The Autumn
Budget.

You can claim 40% of what you spend on new main-rate plant and machinery in the year you buy it. Sole traders, partnerships and companies can all claim it, including on assets you lease out. Cars, second-hand assets and assets leased overseas don’t qualify.

The yearly allowance on your main pool of plant and machinery fell from 18% to 14%. If your accounting period runs across the change, a blended rate applies for that period.

Dividends are taxed at 10.75% in the basic-rate band and 35.75% in the higher-rate band. The additional rate stays at 39.35%, and the dividend allowance is £500.

The hourly minimum is £12.71 at 21 and over, £10.85 at 18 to 20, and £8.00 for under-18s and apprentices.

When you sell a controlling stake to an Employee Ownership Trust, half the gain is now taxed straight away. The other half is held over until the trust sells the shares. Before Budget day, all of it was held over.

Budget 2025 kept the 5p a litre cut in fuel duty until 31 August 2026. In May 2026 the government extended it to 31 December 2026. Unless Budget 2026 changes it, duty is due to rise by 3p a litre on 1 January 2027 and a further 2p on 1 March 2027.

Property income will have its own rates of 22%, 42% and 47% in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. That’s 2 percentage points above the rates for this tax year, which don’t change.

Savings interest will be taxed at 22%, 42% and 47%, each 2 percentage points higher than now. This year’s savings rates don’t change.

The £12,570 Personal Allowance and £50,270 higher-rate threshold stay the same until April 2031. The matching National Insurance thresholds for employees and the self-employed are frozen too. Scotland sets its own bands for earnings.

Owners of residential property in England worth £2 million or more will pay a yearly charge on top of council tax. It starts at £2,500 and rises to £7,500 for property worth more than £5 million. The government consulted on the details in 2026.

Electric cars will pay 3p a mile and plug-in hybrids 1.5p a mile, on top of vehicle tax. You’ll pay it when you renew the car’s tax after April 2028.

Only the first £2,000 a year an employee sacrifices into a pension will stay clear of National Insurance. Above that, employer and employee National Insurance apply. Income Tax relief on the pension contribution doesn’t change.