This article summarises the tax updates announced in the Autumn Budget 2023. These will be of interest to individuals and landlords. This includes Capital Gains Tax, Inheritance Tax, Back to Work Plan, State Benefits, Individual Savings Accounts and Pension Tax Limits.

Capital gains

The capital gains tax annual exempt amount will be reduced from £6,000 to £3,000 from April 2024.

Comment: It is estimated that around 570,000 individuals and trusts could be affected in 2024/25.

Inheritance tax

The inheritance tax nil-rate bands will stay fixed at their current levels until April 2028. The nil-rate band will continue at £325,000, the residence nil-rate band will continue at £175,000 and the residence nil-rate band taper will continue to start at £2 million.

Back to work

The government is introducing a Back to Work Plan, which includes investment of over £2.5 billion over the next five years. It will significantly expand available support and transform
the way people interact with the benefits system. It has been designed:

• To support those who are long-term unemployed to find work.
• To ensure that those with long-term sickness and/or disabilities are better equipped to manage their conditions and participate in work, if they are able to do so.

As part of the Back to Work Plan, the government will invest over £1.3 billion over the next five years to help tackle long-term unemployment by establishing an end-to-end process that supports and incentivises unemployed Universal Credit claimants to find work. These policies, which include expanding Additional Jobcentre Support and strengthening Restart, build on previously announced changes.

The government will also strengthen the Universal Credit sanctions regime to enforce the government’s expectation that those who can work must engage with the support available or lose their benefits. As a result, no claimant should reach their claimant review point at 18 months of unemployment in receipt of their full benefits if they have not taken every reasonable step to comply with Jobcentre support.

State benefits

From April 2024, the government is increasing working age benefits in line with inflation by 6.7%. The government is also maintaining the Triple Lock and the basic State Pension, new State Pension and the Pension Credit standard minimum guarantee will be uprated by 8.5%.

Individual Savings Accounts

The government is freezing the limits on Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs) (£20,000), Junior Individual Savings Accounts (£9,000), Lifetime Individual Savings Accounts (£4,000 excluding government bonus) and Child Trust Funds (£9,000) for 2024/25.

However, a number of changes will be made to allow multiple subscriptions to ISAs of the same type every year and to allow partial transfers of ISA funds in-year between providers from April 2024.

Pension tax limits

Several changes were made to the tax regime for pensions for 2023/24 and these include the following, which will remain at their 2023/24 levels for 2024/25:

• The Annual Allowance (AA) is £60,000.
• Individuals who have ‘threshold income’ for a tax year
  of greater than £200,000 have their AA for that tax year restricted. It is reduced by £1 for every £2 of ‘adjusted income’ over £260,000, to a minimum AA of £10,000.
• No Lifetime Allowance (LA) charge.

In addition, as previously announced the LA of £1,073,100 will be abolished from 2024/25. Changes will be made to clarify the taxation of lump sums and lump sum death benefits, and the application of protections, as well as the tax treatment for overseas pensions, transitional arrangements, and reporting requirements.

If you would like to find out more about how the changes to these taxes will affect you or your business, please do contact us by calling 01623 490 120 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.