Budget March 2010

Wednesday, March 24th, 2010 | Market Updates

A short summary of the key points here, followed by a link to the full HM Treasury figures if you are really keen to see all the details.

As expected, not a particularly daring budget, with some obvious “delays” in decisions until after the General Election.

At the higher end of tax, in addition to the previous increases announced there is no change to the Inheritance Tax nil rate band for four years. It is now essential that anyone with an estate anywhere near the current band seeks sensible advice to mitigate or plan for any tax – it is clear there is no more help coming from the Government.

Although the clampdown on tax avoidance is currently focussed offshore, and the specific agreement with Belize is political point scoring, this will undoubtedly move back to the UK. There has never been a better time to consider the remaining opportunities before loopholes are closed.

Key points of the Budget:

Stamp duty – 0% for homes under £250k for first time buyers, but an increase to a new 5% rate for homes over £1 million from 6th April 2011.

Tax allowances for those earning over £100,000 gradually removed
No changes to VAT or income tax planned
Inheritance tax threshold frozen for four years
Increase in Entrepreneurs Relief to £2m
ISA limits will increase with inflation in future years, £10200 per person from Tax Year 2010
Clampdown on tax avoidance to raise £500m
New tax agreements with Belize, Grenada and Dominica
3p fuel duty rise to be phased in between April and January 2011
Duty on cider to rise by 10% above inflation from Sunday
Wine, beer and spirit duty up 2% a year until 2013
Tobacco duty up 1% this year and 2% a year in future years
no change to CGT
Pension Lifetime Allowance of £1.8 million and Annual Allowance of £255,000 will continue to apply at these levels for a further five tax years, i.e. up to and including the tax year 2015-16.
NIC rates increases that had been announced in PBR 2008 and 2009 to go ahead (the doc attached covers all of these)