On Tuesday 29th November 2011, the Chancellor, George Osborne, presented his Autumn Statement for 2011.
We have taken the opportunity of summarising some of the key points for our clients.
In summary these are: –
- The state pension age will rise from 66 to 67 from 2026, which is eight years earlier than originally planned.
- The Government will launch a new tax advantaged investment in April 2012, offering 50% income tax relief in addition to a one off capital gains tax incentive.
- The Capital Gains Tax (CGT) exemption will be frozen for 2012/2013 at £10,600.
- As previously announced the annual Individual Savings Account (ISA) allowance limit will increase in line with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) to £11,280 for 2012/2013, of which up to £5,640 may be invested into a cash ISA.
- The Government reminded us of its previous planned cuts to Corporation Tax – a 1% cut to the main rate of corporation tax to 25% from April 2012 along with successive reductions of 1% each year to a rate of 23% by 1 April 2014 .
- Prior to the Autumn Statement, HMRC announced an improvement to the pension carry forward rules for tax years 2008/2009, 2009/2010 and 2010/2011.
- In the days leading up to yesterday’s announcement the Minister for Pensions confirmed that the staging dates for auto-enrolment will be amended for small businesses. They will now be expected to auto-enrol employees from May 2015 instead of April 2014.
In the coming weeks, we will comment further on some of these issues. In the meantime, should you have any queries, feel free to contact us.