UK Autumn Budget 2018
The UK Autumn budget was presented by Philip Hammond on the 29th of October 2018.
In a welcome change, there were no significant announcements that directly impacted on the structure of pensions in the UK for UK nationals or UK emigrants.
The main items of note relating to pensions were as follows:
• The pension lifetime allowance is to increase from £1.03m to £1.055m from April 2019. This is in line with the increase through UK inflation.
• The government is working on a launch of a pension dashboard, to allow an individual to see their pension pots including their state pension in one place. This is subject to consultation with the industry.
• Measures to boost pensions for the self employed. This is subject to consultation.
Other main points of note:
• The UK public deficit has fallen from 9.9% to 1.9% since 2009/10.
• The tax free personal allowance will rise to £12,500 in April 2019. This is beneficial for UK nationals as well as UK emigrants who are entitled to benefit from the UK personal allowance.
• The higher rate tax threshold will increase from £46,350-£50,000 in April 2019. The higher rate of tax is 40%.
• The UK will have a new coin (50p) to commemorate Brexit from Spring 2019.
• Various other spending increases have been announced including schools, defence, and housing.
• The funding to help departments prepare for Brexit is increased to over £4 billion in total.
Should you have any questions relating to the budget or how it might impact on you please contact us and we will be happy to assist.