Gold standard

By THIS IS MONEY
Updated:

 

FROM road tax to gold watches for long services, some of Brown's tax changes you may have missed.

• ROAD tax will rise by £5 a year from May 1. For cars registered before March 1, 2001, this takes the fee to £110 a year if the engine is 1549cc or less and to £165 for cars with bigger engines. Road tax for newer cars is linked to CO2 emissions and fuel type. For petrol-engined cars, the tax will range from £75 to £160 a year. A new 'AAA' band for ultra-low polluting cars is also being introduced, though no new car on sale in Britain at the moment would qualify.

• DUTY on petrol and diesel will go up by 1.28p a litre, but only from October. The increase has been delayed because of high oil prices caused by the war in Iraq.

• COMPANY car tax - based on the amount of pollution each car produces - will rise again in April 2005. Previous Budgets had set out a series of increases to the end of tax year 2004/05 as the pollution hurdle was raised each year. Now a further increase in tax is due in April 2005 with only cars producing less than 140g/km of CO2 falling into the lowest tax band.

• THE taxman is relaxing the rules on office parties. Employees will be able to enjoy celebrations paid for by their firm worth £150 a head without risking being taxed on the perk. This is double the previous £75 a year limit. Companies can also choose to give a better quality gold watch to recognise long service. Gifts can be worth up to £50 per year of service after at least 20 years in employment, up from £20 a year.

• THOSE who fill in tax returns will be able to choose to donate any tax refund they are due to charity. They will be able to nominate a charity and how much of their refund they want to give directly on their tax return, with the donation also qualifying for Gift Aid. The measure will start with tax returns issued in April 2004.

• MORE long-term mortgages may be offered to homebuyers. The Chancellor has commissioned a report into ways that the mortgage market could be changed to encourage more 25 or 30-year fixed-rate loans. At the moment, hefty redemption penalties dissuade most borrowers from choosing such loans.

• INVESTORS will no longer be able to defer any tax due when a life insurance policy matures by rolling over the proceeds and reinvesting in a new plan with the same insurer. But they will still be able to extend existing policies and continue to draw up to five% a year from insurance bonds with no immediate tax liability.

• THE Government will consult local authorities over whether to introduce extra taxes on household waste. The charges would be designed to encourage more recycling, but a standard national 'bin bag' tax has been ruled out.

• EMPLOYERS and employees stand to gain from changes to the running of employee share schemes, including the lifting of the three-year rule for tax relief on company share option plans. This means they will have more choice about when to cash in shares without losing the tax breaks. BUDGET2003BUDGET2003

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