Spring Budget 2024

The Spring Budget 2024 confirmed some rumours, such as the introduction of a British ISA, and at the same time, contained a few surprises too. 

The main points are summarised below along with a reminder of some of the other changes coming into effect in April 2024.

Some measures are potentially subject to change until enacted into legislation.

If you have any questions or would like to speak to one of our expert financial advisers about the changes announced, contact us to arrange a free initial consultation.

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Pensions

Abolition of Lifetime Allowance (LTA) from 6 April 2024

A further Pension Schemes Newsletter / Lifetime Allowance Guidance Newsletter is expected this week but no further detail was issued as part of the Budget itself. Further information will be issued once it’s available.

State pension

Triple lock means new state pension and basic state pension will increase by 8.5% in April 2024. Full new state pension figure will be £221.20 per week.

Investments

Individual Savings Accounts (ISA)

The annual subscription limits all remain at their current levels in 2024/25, i.e.

• £20,000 ISA
• £4,000 Lifetime ISA
• £9,000 Junior ISA (and Child Trust Fund)

A new British ISA is to be introduced from a date to be confirmed. This will give investors an additional £5,000 ISA allowance each tax year, so on top of the current £20,000. There is a consultation paper in place to obtain feedback from ISA managers, but the idea is for allowable investments to include UK equites and potentially UK corporate bonds, gilts, collectives. 

As previously announced at the Autumn Statement, the government is to make changes to ISAs to simplify the scheme and widen the scope of investments that can be included in ISAs. To simplify the scheme the government will:

• Allow multiple subscriptions in each year to ISAs of the same type, from 6 April 2024
• Remove the requirement to make a fresh ISA application where an existing ISA account has received no subscription in the previous tax year, from 6 April 2024
• Allow partial transfers of current year ISA subscriptions between providers, from 6 April 2024
• Harmonise the account opening age for any adult ISAs to 18, from 6 April 2024
• Digitise the ISA reporting system to enable the development of digital tools to support investors

Reserved Investor Fund

The Reserved Investor Fund is a new type of investment fund designed to complement and enhance the UK’s existing funds rule. This meets the industry demand for a UK-based unauthorised contractual scheme, with lower costs and more flexibility than the existing authorised contractual scheme. The introduction date is still to be confirmed. 

Taxation

Income tax

All income tax rates and bands remain at their current levels in 2024/25. See our latest tax tables 2024/25.  

National insurance (NI)

National Insurance is paid by people between age 16 and State Pension age who are either an employee earning more than £242 per week from one job or self-employed and making a profit of more than £12,570 a year.

Following on from the NI cuts made in the Autumn Statement when the 12% rate of employee NI reduced to 10% from January 2024, the government is cutting the main rate of employee NI by 2p from 10% to 8% from 6 April 2024.

They are also cutting a further 2p from the main rate of self-employed National Insurance on top of the 1p cut announced at Autumn Statement and the abolition of Class 2.

This means that from 6 April 2024 the main rate of Class 4 NICs for the self-employed will now be reduced from 9% to 6%.

Child Benefit charge

The adjusted net income threshold for the High Income Child Benefit Charge (HICBC) will increase from £50,000 to £60,000, from 6 April 2024.

For individuals with income above £80,000, the amount of the tax charge will equal the amount of the Child Benefit payment. For those with income between £60,000 and £80,000, the rate at which HICBC is charged is halved, and will equal one per cent for every £200 of income that exceeds £60,000.

New claims to Child Benefit are automatically backdated by three months, or to the child’s date of birth (whichever is later). For Child Benefit claims made after 6 April 2024, backdated payments will be treated for HICBC purposes as if the entitlement fell in the 2024/25 tax year if the backdating would otherwise create a HICBC liability in the 2023/24 tax year.

In his Budget speech, the Chancellor announced that the plan is to move assessment for the HICBC to a system based on household income from April 2026. This is to remove the current unfairness meaning that a couple who each have income below the threshold, so could in 2023/24 have £49,000 pa each (£98,000 pa in total), wouldn’t be subject to the HICBC whereas another household with one person with income of £51,000 for example would.

Dividend allowance

As we are already aware, the dividend allowance reduces from £1,000 to £500 on 6 April 2024. Dividend tax rates remain the same at 8.75% in basic rate band, 33.75% in higher rate band and 39.35% in additional rate band (and 39.35% for discretionary trusts).

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Capital gains tax (CGT)

Annual exemption reduces from £6,000 to £3,000 on 6 April 2024 (a maximum of £1,500 for discretionary/interest in possession trusts – shared between all settlor’s trusts subject to a minimum of £600 per trust).

