A comprehensive summary of the measures announced by Chancellor Rishi Sunak in his first Budget Speech on 11th of March 2020. Find out how the measures will affect you and your business.
Some of the biggest announcements covered are:
Individuals
- Income Tax Personal Allowance remains at £12,500 per year.
- The tax threshold for National Insurance Contributions will rise from £8,632 to £9,500. For those earning more than £9,500 this will save £85 per year.
- The Annual Tapered Pension threshold has been adjusted to remove all those with salaries up to £200k.
- Minimum wage for over-25s will rise by 51p to £8.72 an hour from April. It will also rise to £8.20 (age 21 to 24), £6.45 (18 to 20), £4.55 (under 18) and £4.15 (apprentice)
- National Living Wage will reach two-thirds of median earnings by 2024 - forecasting a wage for over-25s of £10.50 an hour.
- Duty on fuel, beer, cider and wine to be frozen.
- Duty on Rolling Tobacco to rise by 6% and 2% for cigarettes, adding 27p to a pack of cigarettes and 14p for cigars.
- 5% Tampon Tax to be scrapped.
Business
- Corporation Tax frozen at 19% instead of dropping to 17% as planned.
- Entrepreneurs Relief lifetime allowance to be dropped from £10m to £1m.
- Firms eligible for small business rates relief will get a one off £3,000 cash grant.
- VAT on digital publications to be scrapped from December.
- Employment Allowance increases from £3,000 to £4,000 for employers whose NI contributions are below £100,000 per year.
- RDEC scheme for large enterprises to rise from 12% to 13% from April 1st 2020.
- Business rate discounts for pubs to rise from £1,000 to £5,000 this year
- Business rates retail discount rises from 50% to 100% in 2020/21 for small firms (properties with a rateable value under £51,000)
- Firms eligible for small business rates relief will get £3,000 cash grant.
If you have any questions on how any area covered affects you or your business please don't hesitate to get in touch!
