Instead of the twelve days of Christmas here are the twelve things you need to know from the Autumn Statement;

 

1. The weekly Class 2 NICs – the flat rate compulsory charge paid by self-employed people earning more than £12,570 - will be abolished from April 2024.

2. The rate of Class 4 NICs on all earnings between £12,570 and £50,270 will be cut by 1%, from 9% to 8% from April 2024.

3. Class 1 contributions for employees will be reduced from 12% to 10% from 6 January 2024.

4. From 1 April 2024, the National Minimum Wage will be increased to £11.44 an hour, for those aged 21 and over, with rates for those aged 20 and under also increased.

5. The state pension will increase by 8.5%. This means the full new state pension will increase from £203.85 per week to £221.20, or £11,502.40 per year. The full basic state pension will rise from £156.20 per week to £169.50 per week - equating to a total of £8,814 per year.

6. The new ‘Full Expensing’ deduction announced from 1 April 2023 which was originally intended to last until 31 March 2026 will be made permanent.

7. The existing Research and Development Expenditure (RDEC) and SME schemes will be merged, with expenditure incurred in accounting periods beginning on or after 1 April 2024 to be claimed in the merged scheme.

8. Small business rates (SBR) relief 75% discount will be extended for a year (2024-25) for the retail, hospitality and leisure sector. In addition, the SBR multiplier will also be frozen for a year.

9. The Chancellor announced a package of changes to simplify the design of Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax Self-Assessment (ITSA). This includes maintaining the current MTD threshold at £30,000 and design changes to simplify and improve the system. These changes will take effect from April 2026.

10. The government will no longer require individuals with income taxed only through PAYE to file a Self-Assessment return from 2024-25.

11. The government is legislating in the Autumn Finance Bill 2023 to introduce tougher consequences for promoters of tax avoidance schemes.

12. The government is investing a further £163 million to improve HMRC’s ability to manage tax debts. This will allow HMRC to better distinguish between those who can afford to settle their tax debts, but choose not to, from those who are temporarily unable to pay and need support.