There are currently no Budget statements awaiting our review but there is already some legislation in force for the tax year 2012/13.
In 2012/13 the personal tax allowance will increase by £630 rising to £8105.
The basic rate of personal income tax will fall by the same amount, £630, to £34,370.
The result is that basic AND higher rate taxpayers will be better off by £126. This also avoids any anomalies that arose in 2011/12 when changes to personal allowances occured that year.
For businesses the annual investment allowance on which full tax deductions may be claimed falls to £25,000 from April 2012.
The main writing down allowances fall by 2% for "periods fo account" ending on or after 1st April 2012 for companies and 6th April 2012 for other businesses.
IMPORTANT NOTE >> these falls in tax allowable expenditure take effect next tax year. It may be wise for businesses to consider bringing forward planned expenditure on equipment to ensure the current higher rates of allowaces are achieved THIS tax year before the new rules come into effect.
The "lifetime limit" for pension investment will fall from the current £1.8M to £1.5M in 2012/13 and will be fixed at that lower amount for an indeterminate period.
A new option will come into effect to allow an individual to secure the £1.8M limit. This is called the "fixed protection option" but this protection will be lost if more pension benefits are invested for the indivdual after April 2012.
The inheritance tax "nil rate band" stays at £325,000 for 2012/13 and the following two tax years.
AUTUMN STATEMENT 29 NOVEMBER 2011
In essence the statement indicated future government borrowing up but spending down.
Here are some brief notes on some of the statements made by the Chancellor.
The capital gains tax threshold will be frozen.
A tax relief scheme will be started to help people who invest in a start-up business.
The business rate tax relief holiday will be extended until April 2013.
Further examination of how the administration of income tax and national insurance can be merged.
The Chancellor has announced a widening the investment for venture capital trusts (VCTs), removing the investment limit of £1M per company.
The pension age will rise from 66 to 67 by 2026.
The pension credit will go up, paid for by a rise in the threshold for the savings credit.
Benefits will be uprated by the September inflation figure, 5.2%.
The child element in the tax credit will be increased.
Other elements in the working tax credit will be frozen.
A national loan guarantee scheme will be launched. It will be used to fund loans to firms with a turnover of less than £50m.
A £1B business partnership for medium-sized companies is to be set up. The businesses will get a new source of investment and the Treasury will be ready to increase this if successful.
The government will not support an EU financial transaction tax on cross-border currency transactions known as the "Tobin tax".
The bank levy will go up to 0.088%.
A new above-the-line Research and Development tax credit will be introduced from 2013.
The government will consult on changes to employment law allowing small firms to make people redundant without them being able to claim unfair dismissal. It will look at introducing a system of compensated, no fault, redundancy.
Rail fares will increase by less than originally planned.
The 3p fuel duty increase planned for January will be cancelled.
An extra £1.2B will be spent on education. £600m to authorities that need new school places. The rest will fund 100 new free schools.
Free nursery places will be extended.
A Youth Contract will be offered to young people unemployed for more than three months.
Other information is detailed elsewhere in this site.
Please visit this page again after future Budget statements are made to view our comments.
Further information about UK tax and other legislation can be found here ..... www.opsi.gov.uk/