AUTUMN BUDGET 2026
Autumn Budget 2026: your questions, answered in pounds
The Budget was delivered on Wednesday 28 October 2026. Each question below has a two-sentence answer, a worked example in pounds for an owner-managed business, the date it takes effect and who it does not affect.
Every page here answers one question the way an owner asks it. The figures come from the Budget documents HM Treasury and HMRC published on GOV.UK on 28 October, and a Chartered Accountant at OutRise checks each page before it goes up. Each page shows the date it was last updated.
These pages are general information for owner-managed businesses with £500k to £10m turnover. They are not advice on your own position: for that, ask for a Budget Impact Snapshot built from your own numbers, at the foot of any page.
Paying yourself
Has the Budget changed how I should pay myself in salary and dividends?
No: for 2027/28 the Budget left dividend tax at 10.75%, 35.75% and 39.35% with the £500 allowance, and kept the personal allowance, the income tax bands, National Insurance and corporation tax as they were. Two directors each taking a £12,570 salary and £60,000 of dividends pay £11,971.25 of dividend tax each, the same as before the Budget; the rise in income tax falls on savings interest and rental income instead, 4 percentage points higher than today from 6 April 2027.
Alan Davidson · Updated 28 October 2026
Is corporation tax going up? What will my company pay from April 2027?
No: the Budget kept to the Corporate Tax Roadmap, with the main rate capped at 25% and no change to the 19% small profits rate or marginal relief. A company with £400,000 of taxable profit pays £100,000 of corporation tax for the year from 1 April 2027, the same as before the Budget.
Alan Davidson · Updated 28 October 2026
Does the £2,000 salary sacrifice cap apply to my company's pension contributions?
No change at this Budget: the £2,000 cap still starts on 6 April 2029 and applies to pension contributions made by salary sacrifice, not to contributions the company pays into the pension from its own funds. A company paying £40,000 a year straight into its director's pension still saves £10,600 of corporation tax and pays no National Insurance on it, a net cost of £29,400, the same as before the Budget.
Alan Davidson · Updated 28 October 2026
Should I take extra dividends before 5 April to beat a dividend tax rise?
No change: the Budget left dividend tax alone, so a dividend paid in April 2027 is taxed at the same 10.75%, 35.75% and 39.35%, with the same £500 allowance, as one paid in March 2027. For a director on a £12,570 salary taking £60,000 of dividends, the tax is £11,971.25 in either tax year.
Alan Davidson · Updated 28 October 2026
Is it worth leaving profits in my company, or taking them out, after the Budget?
The Budget did not change the sums: corporation tax, dividend tax, the personal allowance and the £60,000 pension annual allowance are all as they were for 2027/28. On £250,000 of profit, keeping it in the company costs £62,500 of tax now, paying it all out as a dividend costs £128,406.48 in all, and putting £60,000 into a pension with the rest kept costs £46,600, the same as before the Budget; what changed is that interest on money held personally is taxed 4 percentage points more than today from 6 April 2027.
Alan Davidson · Updated 28 October 2026
Selling and succession
If I sell my business next year, how much tax will I pay after the Budget?
More than before: from 6 April 2027 Business Asset Disposal Relief covers only the first £500,000 of lifetime gains at 18%, down from £1 million, and the rest is taxed at 24%. A founder selling a company for £3 million in 2027/28 pays £689,280 of capital gains tax, £30,000 more than before the Budget.
Alan Davidson · Updated 28 October 2026
What is the new Founders' Relief, and will it apply when I sell my company?
Founders' Relief is a new 10% rate of capital gains tax on up to £10 million of lifetime gains, for qualifying sales from 6 April 2027 by founders and significant early investors in high-growth UK companies. As proposed in a consultation open until 30 November 2026, it is for companies with at least £10 million of turnover and 15 full-time staff that pass two of three growth and R&D tests, and for sellers who held at least 25% when the trade began; a business below those levels would not qualify, and Business Asset Disposal Relief, 18% on up to £500,000 of lifetime gains, remains the relief on its sale where it qualifies.
