What farmers need to know about the budget

 

Farmers welcome the budget changes nationally after a number of consecutive price drops.

Osborne’s main points from 18^th March for farmers are listed below. It remains to be seen whether his suggestions will be kept with the post-election budget.

Tax

British self-employed farmers can now average out their profits over five years instead of the current two. This is hoped to help with the large tax bills farmers are facing, with the government estimating to potentially save farming £30m a year.

Annual tax returns are to be replaced by digital tax accounts. This should mean less work; certain information will already be shown on the system.

Entrepreneurs’ relief from capital gains tax is to be tightened. There will be new rules on limits disposed of and those where associated business are involved.

The class 2 rate of National Insurance for the self-employed will be scrapped in the next parliament, class 4 contributions on trading profits will be changed to introduce a new benefit test, there will be no NI for under 21s from April and no NI for young apprentices from April 2016.

Fuel duty is to be frozen from September.

Tax on savings will be charged only after the first £1000 of interest or the first £500 for the higher rate taxpayers.

Income tax personal allowance is to rise to £10,800 in 2016-17 and £11,000 the next year.

The higher rate tax threshold has risen to £42,385 in this year and £43,300 in the two following years.

The Pensions Lifetime Allowance on contributions cut by £250,000 to £1m from 6^th April 2016.

The VAT registration threshold has been increased from £81,000 to £82,000.

The small business rate relief has been extended for another year to 31^st March 2016. Properties with a rateable value of £6,000 or lower get 100% relief and those between £6,001 and £12,000 will get relief of 0%.

Annual investment allowance

Mr Osborne agreed that £25,000 is not an acceptable level to encourage investment in farming. The industry will have to wait until the government’s Autumn Statement to learn the new rate, which was set to drop from January in 2016.

Deeds of variation

These allow a family to alter a will after death to make the distribution of the estate more tax efficient providing all beneficiaries agree to the change. Deeds of variation are to be reviewed in summer 2015.

Enhanced capital allowances

The scheme means that a business can invest in energy-saving machinery that might otherwise be too expensive. Osborne has said that the allowance will be available on a longer list of energy-saving and water-efficient technologies in summer 2015. Currently, this list includes solar thermal equipment, pipe work insulation, boilers, lighting and, combined heat and power.

Compulsory purchase law

The law will be changed to make it clearer, faster and fairer – a popular change.

 

Budget 2015: Farmers granted tax relief

George Osborne, holds up his budget case for the cameras outside number 11 Downing Street. Credit: HM Treasury (Flickr)

UK farmers will now be allowed to average their income for tax purposes over five years, Osborne has announced in his latest budget.

In his Budget Speech the Chancellor said: “The fall in food prices is good for families; but it reminds us of the challenge our farmers face from volatile markets.”

“The National Farmers Union has long argued they should be allowed to average their incomes for tax purposes over five years; I agree and in this budget we will make that change.”

Up until now, farmers have only been able to average their profits over two years, resulting in large tax bills.

The tax averaging was a key issue in the NFU’s election manifesto for 2015 and follows on from the lobbying of government by its members.

NFU President Meurig Raymond said: “We are very pleased that Mr Osborne said that he had listened to the arguments by the NFU. As he mentioned in his speech, farmers are increasingly facing a volatile marketplace and this will enable them to manage the impacts of this.

“News that the annual investment allowance will be addressed in his Autumn Statement is also welcome. As [Mr Osborne] mentions, £25,000 is not an acceptable level which would encourage on-farm investment and we will await further announcements with interest.”

The tax change will come into place from April 2016.

WINOL Analysis Week Nine: Budget Day

 

Part 1:

• Good heads – were well delivered and had strong pictures
• I did not think the rotating and moving screen worked particularly well – it looked slightly confusing
• Raveena OB – good, fluent walky talky, vox pops on opposite sides, variety of opinions and people. Overall was a very well rounded package in a great location with good delivery of the script
• Had good names in this bulletin – these get us views! Steve Brine, Mike Thornton
• I really liked the scrolling graphic at the bottom of the screen filled with facts just like the BBC’s budget coverage
• However, on the reporters’ packages the scrolling graphic on the top of the screen was slightly cut off
• My package was cut short with the wipe at the beginning, which was slightly disappointing. However, I had a good variety of shots, a great interviewee and enough footage for a strong edit
• Calum’s graphic was really good with a clear, simple voiceover well delivered
• Alex’s package was graphically very strong and, well delivered and presented
• Lucy’s OB was well presented but slightly too wordy for me perhaps. It was good to have more detail from the budget in this though
• The summary before the break was good and simple for viewers – very helpful
• I do not really like the break images even though it is good to internal advertise it is a bit confusing in the middle of the budget special

Part 2:

• In studio chat with live reaction was extremely good; it was good to challenge politicians with what the audience want and to ensure balance in the bulletin
• However, the edit was not slick enough so a bit jumpy and camera angles were not good enough – the Conservative councillor was cut off and the lighting was not right on the other angle
• Lucy 2nd OB – good main politics from parliament, we included the big names here too (Ed Miliband)

WINOL 12th March Wednesday Debrief

Struggled for lead, asthma story was a world first so the only reason this was put there. New subject needed for this story – not back to the same case study

Reading things in whatever strange magazine is worth it – keep reading everything to get news

Tate: lacking pictures, no food parcels

Laura recycling: took out a lot of plugs for his company, very good package, had the balance

Lucy in studio: said with authority, forgot one word don’t worry about it, product teasing programme for next week, look good, sound good

OOVs: horse shots went on forever – 3 words to a second

John: it’s a telly story, good, shots of it in it’s prime needed, so much cheese on PTC was a nice idea

So much more picture rich than they used to be, good improvement for reporters

Raveena: didn’t tell the score, use graphics

Calum: cut well and played about, listened to debriefs

Say thanks for sport in bulletin

Me: great story, needed shots of the journey, play around with shots, provide the pictures – would’ve added a lot, quirkier. Switched two grabs around on second reflection with Angus

Editorially bulletin was light, not any belting stories, just managed to get it out nothing could have fallen through. Very good, excellent, impressed for a slow news week

Very fluent presenting, well done