List of 2024 Tax dates and events in Spring

March

• March 5 – Rail Fare Increase
  • Prices are set to rise by almost 8%.
• March 6 – Spring Budget 2024
  • The Chancellor has announced that the Spring Budget will take place on Wednesday 6 March 2024.
• March 23 – Fuel Duty Changes
  • A 5p reduction has been in situ since March 2022 and this is due to end on 23 March.

April

• April 1 – National Living Wage
  • The national living wage will, for the first time, applying to 21 and 22 year-olds. The amount is set to rise from £10.42 to £11.44 per hour.
• April 1 – National Minimum Wage
  • The amount received by 18-20 year-olds is set for a £1.11 increase to £8.60 per hour. Those on apprenticeships schemes will also receive a pay increase.
• April 1 – Council Tax
  • Look out for an update on this around February time, but it is widely expected that council tax rates are set to rise.
• April 1 – TV License Costs
  • TV license fees are going be rising in line with September inflation rate, which was 6.6%. The increased cost will mean a £1.50 annual hike to £160.
• April 1 – Research & Development – new merged scheme
  • For companies with accounting periods beginning on or after 1 April 2024, a new Research & Development (R&D) scheme will apply. The new scheme will entail a relief rate of 20%.
• April 6 – National Insurance payments
  • If you are self-employed, Class 2 NICs are set to be scrapped! However, if your profits are below the small profits threshold (£6,725 in 2024/25) you can choose to pay at £3.45 per week. Class 4 NICs are also going be cut from 9% to 8%.
• April 6 – Dividend and capital gains tax
  • Business owners will no doubt be keeping tabs on the capital gains tax annual exemption, which will drop from £6,000 to £3,000 on 6 April 2024. In addition, the dividend allowance is going to be cut from £1,000 to £500.
• April 6 – Cash Basis for the self employed
  • Starting from 2024/25, cash accounting will become the default way of reporting business profits for all unincorporated businesses. It will be possible to ‘opt out’ and use accruals- based accounting, but it’s worth considering whether the cash basis will be useful for you.
• April 6 – ISA changes
  • ISAs are going to see numerous changes in 2024. These include:
    • Being able to pay into multiple ISAs (of the same type) and transferring ISA money you paid in during the current tax year in small amounts.
    •  The minimum age to be able to open a cash ISA is rising to 18. Therefore,16 and 17 year-olds will no longer open a JISA and cash ISA allowance in the same year.

• April 8 – State Pension Rise
  • The State Pension is set to rise 8.5% in accordance to the triple-lock approach. This will take a full state pension to £221.20 per week.
• April 8 – Working Age Benefits
  • Anyone who receives working age benefits will see these increase by 6.7% in line with the inflation rate in September 2023.