A plan to grow the economy
With the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) predicting the UK economy will expand by 0.8% this year, and by 1.9% in 2025, Jeremy Hunt delivered his last Spring Budget ahead of the General Election, highlighting reforms aimed to ensure the tax system is simple, fair, keeps pace with economic developments, and supports public finances.
Expectations are that the rate of inflation will fall below the Bank of England’s 2% target level in “a few months’ time,” with the OBR forecast showing the government is on track to meet its fiscal rules to grow the economy, reduce debt and halve inflation.
UK savings in focus
In order to promote more investment in UK assets, the government announced the introduction of a UK Individual Savings Account (ISA) with a £5,000 annual allowance in addition to the existing ISA allowance of £20,000. It will be a new tax-free savings product for people to invest in UK-focused assets (a consultation regarding implementation will be running to 6 June 2024). And a British Savings Bond will be delivered through National Savings & Investments (NS&I) in April 2024, offering a guaranteed interest rate, fixed for three years.
The 2024/25 tax year JISA (Junior Individual Savings Account) allowance remains at £9,000.
IHT consultation
It was announced that there will be a consultation on moving to a residence-based regime for Inheritance Tax (IHT). No changes to IHT will take effect before 6 April 2025, nil-rate band remains at £325,000 and the main residence nil-rate band at £175,000, with taper starting at £2m (estate value). From 1 April 2024, personal representatives of estates will no longer need to take out commercial loans to pay IHT before applying to obtain a grant on credit from HMRC.
And pensions…
The government remain committed to the pensions Triple Lock. The value of the new State Pension will increase to £221.20 per week in April, while the basic State Pension increased to £169.50 per week.
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