The Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, delivered his Autumn Statement on Thursday 17 November 2022. We have summarised the key points from the Autumn Budget and specific issues affecting Northern Ireland businesses.
Forecasts
Growth forecast
- 4.2% in 2022
- -1.4% in 2023
- 1.3% in 2024
- 2.6% in 2025
- 2.7% in 2026
Northern Ireland-specific announcements
The Northern Ireland Executive will receive an additional £650 million in funding for 2022-23.
Personal tax
From April 2023, the rate at which people pay the additional rate of income tax, charged at 45%, will change from £150,000 to those earning over £125,140. The personal thresholds within income tax, National Insurance Contributions (NICs) and Inheritance Tax will be fixed, for an additional two years, until April 2028.
Minimum wage
The National Living Wage, which applies to people over 23 years old, will increase from £9.50 to £10.42 an hour from April 2023. The other National Minimum Wage rates will also increase, from 1 April 2023, as follows:
- Increasing the rate for 21-22 year olds by 10.9% to £10.18 an hour;
- Increasing the rate for 18-20 year olds by 9.7% to £7.49 an hour;
- Increasing the rate for 16-17 year olds by 9.7% to £5.28 an hour;
- Increasing the apprentice rate by 9.7% to £5.28 an hour; and
- Increasing the accommodation offset rate by 4.6% to £9.10 an hour
See National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage rates.
National insurance
The NICs secondary threshold for employers will remain at £9,100 until April 2028. The Employment Allowance will be retained at its new higher level of £5,000.
VAT
The VAT registration and deregistration thresholds will be maintained at the current levels of £85,000 for an additional two years from 1 April 2024.
Dividends
The dividend allowance will be cut from £2,000 to £1,000 from April 2023, and then to £500 from April 2024.
Capital Gains Tax
The Annual Exempt Amount for Capital Gains Tax will be cut from £12,300 to £6,000 from April 2023, and then to £3,000 from April 2024.
Energy sector
The Energy Profits Levy is being extended to 31 March 2028 and the rate will be increased from 23% to 35% from 1 January 2023.
A new temporary 45% Electricity Generator Levy will be introduced from 1 January 2023. The levy will only apply to extraordinary returns exceeding £10 million.
Innovation
Funding for the UK’s nine Catapults, including the Digital Catapult centre in Northern Ireland, will increase by 35%.
The government will bring forward the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumer Bill in the third Parliamentary session to provide the Competition and Markets Authority with new powers to promote and tackle anti-competitive practice in digital markets.
Research and development
For expenditure on or after 1 April 2023, the Research and Development Expenditure Credit (RDEC) rate will increase from 13% to 20%, the small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) additional deduction will decrease from 130% to 86%, and the SME credit rate will decrease from 14.5% to 10%.
Stamp duty
The stamp duty cuts announced in the Growth Plan in September 2022 will remain in place but only until 31 March 2025.
Electric vehicles
From April 2025, road tax will be introduced for electric cars, vans and motorcycles. Company car tax rates will remain lower for electric vehicles with rate increases limited to 1 percentage point a year for three years from 2025.
Multinational corporations
From 31 December 2023, tax reforms will be introduced to make sure multinational corporations – including big tech companies – pay the right tax in the countries they operate.
Import tariffs
From today, import tariffs will be removed on over 100 goods used by UK businesses in their production processes, from car seat parts to bicycle frames.
Levelling Up
Round 2 of the Levelling Up Fund will invest at least £1.7 billion in local projects across the UK. Successful projects will be announced later this year.
Help with energy bills
The Energy Price Guarantee will be extended from April 2023 to April 2024; however, the rate will be adjusted.
The level of support for households that use alternative fuels, such as heating oil, liquified petroleum gas, coal, or biomass, to heat their homes will be doubled to £200.
Pensions
From April 2023, the State Pension and Pension Credit will be increased by 10.1% in line with inflation.
Read full details on the Autumn Statement 2022
Source: nibusinessinfo.co.uk
