Another ‘George Osborne moment’ Budget

Posted 16 March 2023 by Neil MacGillivray

Yesterday Jeremy Hunt announced he was removing the lifetime allowance as a way to incentivise highly skilled individuals to remain in the labour market.

Currently, there’s little in the way of detail available, although it’s suggested it’ll be removed from 6 April 2023 on a temporary basis, before being completely abolished in a future Finance Bill.

There is however ‘a fly in the ointment’ for those without any form of protected pension lump sum…

This proposal will have caught most by surprise, so we’ll wait for the draft legislation to determine how this, and some of the other aspects will actually play out.

Other news included:

  • increases to the annual allowance, the money purchase annual allowance and the minimum tapered annual allowance
  • public service pension scheme related legislation to help retain workers in the sector
  • freezing of the starting rate for income tax
  • extension of the Energy Price Guarantee for a further three months
  • fuel duty rates to remain at current levels for an additional twelve months
  • changes to some capital allowances in respect of business investment and tax
  • further commitments to tax simplification at key events for growing businesses
  • simplification for trusts and estates administration
  • changes to alcohol duties

To help you navigate the forthcoming changes, fellow tax specialist Ian Linden and I have summarised the Budget announcement, and shared our views on it, in our latest Tech Talk.

Naturally, we’ll provide more detail and analysis as further information becomes available.

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Neil MacGillivray

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Neil MacGillivray