Budget 2024: Employers’ national insurance will raise more than predicted as chancellor seeks to increase taxes by £40bn

Published

7 months ago

October 30, 2024

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The budget will increase taxes by £40bn, with the lion’s share coming from a £25bn rise in employers’ national insurance contributions, the chancellor announced at the budget.

Rachel Reeves said the amount businesses will pay on their employees’ national insurance contributions will increase from 13.8% to 15% from April 2025, with the current £9,100 annual threshold lowered to £5,000, in what she called a “difficult choice” to make.

The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), which monitors the government’s spending plans and performance, said most of the burden from the increase will be passed on to workers through lower wages, and consumers through higher prices.

It estimated the national insurance hike would reduce the average hours worked by the equivalent of 50,000 hours.

Follow live: All the latest on budget day

The £40bn rise in taxes is thought to be the largest increase at a budget since John Major’s government in 1993 and is set to more than fill the £22bn “black hole” Labour said the Conservative government left them with.

Ms Reeves also announced the current freeze on income tax thresholds will end in 2028/29 and will be uprated in line with inflation after that.

The previous Conservative government froze the thresholds which meant more people paying higher rates of tax as their salary increases and they move into higher tax bands.

The OBR said the tax burden will reach “a historic high of 38% of GDP by 2029/30” and predicted inflation and interest rates will both be higher as a result of the budget.

Ms Reeves said a “line-by-line breakdown” of the black hole will be published, which she said shows there were “hundreds of unfunded pressures on the public finances” under the Conservatives.

The chancellor, who said she was “deeply proud” to be the country’s first female chancellor, insisted the Labour government would “invest, invest, invest” and put “more pounds in people’s pockets”.

Some of the other major changes the chancellor also announced include:

• Fuel duty will stay frozen next year and 5p cut to remain

• Capital gains tax lower rate will increase from 10% to 18%, higher rate from 20% to 24%

• Residential property capital gains tax will remain at 18% and 24%

• Two “permanently lower” business tax rates for retail, hospitality and leisure properties

• 40% relief on business rates in 2025-26 up to a £110,000 cap

• Inheritance tax thresholds frozen until 2030

• Higher rate stamp duty for second homes increased to 5% from Thursday

• Alcohol duty rates on non-draught drinks to increase in line with RPI from February

• Draught alcohol duty cut by 1.7% – 1p off a pint

• HS2 will go to Euston in central London

• Every government department must make 2% cuts by next year

• £22.6bn extra for the NHS’ day-to-day health budget, £3.1bn more for the capital budget

• £2.3bn for schools to hire teachers next year, £6.7bn for the schools capital budget

• £2.9bn for Armed Forces next year

• £500m increase in road budgets next year.

The chancellor started her budget speech by saying the country “voted for change” and “responsible leadership” on 4 July at the general election – and went on to attack the “irresponsibility” of the previous Conservative government.

“We must restore economic stability and turn the page on the last 14 years,” she said.

Ms Reeves added: “The party opposite failed our country. Their austerity broke our National Health Service. The British people have inherited their failure.”

“They called an election to avoid making difficult choices,” she continued.

The chancellor outlined her priorities as economic growth and the NHS, and pledged an end to “short-termism”.

Labour promised to keep the triple lock on pensions, where the state pension goes up each year by whichever is higher of 2%, inflation or earnings growth.

She said that means it will be uprated by 4.1% next year so more than 12m pensioners will be up to £470 better off.

She also set aside £11.8bn for compensation for victims of the infected blood scandal, and £1.8bn for victims of the Post Office IT scandal.

Ahead of the first Labour budget since Alistair Darling’s in 2010, Labour committed in its election manifesto to not increase income tax, national insurance or VAT on “working people”, which Ms Reeves said she had kept to.

Various ministers got into a tangle over who exactly qualified as a working person in the weeks before the budget.

A few plans were leaked or announced ahead of the budget, including:

• All private school fees will include VAT from January, business tax relief to be removed from private schools in April

• An increase on employers’ national insurance – but they did not say by how much

• A change to the fiscal rules – the way in which the government borrows and pays back money – in order to allow for greater investment spending

• An increase to the bus fare cap by 50% to £3

• A boost to the national living wage, with the minimum someone aged 21 and over can be paid increasing by 6.7% to £12.21 an hour

• The national minimum wage, for 16 to 20-year-olds, will also increase – by 16.3% to £10 an hour.

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Politics

Australian court ruling could lead to $640M in Bitcoin tax refunds

Published

40 mins ago

May 19, 2025

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Australian court ruling could lead to 0M in Bitcoin tax refunds

A court decision in Australia could open the door to as much as $640 million in capital gains tax (CGT) refunds on Bitcoin transactions after a judge ruled that crypto should be treated as money rather than a taxable asset.

On May 19, the Australian Financial Review (AFR) reported that the decision arose within a criminal case involving federal police officer William Wheatley, who allegedly stole 81.6 Bitcoin (BTC) in 2019. At the time, the assets were worth roughly $492,000. At current market prices, the tokens are valued at more than $13 million.

In the case, Judge Michael O’Connell of Victoria ruled that Bitcoin qualifies as a form of money rather than property, likening the digital asset to Australian dollars rather than to shares, gold or foreign currency.

The interpretation could set a legal precedent, potentially placing Bitcoin transactions outside the scope of Australia’s current CGT regime.

