First things first, if you are a director of a limited company who does not invest in assets worth more than £1m - you may be excused from the rest of this email, nothing for you here... I am being mildly sarcastic, there are a few things that may interest you:
So, I was joking with the guys in the office and said "I hope Sunak turns up to the Budget and says he has nothing to report"... anyway, turns out I wasn't far off the mark. There was a lot of talking, some "hilarious" jokes and quite a lot of talk about alcohol, but I don't have an awful lot to report back about business and taxes.
Here is a very brief Budget summary:
1. The corporation tax rate increase is still going ahead in 2023.
2. The £1m annual investment allowance has been extended to March 2023.
Chancellor Phillip Hammond’s third budget mainly comprised of ‘jokes’ and constant references to austerity coming to an end. Once we got to the ‘tax’part, around 40 minutes in, it was quite sparse and reference was made to a Spring 2019 budget, should Brexit negotiations not go to plan…
The personal allowance will rise to £12,500 in April 2019 and the higher rate tax threshold to £50,000.
A round up of key announcements from the Autumn Statement 2016, including changes to future Autumn Statement and Budget announcements.
The Chancellor’s March 2016 Budget brought some expected changes and, perhaps, some surpise changes to our tax system. The sugar levy on drinks companies is being fiercely debated in the Press and we can only wait to see if something good will come from it. Personally, I believe that any influence on the high levels of sugar consumed, mostly unwittingly, by our population is a good thing. It will be a very good result if he can use the tax raised from that levy to fund extra hours for schools to be able to provide extra curricular activities for their pupils, including sport.
The biggest news from the Autumn Statement was the Chancellor's announcement that the rates and thresholds for tax credits will be frozen for 2016/17 at the 2015/16 levels. There is one exception - the disregard of rising income is to be brought in line with the disregard for falling income. Both will be set at £2,500 for 2016/17.
There was some great news for business in the Summer Budget, with corporation tax being dropped to 18% and some not so great news, with an attack on dividends and higher rate tax landlords.