Tax and Allowances for 2015
January 28th, 2015
ISAs
The Government will introduce an additional allowance for spouses and civil partners when an ISA saver dies, equal to the value of the holding on death. Result: ISAs can be transferred in death tax free!
The Government will also increase the ISA annual subscription limits in line with CPI. The 2015-16 ISA limit will be £15,240. The Junior ISA and Child Trust Fund limits will both be £4,080.
Personal tax
The tax-free Personal Allowance, which was set to rise to £10,500, will rise instead to £10,600 in 2015/16. However, its not all good news – the increase in personal allowance will also be passed on to higher-rate taxpayers, so the threshold for paying 40 per cent tax will go from £41,865 this year to £42,385 next year. This is the first time in five years that personal allowance will increase in line with inflation.
Stamp Duty
The Chancellor announced that from that midnight the current system, where Stamp Duty jumps at certain price levels, would be replaced by a graduated rate, working in a similar way to income tax.
Under the new regime, no tax will be paid on the first £125,000 of a property, followed by 2 per cent on the portion up to £250,000, 5 per cent up to £925,000, 10 per cent up to £1.5 million and 12 per cent on everything over that.
