By: Tim Bennett
03.04.2019
03.04.2019
As we hit the end of tax year 2018/19, Tim Bennett sums up the main changes investors can expect in 2019/20.
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An investor’s quick guide to the new tax year
As we enter tax year 2019/20, here is a quick summary of what has changed. Some investors will be relieved to know that this can be summarised as “not too much”! To find out how these revisions may affect you, please contact a Wealth Planner.
Background
Thanks for a fairly recent change made by Phillip Hammond (the UK Chancellor), the government now announces any big forthcoming tax changes via the Autumn Statement, with a shorter update in the Spring. This year, some fairly small amendments have been introduced to the main taxes suffered by investors – income tax, capital gains tax and inheritance tax. Equally, when it comes to tax-effective saving, via ISAs and pensions, there are very few tweaks this year.
Income tax
Investors pay income tax on interest (beyond the tax-free personal savings allowance of £1,000 for basic rate taxpayers and £500 for higher rate taxpayers), dividends (beyond the divided allowance of £2,000) and coupons on bonds. All tax payers also get a tax-free personal allowance, beyond which tax is suffered at the appropriate rate depending on the amount of income earned. Here are the main changes for the new tax year, along with a summary of the new tax bands.
Capital gains tax
Most investors will breathe a sigh of relief here, in that the main change for 2019/20 is a small increase in the tax-free CGT annual allowance. For anyone who might be in a position to sell a business, the change in the Entrepreneur’s Relief rules will also be worth noting. Since these are fiddlier than they first appear to apply in practice, the following slide contains a snapshot only.
Inheritance tax
Again, little of note has changed here. However, it is worth noting that the additional Residence Nil Rate Band is gradually creeping up and effectively extends the value of assets that may escape IHT above the basic threshold of £325,000 (twice that for a couple).
ISAs
For savers there is a little bit of good news – the annual junior ISA allowance is slightly higher this year. Other than that, little else has changed.
Pensions
Lastly, we reach pensions, where the only tweak is that the lifetime allowance (the maximum amount of benefit that can be withdrawn from a pension fund without incurring a penalty) rises to £1,055,000.
To find out more
If you want to discuss any of these changes, then please email me.
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