Autumn statement reactions with reference to pension & retirement planning, views & comments?

eskbanker

Albermarle said:

NoMore said:

Oh great another thread that will descend into arguments and political point scoring about anything but the subject of the thread.

Can you not post this in a more appropriate place, as the autumn statement will be covering far more than pensions.

In fact three threads running at once.
Autumn Statement - Multiple ISA subscriptions allowed — MoneySavingExpert Forum
Autumn statement - ISA rule changes from April 2024 — MoneySavingExpert Forum

Seems reasonable to me that a thread on this board should consider the impact of the statement specifically on pensions, and then another one on the ISA board will discuss its direct impact on ISAs, and so on.

The main MSE article about the statement links to an 'official' thread that they chose to park on the benefits board:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6487438/mse-news-chancellors-autumn-statement-2023/p1

whattochoose

If what I read is correct, HMIT is in a pretty shambolic state right now. 
I wonder how well they're going to cope with the increase in work, because of the rise in interest rates that many people are now enjoying, which is great, but with the result also that many also will find they are liable to tax because they will be receiving over £1000 pa.
Perhaps the Chancellor could have upped the rate to £2000 tax free, or increased the starting rate for savings for those on a low income.
But he didn't.

dealyboy

@whattochoose said:

If what I read is correct, HMIT is in a pretty shambolic state right now. 
I wonder how well they're going to cope with the increase in work, because of the rise in interest rates that many people are now enjoying, which is great, but with the result also that many also will find they are liable to tax because they will be receiving over £1000 pa.
Perhaps the Chancellor could have upped the rate to £2000 tax free, or increased the starting rate for savings for those on a low income.
But he didn't.

Yes, there are many areas that could and probably should have increased with inflation. I don't know when the savings bands were last changed but a 20% increase to the personal savings allowance to £1,200 and to the zero rate band to £6,000 would have been reasonable.

His Majesty's Inspector of Taxes aka Revenue & Customs is probably busy working from a beach in Spain  .

Albermarle

dealyboy said:

@whattochoose said:

If what I read is correct, HMIT is in a pretty shambolic state right now. 
I wonder how well they're going to cope with the increase in work, because of the rise in interest rates that many people are now enjoying, which is great, but with the result also that many also will find they are liable to tax because they will be receiving over £1000 pa.
Perhaps the Chancellor could have upped the rate to £2000 tax free, or increased the starting rate for savings for those on a low income.
But he didn't.

Yes, there are many areas that could and probably should have increased with inflation. I don't know when the savings bands were last changed but a 20% increase to the personal savings allowance to £1,200 and to the zero rate band to £6,000 would have been reasonable.

His Majesty's Inspector of Taxes aka Revenue & Customs is probably busy working from a beach in Spain  .

You have to take into account that the ability to earn savings interest tax free, is far higher in the UK than in most other countries.
Your average German or Irish person would be pleased to be able save £500 tax free and being able to stow away £20 kpa in an ISA would only be a dream for them. 

Grumpy_chap

kuratowski said:

Savers aren't currently the policy priority, at least this time round the giveaways are focused on workers and businesses.

dealyboy said:

I don't think state pensioners are so well served by this 'budget'.

Well, the rhetoric was all about making work pay and getting more people into work, so it could be said that the delivery matches the stated policy aims.
Increases in Living Wage.
Increases in state pension and benefits in line with established protocols, so no "punishment" and no "enhancement"
Cuts in tax that only apply to earned income - i.e. those in work - meaning pensioners, savers, LL etc don't see the tax cut.

Qyburn

dealyboy said:

I used to be able to add £2,880 to a SIPP and drawdown £3,600 without paying tax. 

I could easily see that loophole being closed in any case. The intention can't have been to enable that sort of recycling.

Dazed_and_C0nfused

whattochoose said:

I'm disappointed they haven't increased the amount of interest you can earn before becoming liable to tax.

With the current annual ISA limit and two 0% tax bands on top of the Personal Allowance I don't think we are particularly hard done by in that respect!

artyboy

Given there was a recent resurgence of the rumour that IHT was to be cut/abolished, the fact that Hunt didn't say a dicky bird about it yesterday means that I don't feel any need to rebalance contributions from pensions to other investments...

In other words, this budget changes nothing for me pension-wise. 

zagfles

Dazed_and_C0nfused said:

whattochoose said:

I'm disappointed they haven't increased the amount of interest you can earn before becoming liable to tax.

With the current annual ISA limit and two 0% tax bands on top of the Personal Allowance I don't think we are particularly hard done by in that respect!

While interest rates are below inflation, any sort of tax on interest is effectively a wealth tax. Your assets aren't increasing in value but you're getting taxed on them. In previous years most people weren't taxed because of the allowances but now a lot of people are because the nominal interest they earn is a lot higher, but still doesn't even cover the loss of capital value due to inflation.

LHW99

zagfles said:

Dazed_and_C0nfused said:

whattochoose said:

I'm disappointed they haven't increased the amount of interest you can earn before becoming liable to tax.

With the current annual ISA limit and two 0% tax bands on top of the Personal Allowance I don't think we are particularly hard done by in that respect!

While interest rates are below inflation, any sort of tax on interest is effectively a wealth tax. Your assets aren't increasing in value but you're getting taxed on them. In previous years most people weren't taxed because of the allowances but now a lot of people are because the nominal interest they earn is a lot higher, but still doesn't even cover the loss of capital value due to inflation.

Although it is also the fact that in recent years interest rates have been so low that you would have needed to be reasonably well off in savings to earn enough in interest to reach the tax limits.