2014 Budget Summary

Please find below our 2014 budget summary with the most relevant changes in the budget for our customers.

Individuals

Personal allowances

  • For people born after 6 April 1948, the personal tax allowance for 2014/15 is £10,000. This will increase to £10,500 from 6 April 2015.
  • For people born on 5 April 1948 or before, the personal tax allowance for 2014/15 is £10,660.
  • From April 2015, spouses and civil partners will be able to transfer 10% of their personal allowance to each other, which means £1,050 in 2015/16.
  • To be eligible to make or receive the transfer, neither party must be liable to tax at the higher or additional rate.

Tax rates 2014-2015

  • The basic rate of 20% will be charged on income up to £31,865.
  • The higher rate of 40% will be charged on income from £31,866 to £150,000.
  • The additional rate of 45% will be charged on income over £150,000.

budget case

Companies

  • The main rate of corporation tax will be 21% from April 2014, falling to 20% from April 2015.

 

VAT

  • The VAT registration threshold with effect from 1 April 2014 will be as follows:

 

                                                                      Registration (£)                                            Deregistration (£)

UK taxable supplies                       81,000                                                                   79,000

 

‘Relevant Acquisitions’ from

other EC Member States              81,000                                                                   81,000

 

Annual Investment Allowance

 

  • To continue to support business investment, the Government is doubling the Annual Investment Allowance to £500,000 from April 2014 until the end of 2015.

 

Other news

 

  • From 1 July 2014, cash and shares ISAs are to be merged into a New ISA – NISA – with an annual tax-free savings limit of £15,000. Savers will now have complete flexibility over the cash and shares mix within the overall limit of £15,000.

 

  • From April 2015, the starting rate of tax for savings income will be reduced from 10% to nil. The maximum amount of taxable savings income that will be eligible will rise to £5,000 from £2,880.

 

  • From 1 June 2014, the cap on Premium Bonds will rise from £30,000 to £40,000, increasing further to £50,000 in 2015/16. From August 2014, two £1 million prizes per month will be on offer, instead of the current one.

 

And finally…

 

  • HMRC is going to be given debt collection powers to recover money direct from the bank and building society accounts, including ISAs, of debtors who owe over £1,000 of tax or tax credit debts. HMRC will use this route after the debtor has been contacted ‘multiple times’. A minimum of £5,000 will be left ‘across’ debtors’ accounts after the debt has been recovered.

I think we’ll blog more about this later, this is a new tactic by HMRC who don’t have a reputation for getting their calculations right and so this is probably something to be concerned about!