Here is a brief summary of the main changes to taxpayer liabilities for the new fiscal year.
Personal allowance
The amount you can earn without paying income tax rises from £11,500 to £11,850. This works out as a £70 tax cut for most people.
Income tax
The starting figure at which 20% basic rate tax applies will be £11,850, while 40% tax will start on earnings above £46,350 (up from £45,000).
Auto-enrolment
From Friday workers must pay a minimum of 3% of salary into a pension (up from 1%), while the employer contribution rises from 1% to 2%.
National insurance
National Insurance will be charged at 12% of income on earnings above £8,424, up from £8,164 until you are earning more than £46,350, after which the rate drops to 2%.
Buy-to-let landlords
Landlords will only be able to offset 50% of their mortgage interest when calculating their tax bill, compared with 75% before.
Dividends
Until now you could earn £5,000 in dividends tax-free. Unfortunately for business owners, this drops to £2,000 for 2018-19.
Scotland
The £11,850 personal allowance is the same in Scotland, but the first £2,000 of earnings after that are taxed at 19% rather than 20%. After that, the rate is 20% until your earnings hit £24,000, when it rises to 21%. Beyond £43,430 the rate is 41%. Both have an upper rate above £150,000; in England it’s 45%, in Scotland 46%.
A more detailed breakdown of rates and thresholds can be found here. For any clarification about how you might be affected, please get in touch!
Source: HM Revenue & Customs | 06-04-2018
