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On 3rd August 2023, the Bank of England increased the base interest rate from 5% to 5.25%, which also triggered an increase in HMRC interest rates for late tax payments and repayments. This rate will apply until the next review in November.

Increased bank interest rates mean increased tax revenue for the government, as more taxpayers will end up paying Income Tax on their savings because of the higher interest. Similarly, increased mortgage rates are driving up Capital Gains Tax takings.

Taxpayers who submitted 2021–2022 tax returns with provisional figures need to resolve these and provide the final figures by the end of November.
HMRC has been sending nudge letters to tax agents representing taxpayers whose provisional tax returns are still unresolved, and may also send them directly to unrepresented taxpayers who do not have an agent to manage their tax files.
While using provisional figures is sometimes necessary, submitting a high number of provisional tax returns can draw unwanted attention from HMRC, and leaving them unresolved could result in fines for failing to meet your tax obligations.
That’s why HMRC is also encouraging taxpayers and tax agents to get ahead by submitting 2022–2023 tax returns early – preferably with finalised figures.

Recently, HMRC released new Income Tax liability statistics covering the tax years 2020 to 2021 and 2023 to 2024 – but what do the latest figures mean?

The Lifetime Allowance (LTA) was introduced over fifteen years ago, setting the maximum amount of pension savings that an individual could contribute to registered pension schemes before their savings would be subject to a tax charge.

As part of efforts to incentivise those who have retired or are planning to retire to return to work and boost the economy, the government has abolished this allowance – meaning workers can save more into their pensions without triggering the tax charge.

Though the LTA was scrapped in April this year, further changes were needed to support its removal and facilitate the taxing of lump sums and death benefits without it.

To this end, draft legislation and an accompanying policy paper have been published to set out the changes due to take effect from 6th April 2024. These include the introduction of a new lump sum allowance and death benefit allowance.

If the legislation is enacted, these will be the same as the previous LTA – which was frozen at £1,073,100 in 2020. There will also be significant changes to the taxing of death benefits when a pension saver passes away before they turn 75 years old.

Here is what we can learn from the policy document and how abolishing the LTA could affect the future of pension planning for many savers.

The legislative rules that apply if a person dies without a Will, which set out who is responsible for the administration of their estate and who will inherit, are known as the rules of intestacy.

In England or Wales, the amount that the surviving spouse or civil partner can inherit under intestacy rules – the statutory legacy – has been increased from July 2023.

Under the Administration of Estates Act 1925 (Fixed Net Sum) Order 2023, the UK government has raised the statutory legacy sum from £270,000 to £322,000.

The previous sum was set at the start of 2020 and would usually be due for review in five years, but this period can be overridden by inflation increases of 15% or more.

This means that the uplift applied from 26th July 2023 is actually several months late, and the government’s failure to keep up with the consumer price index in this regard could mean some inheritors would have lost out on thousands of pounds.

At present, UK taxpayers who inherit properties located in the European Economic Area (EEA) can qualify for agricultural relief on Inheritance Tax in the UK.

However, since the UK left the EU, which the EEA is an extension of, the Inheritance Tax treatment of properties in the EEA is due to be brought in line with properties in the rest of the world – meaning EEA properties will no longer qualify.

The 2023 Spring Budget announced the government’s plans to change the geographical scope of Agricultural Property Relief (APR) and Woodlands Relief, restricting these Inheritance Tax reliefs to properties in the UK only.

Draft legislation has now been published confirming that this geographical restriction will be enforced next year from 6th April 2024.

This means that any property located in the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands, or non-EU EEA countries (Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein) will cease to qualify.