Archive for August 2021
No room for giveaways in OBR risk report
The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has given Rishi Sunak its new worry list. It gives the Chancellor little wriggle room for potential Budget generosity. Every alternate year the OBR must issue a Fiscal Risks Report (FRR). Unlike the six-monthly economic outlooks the OBR produces for Budgets and (theoretically) Spring Statements, the FRR takes a…
Read MoreSocial care rises up the agenda
A proposal to address social care funding is apparently imminent. “My job is to protect you or your parents or grandparents from the fear of having to sell your home to pay for the costs of care. And so I am announcing now – on the steps of Downing Street – that we will fix…
Read MoreNational Savings to launches Green Savings Bond
National Savings & Investments has announced details of a new green savings product. One of the small surprises in March’s Budget was the announcement that National Savings & Investments (NS&I) would be launching “a new, retail savings product to give all United Kingdom savers the chance to support green projects”. No further information was given at…
Read MoreHMRC loses on child benefit tax
A recent Upper Tribunal case has raised questions about HMRC’s approach to collecting tax on child benefit. Child benefit tax, or the High-Income Child Benefit Charge (HICBC) to use its legal name, has a chequered history. The HICBC was introduced in January 2013 as a mechanism for clawing back child benefit from high-income couples, whether…
Read MorePension lifetime allowance cuts are looming on the horizon
New HMRC statistics show the lifetime allowance continues to be a useful revenue earner for HM Treasury, but rumoured cuts could be a concern for soon-to-be retirees. In the March Budget, the Chancellor announced that he would be freezing the pension lifetime allowance (LTA) at its 2020/21 level of £1.0731 million until the end of…
Read More