Budget March 2010

Wednesday, March 24th, 2010 | Market Updates | No Comments

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)

Full Budget Details

Hot topics for March Budget

Wednesday, March 17th, 2010 | View from the Top | No Comments

If you have been following the various views online of what will appear in the next budget, you will probably agree that experts are somewhat divided.

Clearly there is a need to increase the amount received by the Exchequer to ensue the huge deficit is repaid over the coming years, but precisely how best to achieve this is most likely to be left to the next Government.

The best of the “best guesses” for budget proposals are as follows:

• broader powers for HMRC, primarily to support them in examining tax avoidance
• preparation for an increase in Capital Gains Tax
• reduction in reliefs for Venture Capital Trusts and Enterprise Initiative Schemes, which are seen as “non-dangerous” changes for the majority of taxpayers
• some focus on residency and foreign banking regulations

We are not expecting any reversal of proposals for taper reductions to 20% on pension contributions.

Lansdown Place will release a summary of the budget as presented on 24th March