An estimated 24.5 million people under the age of 65 will benefit from the increased lower rate tax allowance, which has been brought forward to 2104, this means that from 2014 people will have a tax allowance of £10,000.

The capital gains tax holiday is to be extended.

Also announced in this year’s budget was the Government’s plans to abolish stamp duty on shares traded in growth markets, but it will be interesting to see how much interest this will receive from retail investors.

As from 2014 the 0.5% stamp duty on share transaction in growth markets will be stopped. This has been introduced to encourage more investment growth in companies, and to create a capital injection into SME equity markets.

These new changes will hopefully increase investor interest, attracting direct investment into the UK’s small businesses, which will in turn have a positive effect on the UK economy.

Tax-free child care vouchers worth £1,200 per child and increased support for families with children on universal credit.

The main changes for business was the 20% reduction in corporation tax, this will be paid for by increasing the bank levy rate to 0.142% next year, also the ability for employers to offset £2,000 per annum against their employer National Insurance Contributions from April 2014. This will benefit about 450,000 small businesses in the UK.

Around 450,000 small businesses – one third of all employers – will pay no employer National Insurance at all after the introduction of Employment Allowance in April next year.

There will be a new limit on managed expenditure which includes welfare budget, debt interest and payments to EU.

The Chancellor also announced a 1p decrease in the cost of a pint of beer, scrapping previous plans to raise duty by 3p per pint, due to the 10,000 pub closures in the past 10 yeas. However, taxes are to be increased by 5.3% on spirits and wine, increasing it in some cases by about 40p a bottle of spirits.

The new Help To Buy scheme – a government backed loan for house purchase, will be backed by £30 billion of Government funding, for not only first-time buyers, but also for people wanting to move into a larger premises with a cap of £600,000. If you would like to find out more information about this scheme, then contact our IFA who will be able to inform you of the finer conditions within the scheme, such as not being able to draw down equity, or change the conditions of the mortgage.

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