MJB Partnership

As you may be aware, Trevor has not been in good health in these past months and majority of Trevor’s clients have been serviced by ether Mark, James, or Bryan. It is great regret to inform you our friend and Colleague Trevor Charlwood has sadly passed away on the 18^th April 2023.

Trevor was very passionate and diligent about his work and always provided an excellent service for his clients and anyone that needed his expertise. All his clients meant a lot to him and saw them as a friend as well as a client. I know all of you will all join us in sending sincere condolences to Trevor’s family.

All of Trevor’s clients’ investments and Pensions will continue to be managed by MJB under another IFA here. Most of Trevor’s clients have been emailed regarding this and if you have any questions, please do contact us.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer presented his 2023 Spring Budget to parliament on Wednesday 15th March. We are pleased to share our summary and key points that came out of this budget.

These changes will take place after April 6th 2023.

Some of the key points included:

• Most tax allowances frozen (income tax bands, IHT allowances)
• Capital Gains Tax annual exemption will be cut from £12,300 to £6,000 to April 2023 then a further cut to £3,000 in April 2024
• Fuel and alcohol duty no change
• Corporation Tax main rate increasing from 19% to 25%
• Energy bill support scheme extended
• Tax – Free Annual Pension Contribution allowance is set to increase from £40,000 to £60,000 pa
• Money Purchase Annual Allowance for pension contributions has been increase from £4,000 to £10,000 pa
• The Lifetime Allowance for large pension funds will be abolished
• Tapered Annual Allowance will be increasing to £4,000 to £10,000

As the Christmas Holiday’s are around the corner. We would like to remind everyone how our opening hours will be affected during this period.

Our opening hours will be as follows:

19th – 23rd December – Normal Opening Hours of 9am – 5:30pm.

26th – 30th December – Closed For Christmas Holiday’s.

Our Advisors will be loosely monitoring their emails. If you have any urgent queries please send them an email and your advisor will get back to you at their earliest convenience.

From all of us here at MJB we wish you a very Merry Christmas!

The Autumn budget was held on the 17th November 2022. We are pleased to share our summary of the key announcements in this Autumn budget.

Some of the highlights were:

• The Main National Insurance and inheritance tax thresholds also frozen for further two years, until April 2028
• Tax-free allowances for dividend and capital gains tax are also due to be cut next year and in 2022
• The state pension payments and means-tested and disability benefits to increase by 10.1%, in line with inflation
• Apart from in Scotland, the top 45% additional rate of income tax will be paid on earnings over £125,140, instead of £150,000
• Local councils in England will be able to increase council tax up to 5% a year without a local vote, instead of the current 3%
• Windfall tax on profits of oil and gas firms increased from 25% to 35% and will be extended until March 2028
• Household energy price cap extended for one year beyond April, however, typical bills will be capped at £3,000 a year instead of £2,500
• £300 payments to pensioner households, and £150 for individuals on disability benefit.

Following the sad passing of her majesty the Queen,

MJB (Partnership) will be closed on Monday 19th September due to the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II

This month’s edition focuses on:

• Inflation
• No fault divorce
• Student finance
• UK dividends

CLIENT NEWSLETTER – May 2022

The Spring Statement was delivered on 23rd March and although it is not a mini budget, it contained the following changes designed to help families, particularly in light of inflation having been announced at 6.2%. The highlights of this are as follows:

• Petrol and Diesel duty will be cut temporarily for 12-months by 5p per litre from 23 March 2022.
• VAT relief for the installation of energy saving materials (ESMs) will be extended.
• The primary threshold for Class 1 National Insurance Contributions (NICs) will increase from £9,880 a year to £12,570 a year from 6 July 2022, which brings it in line with the frozen personal allowance.
• For the self-employed, the lower profits limit will increase from £9,880 to £11,908 in 2022/23, rising to £12,570 in 2023/24. Class 2 NICs will not be payable if profits are below these limits. The maximum potential Class 4 NICs saving in 2022/23 is £208.
• The employment allowance will be increased to £5,000 from April 2022.

This month’s edition focuses on:

• Year End Tax Planning
• Retirement
• Capping Social Care Costs in England

CLIENT NEWSLETTER – January 2022

Although there are no official restrictions in place we are still being careful. Hand sanitiser is provided by the door and we are still using a screen if you have a meeting with your adviser in the office.

We are still more than happy to have client meetings via video or telephone link, if you would prefer.  Advisers and admin staff are using the office but are still working from home for some of the time.

We hope you are staying safe and well.

Best wishes,

MJB Staff

Following the Government’s plan B announcement on the 8th December, we are updating our work practices and they are as follows:

• Advisers have been working largely from home and this will continue.  They will be visiting and using the office on occasion, where necessary.
• Administration and paraplanning staff may be working at home for part of the week but the office will be kept open and running.
• Client meetings will continue to be held by video link or telephone link where possible, but can take place in the office if this is essential.

We obviously have screens and sanitising stations in place.

Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any queries and if you need to drop documents into the office, please ring the bell on arrival.

Best wishes,

MJB Staff