Thu 26 / 11 / 15
2015 Autumn Statement Blog
Having had two budgets already this year the Autumn Statement delivered by the Chancellor on Wednesday wasn’t expected to have any controversial announcements (be a bit of a damp squid and so it proved to be). There was, however, the unexpected headline grabbing U-turn on tax credit cuts. But was there anything else announced of any interest?
In his statement, the Chancellor promised to ‘extend opportunity for working people at every stage of their lives’. I’ll leave you to make your own mind up as to whether this was achieved. In the meantime the other tax proposed changes announced were as follows:
Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT)
With effect from 1 April 2016 a new higher rate of SDLT will be introduced on the purchase of buy-to-let (BTL) properties and second homes. The new higher rate will be 3% above the current rate of SDLT for residential properties.
Capital Gains Tax – CGT
Although awaiting draft legislation some time in 2016, the government has announced the proposal to require sellers of residential property (other than their principal private residence (PPR)) to make a payment on account of the CGT due on any gain made within 30 days on the completion of disposal.
Quarterly Digital Updates
Coming soon to a computer near you, and being sold to us on the basis of reducing errors (HMRC‘s theirs we can only hope), it’s been announced that ‘most’ businesses, self-employed and landlords will be required to provide HMRC with quarterly updates via their digital tax account. Bad news for those of you that have trouble adhering to the one annual deadline of 31 January we currently have, which reminds me………
There’s no timetable for the introduction of this yet and further information will be published by HMRC during 2016.
Other Changes
Other previously announced changes coming in next year include:
- £5,000 dividend allowance – not actually an allowance but a tax-free threshold which will see those taxpayers receiving dividend in excess of £5,000 paying more tax – current proposals are for a 7.5% extra tax charge on dividends
- Farmers averaging – now increased to five years from the current two.
- General anti-abuse rule (GAAR) – a new penalty of 60% of the tax due will be imposed on all cases successfully tackled by GAAR.
I think that it’s also worth pointing out that the following matters are also being reviewed by HMRC:
- The use of deeds of variation;
- The use of salary sacrifice arrangements;
- Attempt to convert company income distributions to capital;
- Entrepreneurs’ relief and contrived structures.
Review of the IR355 rules for personal service companies
You have been warned!
By Hayley Sengebusch
Tax Manager at Cardens Accountants
If you have any further queries, please contact Cardens Accountants.
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If you want to contribute to the Chamber blog, contact us on hannah@brightonchamber.co.uk