The Budget in brief – key points

Well the budget yesterday was rather as expected given on the one hand the looming election and on the other the need to show that the Conservatives can be relied upon to improve the public finances – so a few hopefully vote catching tax giveaways but nothing too earth shattering. Most people in work should find themselves a few hundred pounds better off, particularly if they have significant savings and are married. I’ve summarised below the main points.

1. Personal allowance to increase to £10,600 in 15/16, then £10,800 in 16/17 and £11,000 in 17/18.
2. Basic rate band increased to £31,785, so the higher rate will start at £42,385 in 15/16.
3. There will be a new savings allowance of £1,000 (£500 for higher rate tax payers) from 16/17 on which no tax will be due.
4. A transferable married couple allowance of £1,060 in 15/16. You can read more about this here
5. Corporation tax rate for small businesses stays at 20%
6. Annual investment allowance drops to £25,000 from £500,000 on 1 January 2016.
7. Class 2 National insurance for the self-employed will be collected via self-assessment rather than separately from 15/16.
8. VAT registration threshold increased to £82,000 from 15/16.

If you would like to read a more detailed summary of the main changes these can be accessed here and for a full list of all the new tax allowances for 15/16 here