Chancellor Philip Hammond said he’d take a “balanced approach” to his second Budget of 2017. Once again the speech was light on headline-grabbing finance changes and there were no ‘giveaways’ or major surprises. Instead, the chancellor focused on measures to prepare the economy for post-Brexit life.
This report summarises the announcements made by Hammond during Autumn Budget 2017 on 22 November 2017. However, these are subject to change following the Finance Bill and the Spring Statement. At a glance, our budget report covers the following:
BUSINESS
- Business rates: Increases to be determined by CPI, not RPI, from April 2018
- Staircase tax: Businesses can have their original bill reinstated and backdated
- R&D expenditure credits: R&D expenditure credit rises to 12% from 1 January 2018.
INFRASTRUCTURE FINANCE
- Devolution deals: Second devolution deal for the West Midlands
- Regional transport: 6 metro mayors to share half of £1.7bn transport fund.
PERSONAL
- Personal allowance: Basic rate threshold rises to £11,850, higher rate up to £46,350
- National living wage: Increase of 4.4% brings NLW to £7.83 an hour for over-25s
- Pension lifetime allowance: To rise to £1.03m for 2018/19 tax year.
VAT
- Threshold frozen: Threshold to remain at £85,000 for 2 years from April 2018
- Anti-fraud measure: All online marketplaces are jointly and severally liable for unpaid VAT of their sellers.
DUTIES
- Stamp duty: Abolished for first-time buyers on all homes worth up to £300,000
- Diesel cars: Tax for diesel cars that fail to meet latest standards rise a band
- Cigarettes and alcohol: Tobacco rises by 2% above RPI; ‘white ciders’ face new duty.
OTHER
- EIS: Investment limit to double to £2m for knowledge-led companies
- Capital gains indexation allowance: Indexation for companies no longer calculated up to month of disposal
- Company van benefit: To be increased from £3,230 to £3,350 from 6 April 2018.
To read the FULL REPORT click here.