Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng has announced big tax cuts for individuals and businesses, including a major shake-up to income tax and a permanent stamp duty cut. The changes come as part of Friday’s mini-budget.

Measures to help with some of the soaring cost of living had already been announced, including the Energy Prince Guarantee, which will freeze the typical household annual bills at £2,500 for two years, and the reversal of 1.25 per cent national insurance rise from the 6th of November.

Some key changes announced on Friday were:

• With immediate effect, a permanent cut to stamp duty thresholds. Raising the cost of a property before stamp duty is paid from £125,000 to £250,000.
• First-time buyers will now only pay stamp duty when they purchase properties above £425,00, whereas previously, they paid stamp duty on properties above £300,000.
• He also announced the increase in the value of the property on which first-time buyers can claim stamp duty relief from £500,000 to £625,000.
• From next April, the basic rate of income tax will be cut from 20% to 19%.

• The 1.25 percentage point rise in national insurance contributions (NICs), which took effect earlier this year, will be reversed on 6 November 2022.
• The 2017 and 2021 reforms to the off-payroll working rules (also known as IR35) will be repealed from the 6th of April 2023. From this date, workers across the UK providing their services via an intermediary, such as a personal service company, will once again be responsible for determining their employment status and paying the appropriate amount of tax and national insurance contributions.

The Chancellor also announced a suite of tax cuts for business, including cancelling the planned rise in corporation tax, freezing alcohol duty for another year, extending the tax relief for investments in plants and machinery and getting rid of the cap on banker’s bonuses.

For more information regarding the mini-budget please visit the following website:https://www.gov.uk/government/news/chancellor-announces-new-growth-plan-with-biggest-package-of-tax-cuts-in-generations