A pre-Halloween scare? Looking ahead to the autumn Budget
Rachel Reeves’s first Budget will be on Wednesday 30 October.
“I have to tell the House [the] Budget will involve taking difficult decisions to meet our fiscal rules across spending, welfare and tax.”
The Chancellor’s ‘Public Spending: Inheritance’ speech to parliament at the end of July was designed to prepare taxpayers for changes to come. To make sure the message was clear, she also revealed “A £22bn hole in the public finances now – not in the future.”
The new Chancellor took immediate action to start filling the hole, including cancellation of road and rail projects and ordering departments to stop all non-essential spending on consultants. There were also two notable expenditure-saving measures:
- An immediate end to Winter Fuel Payments in England and Wales, other than for pensioners receiving certain means-tested benefits. (Scotland subsequently followed suit.)
- The abandonment of the scheme to cap care home fees in England, previously due to start in October 2025.
The next stage of strengthening the government’s finances will be unveiled in the Budget on 30 October. Even before Ms Reeves had discovered the £22 billion hole, think tanks such as the Institute for Fiscal Studies had forecast the first post-election Budget would see taxes rise (as they normally do).
The not so usual suspects?
So where might the Chancellor look for some much-needed cash? Her party’s manifesto said, “Labour will not increase taxes on working people, which is why we will not increase National Insurance, the basic, higher, or additional rates of Income Tax, or VAT.” However, as the previous government demonstrated, a ‘rates’ pledge leaves scope for creativity elsewhere, such as freezing or even reducing thresholds. In her July statement, the relevance of the manifesto’s reference to ‘working people’ was made clear by the surprising welfare cuts that primarily hit pensioners.
At present Reeves’s most likely targets appear to be:
Capital gains tax (CGT) The Labour manifesto made no mention of CGT. Several think tanks and the now defunct Office of Tax Simplification have floated the idea of bringing CGT rates in line with income tax, meaning that the maximum rate in most circumstances could rise from 20% (24% for residential property) to 45%.
Inheritance tax (IHT) There are some obvious targets to add to Treasury receipts in this area. Business and Agricultural reliefs mean that the average effective tax rate on the largest estates is lower than that on more modest estates. Scrapping those reliefs, or capping their value, would affect only a few estates, but could produce meaningful extra revenue.
Another exemption that could disappear – and affect many more people – is the current general exclusion of pension pots from IHT calculations.
Tax relief on pension contributions Right now pension contributions attract income tax relief (within limits) at your marginal rate(s) of tax. That can be as high as 60% (67.5% in Scotland) in the income band where the personal allowance is tapered. Replacing the marginal rate relief with a flat rate relief is a commonly suggested reform. If Reeves were to choose a 30% flat rate, most taxpayers would be better off, and the Exchequer would gain an estimated £3 billion a year.
For more information on the anticipated changes in the upcoming Budget, check out our previous article: Wild Speculation: “We tend to get what we expect” | RRL (rrlcornwall.co.uk)
As Chartered Tax Advisors in Cornwall, we can provide specialist advice on potential tax changes that may impact you, especially if you are considering tax planning options.
The missing element in pensions change
Promised adjustments to pension law are missing a key element: increasing minimum contribution levels.
The first King’s Speech of the new parliament in July contained proposals for 40 new bills, covering everything from football governance to cyber security. One familiar item on the list was a Pension Schemes Bill. The government’s briefing notes explained that this Bill would largely deal with administrative matters, such as automatic consolidation of pension pots on employment changes. There was one obvious omission, however, that could do more to improve retirement prospects than any of the Bill’s draft contents: increasing the minimum level of contributions under automatic enrolment.
At present, for an employee aged between 22 and State Pension Age and earning at least £10,000 a year, the minimum contribution is set at 8% (3% employer minimum/balance paid by employee) of annual earnings between £6,240 and £50,270 – an effective maximum of £3,522 a year. The earnings range has been unchanged since 2021/22 and the percentage rate fixed since 2019/20.
Inadequate contributions
There is widespread agreement among pension experts that current contributions are too low to provide an adequate retirement income alongside the State pension. The last government accepted this and introduced legislation giving it powers to reduce both the minimum age and lower level of qualifying earnings. However, the law has spent nearly a year on the statute book, unused.
Australia’s version of automatic enrolment has a contribution rate that will rise to 12% of earnings next year, all paid by the employer. The Financial Times recently reported that a group of “eight financial services veterans” had sent a letter to Rachel Reeves recommending that the minimum percentage rate should increase by 1% a year until it reaches 15%.
The Chancellor, like her predecessor, is in a bind on contribution increases. Someone will have to pay, which means annoying employers and/or employees when the impact of recent high inflation is still being felt. Raising contributions also hits the Exchequer’s coffers because of tax relief given to contributors.
Just because the government chooses masterly inaction, you do not have to. If you want a comfortable retirement, talk to us now, as your dedicated Accountancy Firm Cornwall, we can discuss how much more you could be putting in your pension.
Joining the boom in top-rate taxpayers?
New data from HMRC show there are now more than a million people paying income tax at a rate of at least 45%.
