Personal allowance and tax bands

News: January 2015

Personal allowance and tax bands

The personal allowance for 2015/16 was originally scheduled to increase to £10,500 but it was announced that this will now be £10,600, so the tax free amount will now be £883 per month. If re-elected the Chancellor stated that this would be increased to £12,500 by 2020.

The point at which higher rate tax (40%) becomes payable will be £42,385 for 2015/16, meaning that the basic rate band will be £31,785. The Chancellor “promised” that this threshold would increase to £50,000 by 2020. The 45% rate will continue to apply to taxable income over £150,000.

Remember that the personal allowance is reduced where the taxpayer’s adjusted net income exceeds £100,000. The reduction is £1 of allowance for every £2 of excess income, resulting in a marginal tax rate of 60%. For 2015/16 this restriction is even wider than before with the increase in personal allowance to £10,600:

Taxable income Marginal rate
£100,000 to £121,200 60%
£121,201 to £149,999 40%
£150,000 + 45%
Transfer of personal allowance

As previously announced, 2015/16 sees the introduction of a transferrable personal allowance for married couples and civil partners. As the amount that may be transferred is 10% of the basic personal allowance, this will now be £1,060.

The recipient must not be liable to tax above the basic rate and is eligible to a tax reduction of 20% of the transferred amount, in other words £212.