Budget analysis – Private client

Speed Read: What did last week's Budget bring from a Private Client perspective? To stimulate the housing market, the Chancellor has increased for two years the threshold at which stamp duty land tax (SDLT) becomes payable by first-time buyers to £250,000. To pay for this, he announced a new top-rate of SDLT of 5% on residential property costing £1 m, from April 2011 and has frozen the inheritance tax (IHT) nil rate band at £325,000 for a further four years until April 2015. Suprisingly to some, Mr Darling resisted the temptation to put up the capital gains tax (CGT) rate and instead doubled the amount of chargeable gains that qualify for entrepreneurs' relief from £1m to £2m.