Budget 2015

March 31st, 2015 by James Westacott

Growth and economics

• Inflation is due to fall to 0.2% this year. In December it was forecast to be 1.2% this year.

NIC

• The Class 2 national insurance contributions for the self-employed to be abolished.

Tax

• Corporation tax will fall to 20% from April 2015.

• The tax-free personal allowance to rise from £10,600 in 2015-16 to £10,800 in 2016-17 and £11,000 in 2017-18.

• The 40p income tax to rise by above inflation from £42,385 in 2014-15 to £43,300 in 2017-18.

• Starting next year, paper tax returns will be scrapped and replaced with digital accounts.

Alcohol and tobacco duty

• Duty on cider and spirits will be cut by 2% and wine duty will be frozen.

• Duty on tobacco will remain at 2% above inflation increase.

Drivers

• Fuel duty scheduled increase has been cancelled, which is said to equate to £10 of the price of a tank of fuel.

• Abolition of VAT on the Severn Bridge tolls and the Category 2 for small vans and buses. Osborne declares tolls will be cut to £5.40 in 2018.

• Petroleum Revenue Tax (PRT) will be cut from 50% to 35% to support continued production in older fields

New ISA

• Annual savings limit for ISA increased to £15,240 and will allow savers to withdraw money and put it back later in the year without losing any of their tax-free allowance.

• A “Help to buy ISA” will be launched which allows first-time buyers to top up by £50 for every £200 saved for a deposit.

Pension tax relief

• Pension pot lifetime allowance to be reduced from £1.25m to £1m from next year, saving £600m annually.

Bank levy

• Annual bank levy to rise to 0.21% raising an additional £900m a year. Banks to be barred from deducting compensation for mis-selling from corporation tax

Swansea Bay tidal lagoon

• The UK government was opening negotiations over a £1bn tidal lagoon scheme in Swansea, generating power to run 120,000 homes for 120 years.

Stamp duty

• Osborne announced a levy on the sale of buildings or land, causing a cut in the rate of tax for 98% of house purchases, while raising money from those buying the most expensive homes.

• Homebuyers will only pay the rate of tax on the part of the property price within each tax band – like income tax.

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September 24th, 2012 by James Westacott

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