Chancellor Philip Hammond is set to give his Budget speech on 29 October 2018, earlier than the usual date to avoid any clash with the final stage of Brexit negotiations.
Brexit is one of the main pressures overshadowing Budget 2018, along with the question of how to provide £20bn extra funding for the NHS by 2020.
We’ve kept an eye on the most likely rumours from a range of sources, and put together our top three expectations for the Budget.
Pensions tax relief
One of the most likely targets to raise extra money could be tax relief on pension contributions, which the Chancellor has called “eye-wateringly expensive”.
According to predictions from Royal London, the annual allowance could be cut from £40,000 to either £35,000 or £30,000.
IR35 for the private sector
Following reforms in the public sector in 2017, the Government may extend ‘off-payroll’ rules to IR35 in the private sector.
A consultation on the topic, which ran from May to August 2018, was met with negative reactions from industry groups – but it remains to be seen how HMRC will handle the issue.
Personal allowance
The BBC speculates that the personal income tax allowances could be frozen, potentially raising up to £2 billion a year.
This would go against a Conservative manifesto pledge made in 2017 to raise it to £12,500 for basic-rate taxpayers and £50,000 for higher-rate taxpayers by 2020.
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