Chancellor George Osborne delivered his sixth budget today, outlining lots of changes for the coming year. Here is a run down of the top five changes announced by the Treasury.
1. One of the most important announcements is of course that that you will now pay 1p less for your pint in the local, and save 2p a pint if you’re drinking cider. Scotch whisky will also see a 2% cut, with a freeze on wine duty. So it looks like it’s bottoms up, whatever your favourite tipple may be.
2. It’s not just wine duty that’s being frozen, petrol duty will also be frozen. Osborne has also said that the planned increases for petrol prices in September have been cancelled, so it’s good news on the roads.
3. If you’re planning on saving up for your first house, you are also in luck. First time buyers will now have access to ‘Help to Buy’ ISA’s, where the government will add £50 for every £200 saved for a house deposit.
4. It looks like Mr Osborne is not only trying to save us money, but also some trees. Annual paper tax returns are going to be scrapped and replaced with digital accounts.
5. Your tax-free personal allowance is also going up. You will be able to earn up to £11,000 tax-free by 2017, with the allowance going up to £10,600 for the next financial year.
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