The Chancellor has finished delivering the Budget, a Budget he labelled as creating a ‘stable economy, a fairer, more efficient and simpler tax system, and further reforms to support growth’.
Many of the announcements had already been pre-empted, but our round-up of key announcements include:
Economic and fiscal
- The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has slightly upgraded its GDP forecast for 2012 from 0.7 per cent to 0.8 per cent
- Public sector net borrowing (PSNB) is forecast to total £126 billion or 8.3 per cent of GDP this year, £1.1 billion less than forecast in November
For businesses
- Corporation tax will drop 1 per cent faster than expected, to 24 per cent this year, reducing to 22 per cent by 2014
- An above the line R&D tax credit to be introduced from 2013
- Measures to simplify business taxation for SMEs to be introduced in 2013
- New enterprise zones to receive enhanced capital allowances in Scotland and Wales
- Corporation tax reliefs for the creative sector from 2013, including video games, TV animation programmes and high-end television programmes
- The patent box – from 1 April 2013 companies will be able to elect to apply a 10 per cent corporation tax rate to a proportion of profits attributable to patent and certain other qualifying intellectual property. In the first year this proportion will be 60 per cent and increase annually to 100 per cent from April 2017.
- Plans to expand UK Export Finance
- The National Loan Guarantee Scheme has launched
For your finances
- The highest rate tax of 50 per cent will be reduced to 45 per cent from April 2013
- The personal income tax allowance will increase to £9,205 in April 2013
- A higher rate stamp duty of 7 per cent will be imposed on properties worth more than £2 million
- The threshold for the removal of Child Benefit is to be set at £50,000 from 7 January 2013. If both partners have adjusted net income over £50,000 the partner with the higher income is liable for the charge. The charge will apply at a rate of one per cent of the full Child Benefit award for each £100 of income between £50,000 and £60,000. The charge will equal the Child Benefit for those earning in excess of £60,000.
This is a summary of some of the key announcements made, more will be reported in full shortly.
