News story

Tax changes coming into effect 6 April 2015

The following tax changes come into effect today (Monday 6 April 2015):

From:
HM Treasury
Published
6 April 2015
This was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government
  • Individuals over the age of 55 have flexible access to their defined contribution pension savings
  • The Income Tax Personal Allowance increases to £10,600
  • The higher rate income tax threshold increases to £42,385
  • The new Marriage Allowance comes into effect
  • The starting rate of savings income tax reduces from 10% to 0% for savings up to £5,000
  • The cash ISA limit increases to £15,240
  • Child Trust Funds can now be transferred into Junior ISAs
  • Spouses can now inherit their deceased partner’s ISA benefits
  • If an individual dies before the age of 75, they can now pass on their unused defined contribution pension savings free of income tax
  • Beneficiaries of individuals who die under the age of 75 with a joint life or guaranteed term annuity can now receive any future payments from such policies free of income tax
  • Employers will no longer have to pay employer NICs for employees under the age of 21
  • Class 2 NICs for the self-employed can now be collected through Self-Assessment
  • The Employment Allowance extends to include people employing care and support workers to look after themselves or family members
  • A new annual remittance basis charge of £90,000 is introduced for non-domiciled individuals who have been resident in the UK in at least 17 of the last 20 years, and the charge paid by non-domiciled individuals who have been resident in the UK in at least 12 of the last 14 years has increased from £50,000 to £60,000
  • Non-UK resident individuals, trusts, personal representatives and narrowly controlled companies are now subject to Capital Gains Tax on gains accruing on the disposal of UK residential property
  • Capital Gains Tax annual exemption amount has increased to £11,100
  • The Capital Gains Tax charge on disposals of properties liable to ATED extends to cover residential properties worth £1 million - £2 million
  • The requirement that 70% of Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme money must be spent before EIS or VCT funding can be raised is removed
  • The Fuel Benefit Charge multiplier for both cars and vans increases by RPI
  • The Van Benefit Charge increases by RPI - in 2015-16 the Van Benefit Charge rate paid by zero emission vans is 20% of the rate paid by conventionally fuelled vans
  • Tax Credit payments are stopped in-year where, due to a change in circumstances, a claimant has already received their full annual entitlement

Updates to this page

Published 6 April 2015