The Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, announced his budget on 19th March 2014.  Below is a list of the key changes and how they may affect you personally and your business.

Personal Tax

The personal allowance for those born after 5 April 1948 will increase to £10,000 in April 2014. This is the amount of income you can receive without paying tax on it. From April 2015 the personal allowance will rise to £10,500.

 The higher rate threshold (the level of income after which taxpayers begin to pay the 40% higher rate of tax) for 2014/15 will be £41,865 and will rise by 1% in 2015/16 to £42,285. 

Business Tax

From 1 April 2014 the maximum amount of the annual investment allowance (AIA) will increase from £250,000 to £500,000. This is a temporary measure until 31 December 2015 after which it will return to £25,000. AIA is available on expenditure on qualifying plant & machinery.

VAT

From 1 April 2014 the VAT registration threshold will rise from £79,000 to £81,000; the deregistration threshold will increase from £77,000 to £79,000.

New Powers

Legislation will be introduced to allow HMRC to recover tax and tax credit debts of £1,000 or more directly from taxpayer accounts, subject to rigorous safeguards.

Reminders

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