No tax allowance change before 2017

THE UK government has said it would make no change to the income tax personal allowance rules for non-residents before 2017.

The comments came as part of Chancellor George Osborne’s “Autumn Statement”, which was released yesterday.

In the announcements – which came in a long, 100-page, version as well as a speech summarising main points – the chancellor states that, following the consultation the government held this year, it considers there is a “strong rationale” for restricting non-residents’ right to the allowance, but it recognises that it would be a “complex change”.

Should it decide to proceed it would therefore hold more consultations and there would be no change before April 2017, the chancellor said.

The statement also confirms plans to increase the allowance, from £10,000 to £10,600 as of April 2015 and lists some changes to UK state pensions, among a raft of other matters related to the UK’s taxation and economy.

The latter include plans to boost the north of England as an economic “powerhouse” and a further devolution for Scotland and Wales, which the government says means there is now an “unanswerable” case for English MPs voting on “English laws”.

The chancellor said that while four years ago the UK was “on the brink, it is now “the fastest-growing of any major advanced economy”. He also indulged in some “French-bashing”, stating that over the last year the country has grown “over seven times faster than France”.

Connexion will be looking in more detail at some of the issues affecting our readers in January’s edition of the newspaper.

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