The Chancellor George Osborne delivered his final Autumn Statement of this Parliament yesterday which contained relatively few surprises.

For savers there were new limits announced for ISAs, for businesses there was the extension of the Small Business Rate Relief and arguably the most fundamental announcement of the day was the changes to Stamp Duty Land Tax – how does the Autumn Statement 2014 affect you?

We have summarised some of the main announcements split between three areas:

Business – A summary of measures announced that affect businesses.

Business

Small Business Rate Relief

• The doubling of the Small Business Rate Relief was extended to April 2016. Approximately 385,000 of the smallest businesses will continue to receive 100% relief from business rates. 100% relief is available for properties with a rateable value of £6,000 or less.
• Also they will continue to cap the annual increase in business rates at 2% to March 2016.
• Retail and food and drink premises with a rateable value of £50,000 or less will get an increased business rates discount of £1,500 up to the state aid limits for 1 year from 1 April 2015.

Research & Development (R&D)

• For small and medium sized enterprises the R&D rate will increase from 225% to 230%. For large enterprises the above the line credit will increase from 10% to 11%. These changes will take effect from 1 April 2015.

Employer National Insurance contributions (NICs)

• Employer NICs up to the upper earnings limit for apprentices aged under 25 will be abolished from April 2016.
• The £2,000 Employment Allowance for employer NICs will be extended to those households who employ care and support workers from April 2015.

Children’s Television Tax Relief

• A new corporation tax relief for the production of children’s television programmes will be available at a rate of 25% on qualifying production expenditure from 1 April 2015.

High-end Television Tax Relief

• The government will explore whether to reduce the minimum UK expenditure for high-end TV relief from 25% to 10% and modernise the cultural test, to bring the relief in line with film tax relief.

Bank Loss Relief Restriction

• The amount of a bank’s annual profit that can be offset by carried forward losses will be restricted to 50% from 1 April 2015.

Personal finances

Income Tax allowances and tax rates

• The personal allowance will increase to £10,600 from 6 April 2015, an increase of £100 from previously announced.
• The basic rate limit changes to £31,785 (currently £31,865) with the higher rate threshold above which Income Tax is payable at 40% increasing to £42,385.
• The starting rate limit on savings income will increase to £5,000 (currently £2,880) for the 2015/16 tax year.

Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT)

• The basis of calculating SDLT on the purchase of a residential home has been changed with effect for purchases on or after 4 December 2014.  SDLT will be charged only on the portion of the purchase price within each band instead of paying a single rate on the entire price paid for the property.

SDLT rates from 4 December 2014

Purchase price of property (£)	New rates paid on the part of the property price within each tax band
0-125,000	0%
125,001-250,000	2%
250,001-925,000	5%
925,001-1,500,000	10%
1,500,001 and over	12%

 Post Graduate Loan

• Those aged under 30 who want to study for a post-graduate Masters degree in any subject will be able to take out a student loan of up to £10,000. These loans will be available from April 2016. They are designed to be repaid in full but will be cheaper than bank loans. The government will consult on the detail.
  

Remittance basis charge for non domiciles

• The charge paid by people who have been UK resident for 7 out of the last 9 years will remain at its current level of £30,000.
• The charge paid by those who have been UK resident for 12 out of the last 14 years will increase by £10,000 from £50,000 to £60,000.
• A new charge of £90,000 will be introduced for those who have been UK resident for 17 of the last 20 years.

Tax Credits

• Tax credit payments will be reduced in-year from April 2015 where, due to a change of circumstances, a claimant would otherwise receive an overpayment.

Support for carers

• The carer’s allowance earnings limit will increase from £102 to £110 per week from April 2015.

Car benefits

• The company car fuel benefit multiplier increases from £21,700 to £22,100.

Van benefits

• The standard van fuel benefit increases to £594 (currently £581) while the van benefit charge is increasing to £3,150 (currently £3,090).

ISAs

• The savings limit for an ISA will increase from £15,000 to £15,240 from 6 April 2015. At the same time the Junior ISA and Child Trust Fund subscription limits both increase from £4,000 to £4,080.

Transfers to spouses and civil partners on death

• Legislation will be introduced from 3 December 2014 to allow an additional ISA allowance for spouses and civil partners when an ISA saver dies, equal to the value of that saver’s ISAs.

Pensions

• Savers will be able to access their defined contribution pension as they wish at retirement from April 2015. This will be subject to their marginal rate of Income Tax, instead of the current 55% charge for full withdrawal.
• Individuals who die before age 75 will be able to pass on their pension pot to the beneficiary and the beneficiary will pay no tax on the funds. If death occurs after the age of 75, the beneficiary will pay their marginal rate of Income Tax, or 45% if the funds are taken as a lump sum payment. The lump sum payments will also be taxed at the recipient’s marginal rate from April 2016.
• From April 2015, beneficiaries of individuals who die under the age of 75 with a joint life or guaranteed annuity will be able to receive any future payments from such policies tax-free.

Pension credit

• The savings credit threshold will rise by 5.1%.

State Pension

• The new flat rate state pension will be at least £151.25 a week. The actual final amount of this new flat rate pension is to be announced in autumn 2015.

Air Passenger Duty (APD)

• Children under 12 will be exempt from APD on economy class fares from 1 May 2015. This will be extended to children under 16 from 1 March 2016.

Anti-avoidance

Restricting Tax Advantage on Incorporation

• The corporation tax relief a company may obtain following the acquisition of a business through the amortisation of ‘goodwill’ from a related individual or partnership will be restricted. This will affect acquisitions on or after 3 December 2014.

Restricting Tax Advantage of Entrepreneurs’ Relief on Incorporation

• Individuals will be prevented from claiming Entrepreneurs’ Relief on disposals of the ‘goodwill’ when they transfer the business to a related close company, with effect from 3 December 2014. Consequently, they will pay tax at 18% or 28% instead of 10%.

Profit Shifting

• A new diverted profits tax at 25% will be introduced from 1 April 2015 to counter the use of aggressive tax planning by multinationals to divert profits from the UK.

Offshore Tax Evasion

• Legislation will be introduced to enhance civil penalties for offshore tax evasion.

Talk to us about how the measures announced in the Autumn Statement may affect your business or personal finances. Please contact Sarah Seavor on 07712 218 540 or sarah@seavorchartered.co.uk.