Tax Plus Blog - Budget

Help with child care costs The Government’s commitment to providing help with childcare costs is a welcome boost for working families, albeit the assistance is being phased in from Autumn 2015.  The relief will initially help families with children under age 5 and will be extended over time to include children under 12. To be eligible for the relief, both parents must work (with each earning below £150,000) and they cannot be receiving tax credits or the universal credit. The current proposal, which is subject to consultation, is that the Government will pay 20% toward child care costs up to £6,000...

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As with many previous Budgets and Autumn Statements, I nervously waited for the Chancellor to utter the word ‘pensions’ along with a raft of notices concerning variation of pension tax allowances.  On this occasion the Budget revealed no obvious new adjustments to limits, which was a pleasing departure from recent trend. To summarise the current position: •  For the 2013/14 tax year, the Annual Allowance (AA) remains at £50,000, with it falling to £40,000 in 2014/15. •  For the 2013/14 tax year, the Lifetime Allowance (LTA) remains at £1.5million, with it falling to £1.25million in 2014/15. ...

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Tax avoidance has been the subject of particular press coverage and comment for over a year now and the Budget brings together “the largest package of anti avoidance measures ever”.  There are various announcements on specific targeted areas such as partnerships and certain IHT points where the Government consider these have been used in marketed tax avoidance schemes.  These sit alongside the new General Anti Abuse Rule (GAAR), which is due to come into force, and are against a backdrop and environment of encouraging disclosure where clients may have become used to enjoying confidentiality in shielding...

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Don’t moan, it’s a loan! One of the anti-avoidance measures announced today impacts upon Inheritance Tax (IHT) schemes which have been marketed by certain promoters.  It is anticipated that this will save £5m of IHT in 2013/14, increasing to £20m in 2014/15, although it is difficult to ascertain how these figures have been arrived at. The IHT measures, as announced, will seek to deny a deduction for a loan in a person’s chargeable estate for IHT purposes.  The particular circumstances where relief will be denied involve a situation where the loan was...

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It was snowing this morning when I left home and, appropriately, there was a flurry of announcements in the Autumn statement but the question is – to stretch the metaphor - how many of these will stick?  The main noise was surrounding the on-going campaign to tackle evasion and aggressive avoidance. There is a continuing conflation of these terms which makes it very hard to distinguish the correct path. HMRC has not had its budget cut and there is a promise of 2,500 specialist Inspectors in an offshore evasion unit and an expansion of the “Affluence unit” dealing...

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Before we can all get too excited about Christmas we have the Autumn statement to look forward to. The Chancellor will present his speech on 5 December and the big question is what will he say? Commentators appear to vary between thinking that he will not say very much and that there will be hugely significant changes. In my view the answer will be that he won't say much about tax but what he does say will need attention. I think with the recent furore around tax avoidance it is inevitable that there will be announcements relating to the prevention...

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Today’s Budget speech included a number of points for private clients. In advance of the detail, the main points are as follows: Personal Allowance to be increased to £9,025 from April 2013 for all. Age Allowance for those over 65 with modest income to be gradually withdrawn from April 2013. Top rate of income tax to be reduced from 50% to 45% from April 2013. Dividends top rate to be reduced to 37.5%. SDLT increased to 7% for houses over £2 million from midnight tonight with extra charges for such houses held in companies and trusts. Limits on the amounts of tax relief available where more...

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We are all set for Budget 2012.  Click here http://t.co/rIxGQdWw for our dedicated Budget page, which features a hub of comment and analysis from our partners in the form of Twitter comments, blog updates as well as feeds across industry experts. ...

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There has been much speculation as to how the special rules for taxing non-doms might change. On Budget Day we found out – at least for this parliament. The good news for non-doms is that they will be able to remit income and/or capital gains tax free for the purpose of commercial investment in UK businesses. This effectively gives up to 50% tax relief on the amounts remitted. We await the outcome of consultation to establish what investments will qualify but in general this is good news for those who want to invest in the UK. Outside the world of...

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Chancellor George Osborne unveiled his Budget on Wednesday 23 March 2011. In response, the team at Mercer & Hole has published a Special Edition of Tax Plus which analyses the issues raised. It can be accessed by clicking here. A new Tax Rates and Allowances card has also been produced in line with the 2011 Budget announcement and can be accessed here.   ...

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