance/apply-for-a-repayment-of-the-non-uk-resident-stamp-duty-land-tax-surcharge

Thank you! I remember now that someone else had mentioned this in reply to a previous question I had posted, but I forgot. Short-term memory problems. So very helpful to know this. I will save the link now.

A lot of mainstream commentators missed it initially, also. I only looked into it because Sunak included it in his robust response, during the " ..... UP! ...... UP! ..... Stamp Duty for first-time buyers ... UP!" section of his reply.

Essentially, it was missed because it wasn't mentioned. Reeves was sure to include the fact that they were not going to extend the freeze on tax thresholds (because that would be unfair on "working people"), but she DIDN'T mention that she was not going to extend the freeze on reduced stamp duty thresholds. Usual disingenuous politics.

[Edited to add that, in addition to my original comment, I realised it affects all buyers, not just first time buyers. FTB threshold for stamp duty will reduce from £425k to £300k and "home movers" as they're being called, reduced from £250k back down to £125K.)