It was a Budget for small businesses and with a continued focus on devolution, infrastructure and home-ownership, but it has angered some in real estate. Here are the key announcements
Stamp duty
• Cut rate on commercial properties valued at up to £150,000 to 0%, in line with residential SDLT. Effective from 17 March 2016
• 2% rate for commercial assets valued at less than £250,000 and 5% for anything over. Effective from 17 March 2016
• Buyers of additional residential properties will pay a three-percentage-point premium on standard SDLT rates from 1 April 2016. There will be no exemption for large investors
Business rates
• Rating will be based on CPI instead of RPI from 1 April 2020
• Small business rate relief will be doubled from £8,000 to £15,000
• Revaluations will take place at least every three years
• Long-term review of rates due to be published this month
Corporation tax
• Will be cut from 20% to 17% in 2020
Offshore crackdown
• Non-resident developers of UK property to be subject to UK taxes on profit from development. To come into effect in June 2016
Garden villages
• Creation of as many as 12 new garden villages of between 1,500 to 10,000 homes each
• Must be a new discrete settlement, not an extension of a town or village, preferably on brownfield or public sector land
Starter homes
• Local authorities invited to bid for a share of the £1.2bn Starter Home Land Fund to acquire, assemble and de-risk land to enable developers to build 200,000 starter homes by 2020
Capital gains tax
• Rates cut from 28% to 20% on higher rate and from 18% to 10% on basic rate from 6 April 2016
• Buy-to-let residential assets will face an eight-percentage-point surcharge
