News

Please find below our summary of the Autumn Budget delivered by the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, on Wednesday 30 October.

In presenting Labour’s widely anticipated first Budget in 14 years, the Chancellor was faced with a challenging task. Following her announcement of a “black hole” in the public finances, the need to renew the Treasury’s coffers while maintaining Labour’s manifesto promises seemed a tall order.

In the event Ms Reeves outlined a programme of around £41 billion worth of tax increases over the next five years, alongside plans to rebuild tottering infrastructure, the health service, schools and more. Any idea of a return to austerity was quashed, but how this will be achieved is very much in the detail.

Among the key headline items were:

• The main rate of class 1 employer national insurance contribution (NIC) will be increased from 13.8% to 15 from 6 April 2025%
• The secondary threshold at which employer NICs are payable will be reduced from £9,100 to £5,000.
• Main rates of capital gains tax increases with immediate effect to 18% for non and basic rate taxpayers and 24% for higher and additional rate taxpayers.
• Inheritance tax (IHT) business and agricultural reliefs will be capped at a total of £1 million from April 2026.
• Unused pension funds and death benefits will be included as part of an individual’s estate for IHT purposes from April 2027.
• The additional SDLT charge for second homes and buy-to-let properties (in England and Northern Ireland) increases from £5 to 5% from 31 October 2024
• VAT of 20% will be applied to private school and boarding fees from 1 January 2025, while the charitable relief for English business rates will be withdrawn from 1 April 2025.
• ISAs, Junior ISAs and Lifetime ISA limits will remain frozen until April 2030.
• Fuel duty rates for 2025/26 will remain frozen and alcohol rates on certain draught beers will be cut.

The final total for our walk is a fantastic

£5,800

We can’t thank everyone enough for their efforts and the generosity of everyone who sponsored us to raise funds for Pancreatic Cancer UK & Cancer Research UK in memory of Hilary and Catherine.

Thank You.

Thanks to great support from our clients, over the last few years the office and staff have raised around £10,000 for MacMillan Cancer Support by holding Coffee Mornings at Cupar and Markinch. The last one was held in September 2018.

Two wonderful people, with close connections to the office, have died since then from cancer and we have decided that we want to raise some money for Pancreatic Cancer UK and Cancer Research UK in their memory.

They were Hilary Green Marshall who died from pancreatic cancer on 4 July 2019.
As well as being a client, the office stationery supplier and a retained firefighter she was a brilliant friend. Her support was invaluable when I was setting up the office and she was the very first client to sign up with the new business. In recognition of this she was invited to every staff Christmas outing!

Catherine Juskowiak died from liver cancer on 20 May 2021.
She was closely connected to the office through her work for a client and a great supporter of us, again particularly in the early days of setting up the business. She was a lovely person and my best memory is discussing the funniest episodes of Frasier with her.

To raise money for Pancreatic Cancer UK and Cancer Research UK, we are doing a sponsored walk for the 13 miles round Loch Leven on Friday 24th September 2021. We are starting from the car park at Vane Farm at 9.30am and walking clockwise around the loch. There will be a tea, cake and water stop at Burleigh Sands car park.
We would love you to sponsor us and if possible join us for all or part of the walk (or cycle!).
Every penny donated will go to help fund research into this terrible disease.

If you have any queries please contact anyone at the office.