The Budget Provisions 2017

Farries Bookkeeping Services like to make sure our clients are well informed on the latest legislation so we have summarised the principal provisions of the 2017 Budget for you

• The VAT Threshold which will remain frozen at £85,000 for the next two years
• Business Rates will be indexed to Consumer Price Index from 2018
• The Staircase tax which penalises businesses operating in multi level premises will be scrapped
• Revaluations for Business rates will now be every three years rather than five
• There is to be an extension of discount on business rates for Pubs with a rateable value of up to £100,000.
• Tax breaks are being put in place for North Sea Oil and Gas fields
• Tax is to be levied on royalties relating to UK sales sent via tax havens
• £400 million is to be invested into the electric car charging network
• The government has set aside £2.3 billion for investment in R&D
• The main R&D tax credit rate will be increased to 12 per cent
• The British Business Bank will receive a funding boost, unlocking £13 billion to fund UK SMEs
• A national retraining scheme will be created focusing on digital skills and construction
• There is a new £500 million fund for 5G mobile and fibre broadband
• £1.7 billion has been set aside for transport in city regions
• Changes are to be made to the Enterprise Investments Scheme, the Seed EIS and Venture Capital Trusts. This will target Venture Capital Schemes where there is a real risk to the capital invested, and excludes companies and arrangements intended to provide ‘capital preservation’.
• The limit on the amount an individual may invest under the EIS in a tax year will double to £2 million provided any amount over £1 million is invested in more knowledge-intensive companies.
• The annual investment limit for knowledge-intensive companies receiving investments under the EIS and from VCTs will also double to £10 million. The lifetime limit will remains at £20 million.
• Stamp duty is to be abolished on properties up to £300,000 but only for first time buyers
• There are to be investigations into land hoarding by property developers
• Plans are to be put in place to build 300,00 homes per year
• There is no change to the rate of Corporation Tax, which stays at 19%.
• HMRC is to freeze indexation allowance on corporate capital gains for disposals after 1 January 2018.
• Legislation relating to Partnership Tax has been revised to be more compatible with commercial arrangements for allocating shares of profit, and to avoid additional administrative burdens for taxpayers. The changes will have effect for the tax year 2018-19 and subsequent tax years.
• The tax-free personal allowance will increase to £11,850 from April 2018
• The higher rate tax band threshold will rise to £46,350 from 2018
• The Marriage allowance is increased to £1,185 from April 2018.
• The National Living Wage is to be Increased from £7.50 to £7.83 from 2018
• The National Minimum Wage is to increase to:-
  £7.38 per hour for 21 – 24 year olds
  £5.90 per hour for 18 – 20 year olds
  £4.20 per hour for 16 and 17 year olds
  £3.70 per hour for apprentices
• Gig economy companies (such as Uber and Deliveroo) must now comply with the Minimum wage
• Duty on Alcohol is frozen except for high strength Beers and Ciders
• There is to be a new railcard for under 30s which will give a third off fares but only during off peak travel times
• Excise duty for older diesel cars will rise from April 2018, but van owners will be exempt
• The scheduled April 2018 fuel duty rise for both petrol and diesel cars has been scrapped
• The diesel car supplement is to be increased from 3% to 4% from 6 April 2018. This will increase the company car tax and car fuel benefit charge (for company cars provided with an element of private use)