Alan Davidson · Updated 28 October 2026
Will my family pay inheritance tax on the company when I die?
No change at this Budget: 100% business relief still covers the first £2.5 million of qualifying business property, with 50% relief above it, and the nil-rate bands stay at £325,000 and £175,000. On a family trading company worth £4 million passing to two children, the inheritance tax is £300,000, or £30,000 a year over ten years by instalments, the same as before the Budget.
Alan Davidson · Updated 28 October 2026
What did the Budget change for selling my company to an employee ownership trust?
Nothing in the relief itself: on a sale to an employee ownership trust half the gain is still taxed and BADR still cannot be claimed with it, so an owner selling a £3m company to a trust in 2027 pays £359,280 of capital gains tax, as before the Budget. What moved is the comparison: with the BADR lifetime limit cut to £500,000 from 6 April 2027, a trade sale at the same price now costs £689,280, which is £330,000 more than the trust sale (the gap was £300,000).
Alan Davidson · Updated 28 October 2026
Premises
What did the Budget do to business rates for my premises?
Every business rates multiplier in England rises for 2027/28, the small business multiplier from 43.2p to 44.7p, and the 1p transitional relief supplement, due to end in March 2027, is extended for two more years. A Kent business with one non-retail property of £30,000 rateable value pays £13,710 in 2027/28, £450 more than this year; qualifying retail, hospitality and leisure properties have their own lower multipliers, wider small business rate relief and bills capped in real terms.
Lewis Back · Updated 28 October 2026
I rent my premises to my company. How much more tax will I pay on the rent and my savings?
From 6 April 2027 rent and savings interest are taxed at 24%, 44% and 49%, 4 percentage points above today's 20%, 40% and 45%. A director who lets their premises to their own company for £30,000 a year pays £7,200 of income tax on the rent in 2027/28, £1,200 more than the £6,000 this year; salary and dividends are taxed as before.
Alan Davidson · Updated 28 October 2026
Employing people
Did employer's National Insurance change? What does each employee cost me now?
No: the Budget left employer's National Insurance at 15% above the £5,000 secondary threshold, and the Employment Allowance at £10,500. A business with 18 employees on an average £32,000 pays £62,400 of employer's National Insurance in 2027/28, the same as before the Budget, so each employee costs £35,466.67 a year before pension.
Lewis Back · Updated 28 October 2026
What is the new minimum wage from April 2027 and what will it cost me?
From 1 April 2027 the National Living Wage for workers aged 21 and over rises from £12.71 to £13.21 an hour, and the rate for 18 to 20-year-olds from £10.85 to £11.27. For six full-time staff on 37.5 hours a week, pay, employer's National Insurance and the minimum pension together rise by £6,903 a year, to £176,754.
Lewis Back · Updated 28 October 2026
Sharing ownership
VAT
Investing in the business
Your sector
What did the Budget change for my physio or therapy clinic?
Two changes reach a clinic's costs from April 2027: the National Living Wage rises from £12.71 to £13.21 an hour, and business rates rise with the small business multiplier going from 43.2p to 44.7p; employer's National Insurance and the VAT exemption for treatments are unchanged. For a Kent clinic with eight practitioners, two receptionists on the living wage and premises of £24,000 rateable value, pay, National Insurance, pension and rates together rise by £2,661 a year.
Lewis Back · Updated 28 October 2026
What did the Budget change for my professional services firm?
Little changed for a consultancy trading as a limited company: employer's National Insurance, dividend tax and corporation tax are as they were for 2027/28, so a firm with £2.5m of fees, three director-shareholders and 20 staff pays the same £112,906.50 of employer's National Insurance and £100,000 of corporation tax, and its directors the same £35,913.75 of dividend tax. The changes that reach it are in the detail: the tax-free mileage rate above 10,000 business miles rises from 25p to 35p from April 2027, company cars and fuel go through payroll from April 2027, and VAT e-invoicing and Direct Debit for VAT and PAYE start in April 2029.
Lewis Back · Updated 28 October 2026