New court ruling challenges Australian crypto tax laws

In an AFR interview, tax lawyer Adrian Cartland said the verdict “totally upends” the Australian Taxation Office’s (ATO) current position.

Since 2014, the ATO has classified crypto assets as CGT assets. This means that users must pay tax when selling or trading them. Under the ATO’s guidance, any disposal of Bitcoin, including selling it for fiat, exchanging it for another crypto or using it to purchase goods or services, constitutes a CGT event.

This framework has been the basis for taxing cryptocurrency transactions in Australia for over a decade. However, the recent ruling challenges the approach by suggesting that Bitcoin functions more like money than property. This potentially exempts it from CGT.

Tax refunds could reach $640 million

Cartland said it was held that Bitcoin is Australian money. “That is, it is not a CGT asset. Therefore, acquisitions and disposals of Bitcoin have no tax consequences,” the tax lawyer added.

If the ruling is upheld on the appeal, Cartland estimates that there could be potential tax refunds totalling 1 billion Australian dollars ($640 million).

However, while Cartland thinks there could be up to a billion in refunds, the ATO said there were no official figures that confirm the amount to be potentially refunded if the case changes how Bitcoin is taxed in Australia.

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Revolut eyes French license and $1.1B expansion amid EU growth

Published

2 hours ago

May 19, 2025

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Revolut eyes French license and .1B expansion amid EU growth

Revolut, a European neobank with crypto support, plans to invest more than 1 billion euro ($1.1 billion) in France and apply for a local banking license.

According to a May 19 Fortune report, Revolut representatives announced the initiative during the Choose France business summit hosted by President Emmanuel Macron in Paris. The London-based neobank also plans to set up its new European Union-serving headquarters in Paris, promising to invest 1 billion euro and hire at least 200 people within three years.

Revolut spokespeople also said that the firm is in the process of submitting an application to the French banking regulator Prudential Supervision and Resolution Authority. According to an anonymous source cited by Fortune, the regulator has been pushing the neobank to get a license to improve supervision due to its popularity in France.

Revolut currently employs about 300 people and serves five million customers in France. This makes the nation the neobank’s top European Union market.

Aiming for the stars

Revolut hopes to onboard 10 million users by the end of next year and then double that number by 2030. The firm already offers loans, trading and cryptocurrency support in its mobile-first banking platform.

The neobank has seen rapid growth ever since its founding in 2015. The company recently received a $45 billion valuation and reportedly served over 55 million customers as of late May.

Revolut’s 2024 annual report release shows that the firm’s 2024 revenue was 3.1 billion British pounds ($4 billion). A recent Financial News article also puts the company’s headcount at 10,133 employees as of Dec. 31, 2024.

An increasingly regulated institution

Revolut obtained its UK banking license in late July 2024, where 11 million of its customers are located. Now, the neobank is aggressively looking to obtain similar permits across other jurisdictions, with 10 applications underway.

Revolut received the Prepaid Payment Instruments license from India’s central bank earlier this month. This license allows the bank to offer multi-currency forex cards and cross-border remittance services in India.

EU-based Revolut customers now leverage its Lithuania operations. The firm received a banking license in Lithuania at the end of 2018, enabling it to serve customers across the European Economic Area better.

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Dubai regulator sets compliance deadline for updated crypto rules

Published

2 hours ago

May 19, 2025

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Dubai regulator sets compliance deadline for updated crypto rules

Dubai’s crypto regulator has given licensed digital asset companies until June 19 to comply with its updated activity-based Rulebooks to enhance market integrity and risk oversight.

On May 19, Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) announced that it had released Version 2.0 of the Rulebooks.

The regulator said it had strengthened controls around margin trading and token distribution services, harmonised compliance requirements across all licensed activities and given clearer definitions for collateral wallet arrangements.

VARA’s team will engage with licensed entities and expects the companies to comply with the updated rules after a 30-day transition period.

“In line with global regulatory best practices, a 30-day transition period has been granted to all impacted virtual asset service providers [VASPs], with full compliance required by 19 June 2025,” VARA wrote.

VARA enhances supervisory mechanisms

VARA highlighted that it had enhanced supervisory mechanisms across several regulated activities. This includes advisory, broker-dealer, custody, exchange, lending and borrowing, virtual asset (VA) management and investment, and VA transfer and settlement services.

A VARA spokesperson told Cointelegraph that the updates will bring consistency across all activity-based rules defining core operational terms. The spokesperson gave examples of terms like “client assets,” “qualified custodians,” and “collateral requirements” as some of the terms more consistently defined in the update.

The update also aligned risk management and disclosure obligations, where activities overlap, in areas like brokerage, custody and exchange.

“The aim was to reduce ambiguity and help VASPs navigate cross-functional compliance more easily,” VARA told Cointelegraph.

Dubai regulator tightens leverage thresholds for margin trading

As for margin trading, the VARA spokesperson said they tightened leverage thresholds, mandated clearer collateralisation standards, and enhanced the monitoring obligations for VASPs offering this feature.

Margin trading allows traders to control large positions with smaller amounts of capital. It amplifies both gains and losses. Tightening the leverage traders use helps limit the risks of widespread liquidations in a market downturn.

The crypto regulator introduced a new section on token distribution that sets out licensing prerequisites, investor protections and marketing restrictions. The spokesperson emphasized the marketing restrictions, especially for “retail-facing offers.”

“It’s about aligning with global conduct expectations and closing observed regulatory gaps,” the VARA spokesperson said.