Budget News

Budget News

Following the Labour Party’s victory in the General Election on 4 July 2024, the Chancellor Rachel Reeves presented the government’s first Budget on 30 October 2024

·Rates of income tax and National Insurance (NI) paid by employees, and of VAT, to remain unchanged
·Income tax band thresholds to rise in line with inflation after 2028, preventing more people being dragged into higher bands as wages rise
·Basic rate capital gains tax on profits from selling shares to increase from from 10% to 18%, with the higher rate rising from 20% to 24%
·Rates on profits from selling additional property unchanged
·Inheritance tax threshold freeze extended by further two years to 2030, with unspent pension pots also subject to the tax from 2027
·Exemptions when inheriting farmland to be made less generous from 2026

Companies to pay NI at 15% on salaries above £5,000 from April, up from 13.8% on salaries above £9,100, raising an additional £25bn a year
Employment allowance – which allows smaller companies to reduce their NI liability – to increase from £5,000 to £10,500
Tax paid by private equity managers on share of profits from successful deals to rise from up to 28% to up to 32% from April
Main rate of corporation tax, paid by businesses on taxable profits over £250,000, to stay at 25% until next election

Legal minimum wage for over-21s to rise from £11.44 to £12.21 per hour from April
Rate for 18 to 20-year-olds to go up from £8.60 to £10, as part of a long-term plan to move towards a “single adult rate”
Basic and new state pension payments to go up by 4.1% next year due to the “triple lock”, more than working age benefits
Eligibility widened for the allowance paid to full-time carers, by increasing the maximum earnings threshold from £151 to £195 a week