CGT rates remain as they currently are apart from the higher CGT rate for residential property gains (the lower rate remains at 18%):

• 10% for any taxable gain that doesn’t fall above the basic rate band when added to income and 20% on any gain (or part of gain) that falls above the basic rate band when added to income
• For residential property gains these rates increase to 18% and 24% (formerly 28%) respectively
• Discretionary/interest in possession trustees and personal representatives pay at the higher rates (20%/24% (formerly 28%))

Simplifications for trusts and estates

From April 2024 trustees and personal representatives of estates will no longer have to report small amounts of income tax to HMRC and taxation of estate beneficiaries will be simplified, as shown below:

• Trusts and estates with income up to £500 will not pay tax on that income as it arises
• The £1,000 standard rate band (effectively basic rate band) for discretionary trusts will no longer apply
• Beneficiaries of UK estates will not pay tax on income distributed to them that is within the £500 limit for the personal representatives

Stamp duty land tax (SDLT)

SDLT Multiple Dwellings Relief is being abolished from 1 June 2024. This applies to purchasers of residential property in England and Northern Ireland who acquire more than one dwelling in a single transaction or linked transactions. 

Changes to the taxation of non-doms

The concept of domicile is outdated and incentivises individuals to keep income and gains offshore. The government is therefore modernising the tax system by ending the current rules for non-UK domiciled individuals, or non-doms, from April 2025. A new residence-based regime will take effect from April 2025.

From April 2025, new arrivals, who have a period of 10 years’ consecutive non-residence, will have full tax relief for a 4-year period of subsequent UK tax residence on foreign income and gains (FIG) arising during this 4-year period, during which time this money can be brought to the UK without an additional tax charge.

Existing tax residents, who have been tax resident for fewer than 4 tax years and are eligible for the scheme, will also benefit from the relief until the end of their 4th year of tax residence.

Liability to inheritance tax (IHT) also depends on domicile status and location of assets. Under the current regime, no inheritance tax is due on non-UK assets of non-doms until they have been UK resident for 15 out of the past 20 tax years. The government will consult on the best way to move IHT to a residence-based regime. To provide certainty to affected taxpayers, the treatment of non-UK assets settled into a trust by a non-UK domiciled settlor prior to April 2025 will not change, so these will not be within the scope of the UK IHT regime. Decisions have not yet been taken on the detailed operation of the new system, and the government intends to consult on this in due course.

Furnished holiday lets (FHL)

The FHL tax regime, which relates to short-term rental properties, is to be abolished from April 2025.

Currently, if an individual lets properties that qualify as FHLs:

• The profits count as earnings for pension purposes
• They can claim Capital Gains Tax reliefs for traders (Business Asset Rollover Relief, relief for gifts of business assets and relief for loans to traders)
• They’re entitled to plant and machinery capital allowances for items such as furniture, equipment and fixtures

Raising standards in the tax advice market

A consultation has been issued to discuss the government’s intention to raise standards in the tax advice market through a strengthened regulatory framework. It sets out three possible approaches to strengthening the framework: mandatory membership of a recognised professional body, joint HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) – industry enforcement, and regulation by a separate statutory government body. The consultation also explores approaches to strengthen the controls on access to HMRC’s services for tax practitioners.

This has relevance to anyone who may receive or provide tax advice or offers services to third parties to assist compliance
with HMRC requirements. For example, accountants, tax advisers, legal professionals, payroll professionals, bookkeepers, insolvency practitioners, financial advisers, customs intermediaries, charities and other voluntary organisations that help people with their tax affairs, software providers, employment agencies, umbrella companies and other intermediaries who arrange for the provision of workers to those who pay for their services, people who engage workers off-payroll, promoters, enablers and facilitators of tax avoidance schemes, professional and regulatory bodies, and clients, or potential clients, of all those listed above.

The consultation runs until 29 May 2024. 

VAT

The VAT threshold is increasing from £85,000 to £90,000 from 1 April 2024, the first increase in seven years. See our tax tables 2024/25 for more details. See our tax tables 2024/25 for more details.

If you’d like to discuss any of the changes announced in the Budget or would simply like to explore ways that you can minimise the amount of tax you pay on your wealth, why not get in touch and speak to one of our expert team of advisers. We’re offering anyone with £100,000 in savings, investments or pensions a free financial review worth £500.

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This article is intended for general information only, it does not constitute individual advice and should not be used to inform financial decisions.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) does not regulate tax advice.