Yesterday, Chancellor Rachel Reeves delivered the first Labour Budget in nearly 15 years.
Whilst businesses grapple with changes to national insurance, business reliefs and the raised minimum wage, a number of other announcements will impact our private clients.
Many will welcome the thawing of the income tax threshold freeze in 2028, whilst others will have noticed that inheritance tax (IHT) thresholds are set to remain on ice at £325,000 (with an additional £175,000 potentially available to those passing their home to direct descendants) for an additional two years until 2030.
From April 2027, unused pensions will be included in calculating the taxable estate for IHT purposes, which is likely to have a significant impact on estate planning for those with large private pensions.
Business Property and Agricultural Property relief will be rolled into one, less generous, relief on combined Business and Agricultural assets. We await the detail but again this is likely to significantly impact on the estate plans for those clients with these types of assets.
The rumoured 40% top rate of capital gains tax failed to materialise. Instead, a more modest increase for non-residential property was announced.
The “non-dom” regime, marked for phasing out under the previous Government is to be completely abolished from April 2025 and replaced with a new residence-based system.
Download our full summary of the Autumn Budget and the details of The Chancellor’s speech below. Once the dust has settled on these changes and the details emerge, it would be advisable for you to review your financial and estate planning.
