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Sestini & Co | on Thu, 12/05/2013 - 15:43 | In
Uncategorized So, the Autumn Statement for 2013 (lovingly tagged as #AS2013 on twitter) is here again. And yes, despite being deferred until December, it is still technically Autumn – I’ve been reliably informed that Winter starts on 21 December, despite the wintery scene outside my window 🙂
As in the budget, there were many references to “Hard Working Families” and the fact that there is still much work to do. I can’t help wondering about all the other hard-working people out there who don’t appear to be getting much of the credit but that may be the subject of another blog.
Of the announcements today, a few which caught my eye were:
- the married persons tax allowance: whilst this may assist a number of basic rate taxpayers, it doesn’t strike me as a simplification move, as the child benefit charge has already demonstrated. Even if notices of coding are 100% accurate first time around, this will surely put more people into Self Assessment, which leads to…
- HMRC’s budgets will not be cut: very welcome as the more good people they can attract, train and retain, the better all round (in my humble opinion)
- capital gains tax (CGT): not altogether unexpected, the 3 years’ grace which allows taxpayers to claim full principle private residence election even if they leave the property prior to sale is being cut to 18 months. Whilst this will reduce the benefit of “flipping” enjoyed by some people with more than one personal residence it will no doubt cause concern for people who need to move house and don’t expect to be able to sell very quickly;
- CGT again: non-residents will pay tax on the gain on sale of UK property assuming it is not their principle private residence;
- more anti-avoidance measures: a long list, including cracking down on dual contracts, eliminating artificial arrangements which reduce an individuals NIC liability to name but two;
- the pension age is rising more quickly than expected: will this simply lead to more reliance on tax credits in the over 60’s or will it get people to start saving earlier for their retirement?
There will be separate blogs shortly on the CGT changes, pensions and the newly-announced anti-avoidance measures.
Your comments will be most welcome, both on the content and to let me know what else you’d like to hear about.
Best regards
Rachel
