HMRC have published a list of the various corporate and personal tax changes that became operative from the 1st or 6 April 2015. To save you time in browsing for the information we have reproduced the two lists below.
The following tax changes came into effect Wednesday 1 April 2015:
- The Corporation Tax rate has been reduced to 20%
- The new Diverted Profits Tax has been introduced
- The bank levy has increased from 0.156% to 0.21%
- Air Passenger Duty has been restructured – abolishing bands C and D
- Hospice charities, blood bikes, search and rescue, and air ambulance charities will be eligible for VAT refunds
- Business rates changes (England only):
– The business rates multiplier has increased from 48.2p to 49.3p (47.1p to 48.0p for small business multiplier). This includes the 2% inflation cap
– The Small Business Rate Relief scheme has doubled for a further year – providing 100% relief for businesses with a single property with a rateable value of less than £6,000, and tapered relief with a rateable value of £6,000 – £12,000
– The business rates discount for shops, pubs, cafes and restaurants with a rateable value of £50k or below has increased from £1,000 to £1,500 - The cultural test for high-end TV tax relief has been modernised and the minimum UK expenditure requirement for all TV tax reliefs has reduced from 25% to 10%
- A new tax relief on the production of children’s television has been introduced
- The amount of banks’ annual profit that can be offset by carried forward losses has been restricted to 50%
- Two new bands for the Annual Tax on Enveloped Dwellings (ATED) have been introduced
- Capital Gains Tax exemption for wasting assets will only apply if the corporate selling the asset has used it in their own business
- An investment allowance for North Sea oil and gas, replacing the existing offshore field allowances and simplifying the existing regime, has been introduced
- A reduced rate of fuel duty to methanol will apply – the rate is 9.32 pence per litre
- Fuels used to generate good quality electricity by CHP (combined heat and power) plants for onsite purposes are exempt from the Carbon Price Floor
- Climate Change Levy main rates have increased in line with RPI
- The VAT registration threshold has increased from £81,000 to £82,000 and the deregistration threshold from £79,000 to £80,000
- Scottish government’s Land and Buildings Transactions Tax (LBTT) will replace Stamp Duty Land Tax in Scotland
- The associated companies rules have been replaced with simpler rules based on 51% group membership
- The standard and lower rates of landfill tax have been increased in line with RPI
The following tax changes came into effect Monday 6 April 2015:
- Individuals over the age of 55 have flexible access to their defined contribution pension savings
- The Income Tax Personal Allowance increases to £10,600
- The higher rate income tax threshold increases to £42,385
- The new Marriage Allowance comes into effect
- The starting rate of savings income tax reduces from 10% to 0% for savings up to £5,000
- The cash ISA limit increases to £15,240
- Child Trust Funds can now be transferred into Junior ISAs
- Spouses can now inherit their deceased partner’s ISA benefits
- If an individual dies before the age of 75, they can now pass on their unused defined contribution pension savings free of income tax
- Beneficiaries of individuals who die under the age of 75 with a joint life or guaranteed term annuity can now receive any future payments from such policies free of income tax
- Employers will no longer have to pay employer NICs for employees under the age of 21
- Class 2 NICs for the self-employed can now be collected through Self-Assessment
- The Employment Allowance extends to include people employing care and support workers to look after themselves or family members
- A new annual remittance basis charge of £90,000 is introduced for non-domiciled individuals who have been resident in the UK in at least 17 of the last 20 years, and the charge paid by non-domiciled individuals who have been resident in the UK in at least 12 of the last 14 years has increased from £50,000 to £60,000
- Non-UK resident individuals, trusts, personal representatives and narrowly controlled companies are now subject to Capital Gains Tax on gains accruing on the disposal of UK residential property
- Capital Gains Tax annual exemption amount has increased to £11,100
- The Capital Gains Tax charge on disposals of properties liable to ATED extends to cover residential properties worth £1 million – £2 million
- The requirement that 70% of Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme money must be spent before EIS or VCT funding can be raised is removed
- The Fuel Benefit Charge multiplier for both cars and vans increases by RPI
- The Van Benefit Charge increases by RPI – in 2015-16 the Van Benefit Charge rate paid by zero emission vans is 20% of the rate paid by conventionally fuelled vans
- Tax Credit payments are stopped in-year where, due to a change in circumstances, a claimant has already received their full annual entitlement
And of course there will likely be more changes afoot after the May election…
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