2011/2012 Tax Rates and Allowances Released

The Treasury has published details of next years tax rates and allowances for income tax and tax credit. The 2011/2012 tax allowances carry bad news for higher rate taxpayers who are hit with lower thresholds for both the higher rate tax band - which is down from £37,400 to £35,000 - equivalent to an extra £480 per year in tax. The upper earnings limit for class 1 and class 4 national insurance payments has reduced from £844 a week to £817 a week. National Insurance rates have increased from 11% for lower earnings to 12%, and from 1% for upper earnings to 2%. Better news for basic rate taxpayers however as the opposite has occurred as their allowances increase from £6,475 to £7,475 per year. The National Insurance primary threshold is now £139 - up from £110 last year. We have incorporated the entire tax rules into our comprehensive Free Tax Calculator and you can see exactly how these figures will affect you - without having to get your mind in a twist! Visit our updated 2011/2012 Tax Calculator now and comment on what you think about the changes below! A full rates and allowances table and updates to our other calculators for 2011/2012 will be appearing shortly.