The main points for the 2014 Autumn Statement, split into categories:
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Tax
- 55 percent tax charge on inherited pensions to be abolished from April 2015.
- Personal tax free allowance to be raised by an extra £100 over figures announced in the Budget. Tax free allowance from April 2015 is now £10,600. Higher rate threshold unchanged from £31,785.
- The so-called 'Google Tax' where multi-national companies avoid tax by declaring profit outside of the UK is announced. 25% tax specifically for these circumstances and will raise up to £1 billion by 2019.
- Air passenger duty to be removed for children under 12 from May 2015. From March 2016 all children under 16 will be exempted.
- ISAs are to become transferrable upon death tax free, that is to say maintain their tax free status. Threshold are also increasing by £240 from 2015 so the new ISA limit will be £15,240.
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Business
- Existing removal of Employers' National Insurance for people under 21, extended for young apprentices aged under 25.
- Northern rail and the Trans-pennine Express rail to be replaced with invitations to tender for franchises being released. Will see brand new trains and stations with 20% increase in capacity and better quality.
- Tax relief expanded for business contributions to flood defence schemes.
- First-time exporters to be helped with a £20 million package of advisor.
- Children's television tax relief from April 2015 - available at 25% on production costs.
- Research and Development tax credits extended for SMEs - from 225% to 230%.
- Consultation to be launched on tax relief for orchestras from April 2016.
- Business rates support of £2.7 billion up to April 2019 - Extending the 2% cap on indexed increases in business rates to April 2016. Additionally the £1,000 business rates discount increased to £1,500 for restaurants, pubs, cafes and shops by 2015-16. Helping the high street.
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Housing and Land
- £2 billion allocated to flood defence schemes.
- Stamp duty overhauled and changed from existing tiered bands where amounts are calculated in single band, to a tiered system where only the portion of the property value within the band is charged tax. The exact bands are:
Band Percentage £0 to £125,000 0 percent £125,000 to £250,000 2 percent £250,000 to £925,000 5 percent £925,000 to £1,500,000 10 percent £1,500,000 and above 12 percent - £1.5 billion allocated to English road works.
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Health and Education
- An extension to student loan for people under 30 taking on a post-graduate course. Up to £10,000 can be borrowed to be paid concurrently with an existing student loan.
- NHS fund to upgrade GP services totalling £1.2 billion spread from 2015 to 2019. Funded from money collected from banks in fines for foreign exchange manipulation.
- Employment allowance of £2,000 to be extended to carers meaning a family could employ a carer with a salary of up to £22,500 and not pay Employers' NICs.
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Social Security
- Total spending to be reduced by £1 billion compared to the forecast in the 2014 Budget.
- Reduction in access to benefits for migrants. EEA migrants need to be resident for 3 months before being able to claim JSA, Child Benefit and Child Tax Credits. Maximum claim length for JSA for a migrant to be reduced to 3 months also.