6 Ways The New Tax Year Could Impact You
Please note this blog post was published over 12 months ago and so may not include the most up-to-date information, for example where regulation around investing has changed.
Yesterday marked the start of the 2017/18 tax year, bringing with it a wave of changes that could impact you in one way or another. Changes will include taxes and savings, so it is worth reading on and seeing how the new rules will apply to you.
- You can now put up to £20,000 in an ISA. To make the most out of this, it could be an idea to consider putting as much as you can towards the allowance now. You can learn more at our helpful website.
- The amount of money you can earn tax-free has gone up by £500 to £11,500 a year.
- For higher rate earners, you can now earn an extra £1,500, a threshold rise from £43,000 to £45,000. However, for people living in Scotland, the threshold is frozen at £43,000.
- From yesterday, you can only claim child tax credits on your first two children. Thousands of people are expected to be affected. The child tax credit is worth up to £2,780 per a child, but that will no longer apply to a third child or more.
- Buy to let landlords have had cuts made to the amount of interest tax relief they are eligible for.
- The new apprenticeship levy has launched today. It is effectively a 0.5% tax on businesses with wage bills of more than £3,000,000. This will be used to fund new apprenticeships.
If you’re wondering why the financial year starts on April 6, this tradition goes all the way back to medieval times. To sum a complicated story up, Europe was on a Julian calendar, which then went to a Gregorian calendar. The British treasury started the April 6 tradition in 1800, in order to compensate for changing calendar dates.
How do you think the new tax year will affect your life? Let us know on Twitter or facebook
