By Lyndsey Hall
On March 20th, the chancellor will present the 2013 Budget. For George Osborne, it will be his fourth. The chancellor is required to present a Budget at least once a year, this tends to take place in March so that any changes to taxes or benefits, for example, can be implemented in April, the beginning of the following financial year. The Autumn Statement, previously known as the pre-Budget report, takes place towards the end of the year and provides an update on how the plans that were laid out at the previous Budget have been set into motion, and how successful they have been.
The Budget provides parliament and the public with an overview of the country’s finances and sets out a plan of action for the next few years, including how much the government will be raising taxes by over the course of the following years, as well as any increase in duty on fuel and cigarettes. The chancellor will also announce aggregated figures for the amount of money that will be dedicated to each government department, for spending on government workers’ wages, amongst other things. The individual departments will not find out exactly how much of the total budget they will receive until the Spending Review in a few months time.
We have already been made aware of some of the changes that are due to come into effect this April, such as the HMRC’s move to RTI for income tax; the 5% cut to top rate tax, from 50% to 45% tax for those earning over £150,000; and the increase in benefits like Jobseekers Allowance by 1% less than the rate of inflation. What other changes are you expecting to see next Wednesday?
Mark Barrett, Sage Business Expert, has given his predictions, as an accountant, of what this year’s Budget will consist of, such as anti avoidance measures and personal allowance. You can find out what he has predicted here.
You can keep up with the Budget news live next Wednesday 20th March on the Knowles Warwick website, or follow us on Twitter, @KnowlesWarwick, as we will be tweeting live throughout the day.
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