The autumn statement brought unwelcome freezes in thresholds and many reliefs and a cut to the threshold for additional rate taxpayers, which falls from will fall from £150,000 to £125,140 next April.
FTAdviser sets out the details on tax here with some useful tables.
The financial services industry has given a mixed review to the statement, according to Money Marketing.
This is an interesting point from Interactive Investor personal finance editor Alice Guy who says: “The CGT rules mean that you’ll need to report a gain through your tax return or by using the Capital Gains Tax Service, or you could end up breaking the law and potentially paying a penalty. If you sell a second home, you’ll need to report CGT gain even sooner, within 60 days of the sale to avoid penalty.”
The Telegraph has an interesting take on the triple lock, maintained in the statement, suggesting that combined with the threshold freeze means that those in receipt of only the state pension will start to pay income tax by 2030.
MoneySavingExpert examines the extended energy bill support, which is less generous but lasts for another year with average customers paying no more than £3,000.
The Guardian focuses on the OBR noting that even with extended support for energy bills, announced by Hunt, overall living standards are predicted to fall by 7% over the next two years, effectively removing the past eight years of growth.
It is notable that the Chancellor did not decide to freeze the lifetime and annual allowances on pensions beyond 2026, though that doesn’t mean they will be automatically upgraded. Pulse magazine assesses the implications for GPs. It may be that senior NHS staff leaving the professor was a factor in the decision not to extend the freeze.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies’s verdict is that the UK has just got a lot poorer.
Some may feel this is a less than festive Christmas message from adviser Carl Lamb. Writing in Money Marketing, he says: “This Christmas, the world needs to hunker down and show moderation. There is a real temptation to be like Nero – to “fiddle while Rome burns” – and to ignore the realities in a fatalistic way, with the mantra that things will be better soon. But we need to advocate economic common sense. This is not the time to blindly build up big credit card debts, so let’s agree a spending limit on presents for friends and family and let’s be moderate in our partying over the festive period.
