The Scots pay more income tax!
5th May 2017
Posted in Articles, Private Client by Andrew Marr
The Issue
For 2017/2018 Scottish tax rates are not as generous as the rest of the UK. The Scottish higher rate threshold is set at £43,430 whereas this is £45,000 in the rest of the UK. This means that a higher rate Scottish taxpayer with the same income as other UK residents will be £314 worse off per annum (or about 7 decent bottles of single malt!).
What is a Scottish taxpayer?
An individual will only be classed as a Scottish taxpayer if they spend at least as much time of the year in Scotland as they do in the rest of the UK. Although the above point represents a relatively trivial amount it does highlight the fact that there is scope for Scottish tax rules to diverge from the rest of the UK. Certain individuals may already be spending roughly half of their time in Scotland and half of their time in the rest of the UK. Depending on how tax rules diverge in the future it may be worth them arranging their affairs to tip the balance one way or the other…
