Out of the 110 changes in the Autumn Statement here are highlights:
Pensioners will enjoy a 8.5% pension boost from April 2024 to £221 per week. The old pension will also increase to £169 from £156 per week.
Class 1 employee NIC is to be cut down from 12% to 10% from 6th January. If you use salary sacrifice to top up your pension you may wish to review your payments.
For the self-employed, Class 2 will be abolished from April 2024. Plus Class 4 will drop from 9% to 8%. If your self-employed earnings are below £6,725 you may wish to continue to pay Class 2 to build up NI credits.
Rules on having multiple lSAs has been relaxed to make administration easier from April 2024.
Income tax allowances and dividend rates have not changed. Also corporation and Vat tax rates were not changed. Neither was IHT affected. The point that additional income tax rate comes into effect will stay at £125,140.
The Income Tax Self-Assessment (ITSA) form for PAYE employees, will not be required after April 2024.
Guidance on training costs for the self-employed is being reviewed to provide more clarity on what is deductible.
The government has confirmed that the pension lifetime allowance will be scrapped from pension rules from April 2024.
Please also remember to keep your Will up-to-date and advise your executer where the original is kept. Also if your beneficiaries have changed please review whether your pension ‘expression of wishes’ needs updating.
N.B. This information is based on announcements made in November 2023 Autumn Statement which may change before becoming law.