budget Archives - WRLO Accountants

No further tax increases in Spring Statement

WRLO Accountants — Tue, 01 Apr 2025 09:37:04 +0000

Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced ‘no further tax increases’ in the 2025 Spring Statement. The Chancellor’s Autumn Budget contained a record £40 billion in tax increases. However, it did not raise personal taxes including, Income Tax, employee National Insurance contributions or VAT. Ms Reeves had pledged one fiscal event a year and confirmed that no taxes would be raised at the Spring Statement. Instead, the Chancellor made a number of announcements on spending and economic forecasts. The forecast from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) halved the UK’s growth in 2025 from 2% to 1%. However, Ms Reeves pointed out that the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) downgraded this year’s growth forecast for every G7 economy. The OBR forecasts show that inflation will average 3.2% this year before falling ‘rapidly’, meeting the Bank of England’s 2% target from 2027 onwards. Ms Reeves said that defence spending will increase to 2.5% of GDP, by reducing overseas aid. This means an extra £2.2 billion for the Ministry of Defence in the next financial year to address ‘increasing global uncertainty’. The government will spend a minimum of 10% of the MoD’s equipment budget on innovative technology, boosting production in places such as […]

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Chancellor promises to drive growth and raises £40 billion in taxes

WRLO Accountants — Sat, 02 Nov 2024 16:07:31 +0000

Chancellor Rachel Reeves pledged to ‘invest, invest, invest’ to drive growth and ‘restore economic stability’ in the Autumn Budget. The Budget, which was Labour’s first in over 14 years and the first ever delivered by a female Chancellor, saw £40 billion in tax announcements. Ms Reeves repeated her claims that the government had inherited a £22 billion ‘black hole’ in the public finances from the Conservatives. Pre-Budget speculation had centred on the likelihood of increases to employers’ National Insurance contributions (NICs), Capital Gains Tax (CGT) and Inheritance Tax (IHT). The Chancellor announced an increase to the rate of employer NICs by 1.2 percentage points to 15% from 6 April 2025. However, the Secondary Threshold – the level at which employers become liable to pay NICs on each employee’s salary – will reduce from £9,100 per year to £5,000 per year. CGT on non-residential assets will increase from 10% to 18% for those paying the lower rate, and 20% to 24% for those paying the higher rate for disposals from 30 October 2024. These new rates will match the residential property rates. The CGT rates applicable to assets qualifying for Business Asset Disposal Relief (BADR) and Investors’ Relief will remain at […]

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Make Work Pay threatens employment and growth warns FSB

WRLO Accountants — Sun, 27 Oct 2024 18:07:03 +0000

The government’s Make Work Pay Bill lacks a pro-growth element and will increase economic inactivity, the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has warned. The business group says that the legislation, particularly around day one dismissal rights, risks deterring small employers from taking a chance on someone who has had a significant period out of the workplace, shutting those doors and deepening social exclusion It warns that the Bill is rushed and poorly planned while dropping 28 new measures onto small business employers all at once leaves them scrambling to make sense of it all. There are already 65,000 fewer payroll jobs since Labour took power, and the new government is sending out a ‘troubling signal to businesses and investors’, the FSB adds. Tina McKenzie, Policy Chair at the FSB, said: ‘The Chancellor has the opportunity to lead the way in adding a pro-business, pro-employment element to Make Work Pay in her upcoming Budget. This should include a rise in the Employment Allowance, pegging it to future rises in the National Living Wage. It should also include the reintroduction of the small business rebate for Statutory Sick Pay. ‘Sufficient time should be taken to avoid this becoming a hastily cobbled-together Act […]

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