2017 Autumn Budget - At a Glance

26 November 2017

Our Verdict:  There is nothing really surprising in this budget apart from the first time buyer stamp duty reduction. All the various allowances have remained the same or had a slight uplift e.g. The Personal Allowance and also the Pension Lifetime Allowance.

Below is an outline of the key points raised and how they may affect you. 

Key points - Individuals

• No stamp duty land tax on first £300,000 for first time buyers on houses costing upto £500,000.

• Class 2 NIC abolition delayed to 6 April 2019.

• Personal allowance and higher rate threshold  – The government is committed to raising the personal allowance to £12,500 and the higher rate tax threshold to £50,000 by 2020 The Budget announces that in 2018/19 the personal allowance and higher rate tax threshold will increase to £11,850 and £46,350 respectively.

• No changes to rates of income tax, dividend tax and capital gains tax.  However, capital gains tax annual exempt amount changed to £11,700 from 2018.

• Marriage allowance: allowing claims on behalf of deceased partners – The marriage allowance allows taxpayers to transfer up to 10% of their unused PA to their partner, reducing their tax bill by up to £230 a year in 2017/18. The government will now allow claims in cases where a partner has died before the claim was made. These claims will be able to be backdated by up to 4 years.

• Starting rate for savings – The band of savings income that is subject to the 0% starting rate will be kept at its current level of £5,000 for 2018/19. 

• Individual Savings Account (ISA) annual subscription limits – The ISA annual subscription limit for 2018/19 will remain unchanged at £20,000. The annual subscription limit for Junior ISAs and Child Trust Funds for 2018/19 will be uprated in line with the consumer price index to £4,260. 

• Pensions lifetime savings allowance rises to £1,030,000 from 06 April 2018.

• Taxation of trusts – The government will publish a consultation in 2018 on how to make the taxation of trusts simpler, fairer, and more transparent. 

• Life assurance and overseas pension schemes – From April 2019, tax relief for employer premiums paid into life assurance products or certain overseas pension schemes will be modernised to cover policies when an employee nominates an individual or registered charity to be their beneficiary. 

• Rent-a-room relief – The government will publish a call for evidence to establish how rent-a-room relief is used and ensure it is better targeted at longer-term lettings.

Key points - Businesses

• No plans to reduce corporation tax rate this fiscal year, however there will be plans for the tax to be reduced from 19% to 17% from 2020.

• Indexation allowance on chargeable disposals by UK companies will be frozen from 1 January 2018.

• Consultation to be held on VAT threshold.

Key points - Employers

• No benefit-in-kind tax charge to be made for charging electric vehicles at work from 06th April 2018.

• Diesel company car tax supplement to be increased from 3% to 4% from 06th April 2018.

• Save As You Earn scheme – Employees on maternity and parental leave will be able to take up to a 12 month pause from saving into their Save As You Earn employee share scheme, increased from 6 months currently. The change will take effect from 6 April 2018.