Budget Newsflash

A few headlines from the Chancellor's speech.  Look out for our full budget update.

• ​The Chancellor has announced a further £3billion for Brexit preparations over the next 2 years
• Debt has been forecast to peak this year and then fall as a share of GDP
• Government to look into introducing a charge on "single-use plastic items"
• National living wage to increase to £7.83 per hour from April 2018
• Income tax personal allowance to increase from April 2018 to £11,850.  The 40% tax threshold to rise to £46,350
• Duty on petrol and diesel frozen for another year
• £4.8bn targeted to be raised by further tax anti-avoidance measures
• Capital gains by companies will no longer get indexation allowance relief after December 2017 when the allowance will be frozen
• VAT registration threshold to be maintained at £85k for the next two years, but consultation will be undertaken to look at new ways of bringing businesses into the VAT net.  
• Income tax is to be charged on royalties relating to UK sales where they are paid to a low tax jurisdiction
• Local authorities to be allowed to charge a 100% council tax premium on empty properties
• All first time buyer purchases of up to £300,000 will see Stamp Duty abolished from Budget day.  Relief will also be available on the first £300k of properties purchased up to £500k