Chancellor George Osborne unveiled his Budget on Wednesday 23 March 2011. In response, the team at Mercer & Hole has published a Special Edition of Tax Plus which analyses the issues raised. It can be accessed by clicking here.
A new Tax Rates and Allowances card has also been produced in line with the 2011 Budget announcement and can be accessed here.
During his Budget speech the Chancellor referred to an exemption of £250,000 for first time buyers. Having had a chance to review the press releases from HMRC we can provide a little more detail.
We had wondered how 'first time buyer' would be defined but it appears that the relief – which is only applicable for completions between 25 March 2010 and 25 March 2012 – will be given where 'the purchaser or all the purchasers' have not previously acquired a residential property. This is a somewhat unusual wording and it will be interesting to see if it is replicated in the actual legislation. Bearing in mind the effective date there will be some frantic reviews of contracts in solicitors offices across the country to determine the rate of SDLT payable.
The Chancellor has just announced a scheme to provide 1 million people over five years with a basic bank account.
It is been widely reported that bonuses paid to bankers are going to be hit in the Pre-Budget Report. As expected this has not been favourable received in the City.
It is unclear whether the Chancellor will propose a windfall tax on the banks or impose a higher rate tax charge on the bankers themselves – 60% has been mentioned. There will be practical difficulties in this latter approach – how do you define a banker?
We will be blogging on SME Plus Blog and Tax Plus Blog on Pre-Budget Report day. If you do not already subscribe to our blogs click here for SME Plus Blog or here for Tax Plus Blog to ensure you get our comment and analysis as and when it happens.
Barry Hallam is a senior manager at Mercer & Hole. If you would like to discuss the contents of this post with Barry you can call him on 020 7353 1597.
With all the speculation about the contents of Alastair Darling’s Pre-Budget Report (PBR), The Guardian is questioning the purpose of the PBR.
The paper reminds us that the PBR is an invention of New Labour and, particularly this year, is unnecessary. Given the forthcoming general election it probably only a matter of weeks before we have the 2010 Budget itself.
We will be blogging on SME Plus Blog and Tax Plus Blog on Pre-Budget Report day. If you do not already subscribe to our blogs click here for SME Plus Blog or here for Tax Plus Blog to ensure you get our comment and analysis as and when it happens.
Barry Hallam is a senior manager at Mercer & Hole. If you would like to discuss the contents of this post with Barry you can call him on 020 7353 1597.
The immediate reaction to the Chancellor’s speech is that much of what he said was smoke and mirrors – The Inheritance Tax doubling of the nil rate band is not quite what it seems – 2 x 300,000 is still 600,000 so far as I know…
The capital gains tax simplification represents a significant increase in tax in a number of cases and if you are non UK domiciled and UK resident then keep checking this page. We are writing frantically as I type and a more detailed and coherent response will follow shortly….
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