This pre-Election Budget has thrown up a few surprises and a
few "give-aways":
·
Annual personal tax returns are to be replaced
by new digital tax accounts (projected to be within five years)
·
Decrease in the lifetime pension allowance - now
down to £1million but it will be indexed in line with inflation from 6 April
2016
·
FATCA-type reporting is to be introduced from
2016 to assist in the fight against tax evasion. Financial institutions with
account holders tax resident in countries with which the UK has a Exchange of
Information Agreement will be required
to collect and report information on a wide range of financial investments and
accounts
·
The VAT threshold has been increased from 1
April 2015 to £82,000
·
The first tranche of interest income - £1,000 for basic rate
taxpayers & £500 for higher rate taxpayers - will be tax exempt. Additional rate (45%) taxpayers will get no tax
exempt allowance whatsoever!
·
Personal allowances will rise to £10,600 in
2015/16, £10,800 in 2016/17 and then to £11,000 in 2017/18
·
The basic rate band will be increased, reversing
the trend in recent years, and will be £31,785 in 2015/16, £31,900 in 2016/17
and £32,300 in 2017/18
·
Class 2 National Insurance Contributions are to
be abolished but no date has been set for the implementation of this measure. Class 4 National Insurance Contributions are
to be reformed
·
A new ISA account (Help To Buy ISA) is to be
launched to help first-time buyers with the Government matching savings on the
basis of £50 for every £200 saved by the individual with an overall limit of
£3,000 and owners of existing ISAs will find they can make withdrawals and
replacements without losing the ISA status
·
From April 2016, tax relief for travel and subsistence expenses is to be restricted for
individuals working through intermediaries eg umbella companies
·
The Remittance Basis Charge is to be extended
such that non-domiciled individuals resident in the UK for 17 out of 20 years
will be required to pay £90,000 to access the remittance basis of taxation from
this April. The charge for those
resident in the UK for 12 of the last 14 years will rise to £60,000
·
A consultation process will be opened for
comment on the Government's intention to restrict the availability of Deeds of
Variation for Inheritance Tax planning purposes