Autumn Budget

The Chancellor of the Exchequer has announced his new Autumn Budget. We are detailing the key changes and how they will affect you.

The personal allowance threshold, the rate at which people start paying income tax, will be increasing from £11,850 to £12,500 from April 2019
The higher rate income tax threshold, the point at which people start paying tax at 40%, is to rise from £46,350 to £50,000 in April 2019
National living wage increasing by 4.9% from £7.83 to £8.21 an hour, from April 2019
The current capital gains tax annual exemption is being increased from £11,700 to £12,000 from April 2019
The Entrepreneurs Relief qualifying period will be extended from 12 months to 2 years after 5th April 2019
Annual Investment Allowance to be increased to £1m (from £200k) for a 2-year period starting 1st January 2019
Research & Development Tax Relief for loss making SME’s capped at 3x total PAYE and NI liability from April 2020
Business rates bills for businesses with a rateable value of £51,000 or less will be cut by a third over two years
Dividend Tax Allowance maintained at £2,000 for the 2019-20 tax year. This is the amount of dividends you can receive tax-free
Small businesses will now only have to contribute 5% to the apprenticeship levy
For those drinkers, duty on beer and cider has been frozen. However, the duty on a bottle of wine is to rise by 8p
Tobacco duty will continue to rise by inflation plus 2%
Fuel duty to be frozen for the ninth year running
All first-time buyers purchasing shared equity homes of up to £500,000 will be eligible for first time buyers’ relief. This means they will not have to pay stamp duty, which will also be backdated for anyone who has purchases within the last year
Private Residence Relief Exemption for final period of ownership reduced to 9 months from 18 months from April 2020