MBM Office 260 x 216An Income Tax Policy for Scotland

The Finance Secretary, Derek Mackay, delivered his 2018/19 Budget for Scotland today announcing the Scottish Government’s decisions on income tax

Under the current devolved settlement, income tax is the only major tax power that the Scottish Government has at its disposal.  Mr Mackay argued that the powers of the Scottish parliament are being used in full to protect the people of Scotland from UK Government cuts.

But what will this mean for Scottish taxpayers?

A new 19p Starter Rate of tax will be introduced for those earning up to £2,000 over the personal allowance, which will be £11,850 in 2018/19.

The basic rate of tax of 20% will be frozen.

A new Intermediate Rate of 21p will be introduced for those earning between £24,000 and £44,273

There will be an increase of 1p for the both the Higher Rate and Top Rate of tax, increasing from 40p to 41p and 45p to 46p, respectively.

All of these changes will have effect from 6 April 2018.

And finally…some good news for first time buyers.  Mr Mackay announced that full relief from Land & Buildings Transaction Tax (which is the Scottish equivalent of Stamp Duty Land Tax) will be given to first time buyers of property up to £175,000.  This can be compared with the changes announced in the Westminster Budget last month to reduce Stamp Duty Land Tax for first time buyers in the rest of the UK.