[17.11.22]

• The Minimum Wage for people aged over 23 will increase from £9.50 to £10.42 per hour from April 2023
• Apart from in Scotland, the top 45% additional rate of income tax will be paid on earnings over £125,140, instead of £150,000
• Income tax personal allowance and higher rate thresholds will be frozen for a further two years, until April 2028
• Main National Insurance and inheritance tax thresholds also frozen for a further two years, until April 2028
• Tax free allowance for dividends has been cut in half, from £2,000 to £1,000 from April 2023, and cut again to £500 from April 2024
• Capital gains tax allowance will reduce from £12,300 to £6,000 from April 2023, and will reduce again to £3,000 from April 2024
• Import taxes will be removed on more than 100 goods, including some food products, for two years to reduce costs
• A planned tax on online sales is shelved due to complexity
• Electric cars, vans and motorcycles will pay road tax from April 2025
• Local councils in England will be able to increase council tax up to 5% a year, without a local vote, instead of 3% currently
• The Office for Budget Responsibility judges the UK to be in recession, as the economy has slowed for two quarters in a row. They predict growth for this year overall of 4.2%, but the size of the economy will shrink by 1.4% in 2023
• The UK’s inflation rate is predicted to be 9.1% this year and 7.4% in 2023; and unemployment is expected to rise from 3.6% to 4.9% in 2024

Castletons Accountants