Autumn statement – review

 2016 Autumn Statement Review

The first Autumn statement by the new chancellor, or spreasheet Phil as he’s apparently known, also turned out to be the last as one of his final comments was to abolish the Autumn statement. This apart the measures outlined were quite constrained by recent standards, perhaps reflecting the uncertain economic outlook ahead. I’ll outline below the key points likely to effect small busineses and individuals –

Business Tax

Corporation tax to drop to 17% by 2020
Busines rates to be reduced
Living wage to increase to £7.50/hr
Flat rate VAT scheme to be restricted – this is likely to have a big impact on many contractor companies and I wrote a blog on this last week which can be viewed here

Personal tax

Personal allowance increased to £11,500 from April 17 and £12,000 from April 18
Higher rate threshold increased to £45,000
ISA limit increased to £20,000
Money purchase annual allowance reduced from £10,000 to £4,000 – this is the amount you can put into a pension without being taxed after you have started taking income from it.