Source: HMRC
Each year HMRC produces an extensive set of tables about income tax, the source of about 30% of all revenue flowing into the Exchequer. The stats that caught media attention show how many taxpayers are paying more than basic rate (see graph above).
Scotland complicated these tables several years ago by creating 19% and 21% rates alongside the 20% basic rate. In the current tax year, a further complication has been thrown into HMRC’s spreadsheets by the introduction of another Scottish tax rate, the 45% advanced rate. This applies to taxable income (excluding dividend and savings income) between £62,430 and £125,140, the starting point for Scotland’s top rate (increased to 48% for 2024/25). The rest of the UK applies additional rate tax (at 45%) from the same upper level.
Faced with multiplying tax bands, HMRC decided that it would class anyone in the UK paying tax at 45% or more as an additional-rate taxpayer. This pragmatic approach had two consequences just about detectable on the graph above:
- The number of Scottish higher-rate (42%, not 40%) taxpayers fell 11% because some became advanced-rate payers.
- Scottish additional-rate taxpayers increased by 253%.
Hike in numbers
The Scottish distortions were not sufficient to alter two clear trends in the graph: a sharp rise since the start of this decade in the number of UK taxpayers who pay higher rate or additional rate (as HMRC defined) tax. The boom in the higher-rate taxpayer population is a direct result of the freeze in the higher rate threshold at the 2021/22 level (throughout the UK), despite the 20%+ surge in inflation since April 2021.
The additional-rate tax story is worse because a £150,000 threshold freeze from 2010/11 was followed by a cut to £125,140 in 2023/24 (and the Scottish ‘advanced’ manoeuvre in the following tax year).
The higher-rate threshold freeze is currently due to end in April 2028, although it is possible that October’s Budget will extend the date – as previous Chancellors have found, threshold freezes are a useful stealth tax increase. The additional rate threshold is fixed, with no prospect of change until a Chancellor decides to act. Suffice to say, such generosity to those with the highest incomes is not top of anyone’s political agenda.
At the time of the last Budget, the Office for Budget Responsibility estimated that by 2028/29 nearly one in five income taxpayers would be paying higher rate and more than one in thirty would be subject to additional rate.
If you find yourself in, or heading to, higher- or additional-rate tax, it is unlikely any Budget in the next few years will come to your assistance. If the proportion of your income lost to tax in the future reduces, it is much more likely to be the result of careful personal tax planning than any Chancellor’s largesse. To find out more about the range of those planning options and the tax savings you could make, please consult our team of Tax Specialists Cornwall. We’ll help you navigate these complexities.
Ensuring green means green
Many of us are taking steps to tackle some of the big environmental challenges we face. This might be switching to an energy tariff that utilises solar and wind power, reducing plastic use or ensuring our money is invested sustainably.
There is now a wide range of ‘green’ investment products and funds, designed to appeal to the eight out of ten adults who say they would like to see their investments ‘do some good’ as well as deliver a financial return.
Until now, it has been difficult for ordinary investors to see whether the underlying investment strategy matches environmental claims, leading to industry concerns around ‘greenwashing’ — a term used to describe misleading advertising or marketing around, for example, sustainability-related claims.
Accurate marketing
The Financial Conduct Authority introduced a new anti-greenwashing rule from 31 May 2024 to tackle this problem. These clarified terms that related to sustainability, such as ‘green’, ‘responsible’ and so on. A separate set of rules came in from July 2024 on product labelling and disclosure to help investors better understand how their money is being invested, aiding consumer choice.
Financial companies also now need to evidence relevant marketing claims, whether they relate to green credentials, sustainability or having a positive impact on the environment or wider society. This should enable regulators to act against firms who say one thing but do another when it comes to environmental and sustainability claims on funds.
Gaining trust
As a result, there may be fewer ‘green’ investment products on the market, but investors should have confidence that those remaining are proven sustainable investment options, that do what they say on the tin.
News round up
October tax deadlines approach
The final date for filing your 2023/24 tax return is 31 October 2024 if you do not want to file online (which has a 31 January 2025 deadline). These days, HMRC discourages paper tax returns and will only issue them on request. For 2022/23, over 97% of returns due were filed online.
As the relevance of 31 October has faded, another October tax date has become more important – 5 October. This is the deadline for telling HMRC if you need to file a tax return and have not been sent one before. For example, a return would be required if you started self-employment in 2023/24 with income exceeding £1,000 or realised capital gains above the annual exempt amount (£6,000 in 2023/24). HMRC has an online tool that that allows you to check whether you need a return: Check if you need to send a Self Assessment tax return – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
VAT on school fees from January
Parents educating their children in the independent sector can expect a sharp rise in school fees from 1 January 2025, when the government will start imposing VAT at 20% on these fees. Parents can’t avoid the increase by paying the full year’s fees early, as VAT will be applied to all payments for the January term made from the end of July this year.
If you have questions about how these changes may impact your financial planning, contact our team of Tax Specialists Cornwall today. We’re here to help you navigate the complexities of tax and finance, ensuring you make informed decisions for your family’s future.
This publication has been prepared by RRL LLP. It is to be treated as a general guide only and is not intended to be a comprehensive statement of the law or represent specific advice. No liability is accepted for the opinions it contains, or for any errors or omissions. All rights reserved.