Chancellor Jeremy Hunt delivered his ‘Budget for Long Term Growth’ on Wednesday 6 March 2024. His speech promised ‘more investment, more jobs, better public services and lower taxes’.

The Chancellor made further changes to National Insurance Contributions (NICs), following the cuts made in the Autumn Statement 2023. The rates for NICs will be cut further for both employees and the self-employed from 6 April 2024.

There was also a cut in the higher rate of Capital Gains Tax on residential property disposals and the creation of a new ISA allowance to encourage investment in promising UK businesses.

Please note, this guide focuses on the 2024 Spring Budget announcements affecting individuals, their taxes and finances. For a summary focusing on business interests, please see our blog link below.

Personal Taxes

The personal allowance

The income tax personal allowance is fixed at the current level until April 2028 at £12,570.

There is a reduction in the personal allowance for those with ‘adjusted net income’ over £100,000. The reduction is £1 for every £2 of income above £100,000. This means that there is no personal allowance where adjusted net income exceeds £125,140.

The government will uprate the married couple’s allowance and blind person’s allowance for 2024/25.

The marriage allowance

The marriage allowance permits certain couples to transfer £1,260 of their personal allowance to their spouse or civil partner.

Tax bands and rates

The basic rate of tax is 20%. For 2024/25 the band of income taxable at this rate is £37,700 so that the threshold at which the 40% band applies is £50,270 for those who are entitled to the full personal allowance.

The basic rate band is frozen at £37,700 until April 2028. The National Insurance Contributions upper earnings limit and upper profits limit will remain aligned to the higher rate threshold at £50,270 for these tax years as well.

For 2024/25, the point at which individuals pay the additional rate of 45% is £125,140.

The additional rate for non-savings and non-dividend income will apply to taxpayers in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The additional rate for savings and dividend income will apply to the whole of the UK.

Scottish residents

The tax on income (other than savings and dividend income) is different for taxpayers who are resident in Scotland from that paid by taxpayers resident elsewhere in the UK. The Scottish income tax rates and bands apply to income such as employment income, self-employed trade profits and property income.

In 2024/25 a new 45% rate will be introduced, making six income tax rates which range between 19% and 48%. Scottish taxpayers are entitled to the same personal allowance as individuals in the rest of the UK.

Welsh residents

Since April 2019, the Welsh Government has had the right to vary the rates of income tax payable by Welsh taxpayers (other than tax on savings and dividend income). The UK government has reduced each of the three rates of income tax paid by Welsh taxpayers by 10 pence. For 2024/25 the Welsh Government has set the Welsh rate of income tax at 10 pence which has been added to the reduced rates. This means the tax payable by Welsh taxpayers is the same as that payable by English and Northern Irish taxpayers.

Tax on savings income

Savings income is income such as bank and building society interest.

The Savings Allowance applies to savings income and the available allowance in a tax year depends on the individual’s marginal rate of income tax. Broadly, individuals taxed at up to the basic rate of tax have an allowance of £1,000. For higher rate taxpayers the allowance is £500. No allowance is due to additional rate taxpayers.

Savings income within the allowance still counts towards an individual’s basic or higher rate band and so may affect the rate of tax paid on savings above the Savings Allowance.

Some individuals qualify for a 0% starting rate of tax on savings income up to £5,000. However, the rate is not available if taxable non-savings income (broadly earnings, pensions, trading profits and property income, less allocated allowances and reliefs) exceeds £5,000.

Tax on dividends

Currently, the first £1,000 of dividends is chargeable to tax at 0% (the Dividend Allowance). This will be reduced to £500 for 2024/25.

These changes will apply to the whole of the UK.

Dividends received above the allowance are taxed at the following rates for 2024/25:

• 8.75% for basic rate taxpayers
• 33.75% for higher rate taxpayers
• 39.35% for additional rate taxpayers.

The Corporation Tax due on directors’ overdrawn loan accounts is paid at 33.75% and remains unchanged.

Dividends within the allowance still count towards an individual’s basic or higher rate band and so may affect the rate of tax paid on dividends above the Dividend Allowance.

To determine which tax band dividends fall into, dividends are treated as the last type of income to be taxed.

Pension tax limits

A number of changes were made to the tax regime for pensions for 2023/24:

• The Annual Allowance (AA) is £60,000.
• Individuals who have ‘threshold income’ for a tax year of greater than £200,000 have their AA for that tax year restricted. It is reduced by £1 for every £2 of ‘adjusted income’ over £260,000, to a minimum AA of £10,000.
• No Lifetime Allowance (LA) charge.

The AA and threshold and adjusted income levels will remain the same for 2024/25.

As previously announced the LA of £1,073,100 will be abolished from 2024/25. Changes have been made to clarify the taxation of lump sums and lump sum death benefits, and the application of protections, as well as the tax treatment for overseas pensions, transitional arrangements, and reporting requirements.

Individual Savings Accounts

The government is freezing the limits on Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs) (£20,000), Junior Individual Savings Accounts (£9,000), Lifetime Individual Savings Accounts (£4,000 excluding government bonus) and Child Trust Funds (£9,000) for 2024/25.

The government announced that it is looking to introduce the UK ISA.  This will have a new ISA allowance of £5,000 in addition to the existing ISA allowance, and will provide a new tax-free savings opportunity for people to invest in the UK.

High Income Child Benefit Charge

The High Income Child Benefit Charge (HICBC) is a tax charge that applies to higher earners who receive Child Benefit, or whose partner receives it.

The government is increasing the income threshold at which HICBC starts to be charged from £50,000 to £60,000 from April 2024. The rate at which HICBC is charged will be halved from 1% of the Child Benefit payment for every additional £100 above the threshold to 1% for every £200. This means that Child Benefit will not be withdrawn in full until individuals have ‘adjusted net income’ of £80,000 or more.