Summary
This was a
forward-looking Budget, with much of the content based on the assumption that
the current Government will pick up where it left off, after the General
Election on 7 May 2015.
The sweeteners for
voters include; a cut in duty on beer, cider and sprites, including whisky. The
tax on road fuel is frozen, but the tax and NI charges for having the private
use of a company car or van are set to increase above the levels which had already
been predicted.
There are two changes
to entrepreneurs' relief which take effect immediately, but those should not
affect people who are selling significant stakes in their businesses.
For the future the
Chancellor promised to increase the tax-free personal allowance up to £11,000
and introduce a new tax-free savings allowance of £1,000, but not until April
2016 at the earliest. Class 2 NIC is set to be combined with Class 4 NIC, which
will be a simplification for the self-employed.
The promised abolition
of annual tax returns to be replaced by an online tax account may sound
attractive, but HMRC's track-record of mixing up figures submitted under RTI
does not bode well for such an ambitious project.
We have organised the
coverage below into future promises, which can only happen after the General
Election, and immediate changes which take effect from 18 March 2015, or from
April 2015.
This newsletter is a
summary of the key tax points from the Budget, based on the documents released
on 18 March 2015. It is possible that a different position will be shown by the
draft legislation which is due to be published on 24 March 2015. We will keep
you informed of any significant developments.
