A summary of the Autumn Budget 2018…
The chancellor has supposedly delivered his last budget before we leave the EU, unless we end up with no deal in which case we’ll have another one before 29th March 2019.
His focus was on announcing the potential end of austerity and some small rewards for those who he feels have helped get the economy back on its feet and ready for a ‘new chapter’.
Bullish about the state of the public finances, he brought forward plans to increase the personal tax allowance to £12,500 from April 2019 together with an increase in the higher rate tax threshold to £50,000, a year earlier than planned. Another popular move was to abolish stamp duty for first time buyers of shared ownership properties and backdate that to the last budget. There was a little more for mental health, local care services and a ‘little extra’ for schools too.
On pensions, all was quiet with the lifetime allowance maintained and increased in line with inflation, and no changes to funding or tax reliefs which some had feared. Surprisingly (and perhaps thankfully), the budget was silent on inheritance tax but the Chancellor took the opportunity in the fine print to take a swipe at Entrepreneurs Relief planning by not only re-introducing a two year ownership period to qualify but other more stringent requirements in terms of what constitutes a qualifying 5% stake.
Rather than repeat the headlines you can find the top 24 things that the Government wants to focus on by clicking on this link.
As always, we will be going through the fine print and will keep you posted on any issues that may directly impact on your planning. Do call us if you have any queries or concerns in the meantime.
