Prices the changes already announced — frozen thresholds, the cash ISA cut, the salary sacrifice cap — and the ones being predicted, on your own figures, so you know which announcements are about you.
Why this exists: Thresholds frozen to 2031 · 4.8m more pulled into 40%. Known and possible changes, priced one by one.
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Rates as at 6 April 2026 — the 2026/27 tax year.
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The personal allowance has been £12,570 since April 2021, and the higher-rate threshold £50,270. Both are frozen until April 2031, and so are the main National Insurance thresholds. Normally they would rise each year with prices. Frozen, they stay put while pay rises, so a bigger share of every pay rise is taxed, and more of it at 40%. This is called fiscal drag.
The cost is easy to work out for yourself. If thresholds rose by 3%, the allowance would go up by about £377. Frozen, that £377 is taxed instead: at 20% income tax and 8% National Insurance, about £106 a year for a basic-rate employee on a 3% rise. The check above does the same sum on your own pay, and it repeats every year the freeze lasts.
That is why a Budget that leaves every headline rate alone can still leave you paying more. The freeze is already law, so it belongs in the "already announced" column, not the predictions.
Before a Budget, most of what you read is prediction. Some of it turns out right, and a lot does not. Treating a rumour as settled is how people sell shares, take pension lump sums or move money in a hurry, and then find the change never came.
This check keeps the two apart on purpose. Changes that are already legislated or formally announced are priced as costs you will face. Changes that are only being predicted are priced as "if this happened", at one illustrative size, and labelled as not announced. When the Budget is published, the predictions are replaced by what was actually said.
Timing matters as much as the change. Most tax changes start on 6 April, the first day of the next tax year, which leaves a window to use the current rules. A few, such as fuel and alcohol duty and anti-avoidance measures, can start on Budget day itself, and capital gains changes have done so in the past.
| Change | Starts | Who it affects | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Income tax and National Insurance thresholds frozen | Already in force, until 5 April 2031 | Almost everyone whose pay or pension rises | Announced |
| Dividend tax up 2 points, to 10.75% and 35.75% | Already in force since 6 April 2026 | Shareholders and company directors | Announced |
| Cash ISA limit cut to £12,000 a year for under-65s | 6 April 2027 | Savers who put more than £12,000 a year into cash ISAs | Announced |
| Unused pensions counted for inheritance tax | 6 April 2027 | People who expect to leave pension savings | Announced |
| Salary sacrifice pensions: NI relief only on the first £2,000 | 6 April 2029 | Employees sacrificing more than £2,000 a year | Announced |
| Freeze on thresholds extended beyond 2031 | Not known | Almost every taxpayer | Predicted, not announced |
| Dividend rates up again, or the £500 allowance cut | Usually the next 6 April | Shareholders and company directors | Predicted, not announced |
| Capital gains rates brought closer to income tax | Could be Budget day | Landlords and share investors | Predicted, not announced |
| Tax-free pension lump sum reviewed | Not known | People approaching retirement | Predicted, not announced |
| Tighter reliefs for landlords | Not known | Buy-to-let owners | Predicted, not announced |
Three situations, worked through. They use the same rules as the tool above, so you can check the arithmetic against a case near your own.
The freeze is the only change that reaches this person. It takes £106 of a £960 rise that would otherwise have been untaxed, and it repeats every year until 2031.
£590 a year of changes are already announced, and the predicted dividend rise would add £219. The cash ISA cost grows each year, because every year's £8,000 that no longer fits in an ISA adds to the last.
Nothing already announced costs this director much: the predicted dividend rise would be £854 a year, and the gains change £1,120 once. The exposure is almost entirely to the predictions, which is exactly the position where acting on a rumour is most tempting and least wise. Using this year's exemption is worth doing whatever is announced.
None of this depends on what the Budget says. Each step uses an allowance you already have, and each one resets or ends on 5 April.
£20,000 across all ISAs. If you save cash, this is the last tax year you can put all £20,000 into cash ISAs before the limit for under-65s falls to £12,000.
It does not carry forward. Selling up to it and buying back inside an ISA, or in a spouse's name, uses it without changing what you hold. Buying the same shares back outside an ISA within 30 days does not count.
They still get tax relief at your top rate, and they are the main legal way to keep pay under £50,270 or £100,000 while thresholds are frozen.
Dividend rates rose in April 2026 and may rise again. The split that was right two years ago may not be now.
New thresholds and allowances reach you through your tax code. Codes are updated automatically, but mistakes are common.
Crystallising a pension, selling a property or moving large sums because of a newspaper prediction can cost far more than the change it was meant to avoid.
Every figure above comes from one of these. Where the tool has interpreted rather than calculated, it says so in the finding.
The personal allowance and the basic-rate limit are frozen at their 2021/22 levels until 5 April 2031.
From 6 April 2027 the annual cash ISA subscription limit for people under 65 is £12,000, within the £20,000 overall ISA limit.
From 6 April 2029 salary-sacrificed pension contributions above £2,000 a year are liable to employee and employer National Insurance.
Dividends above the £500 allowance are taxed at 10.75%, 35.75% or 39.35% from 6 April 2026.
Capital gains above the £3,000 annual exempt amount are taxed at 18% within the basic-rate band and 24% above it.
The Treasury announces the date a few weeks ahead. Recent Autumn Budgets have been in late October or November, on a Wednesday. Our predictions guide is updated as soon as the date is confirmed.
The government has pledged not to raise the headline rates of income tax, National Insurance or VAT for working people. Thresholds are a different matter: they are already frozen until 2031, which raises tax every year your pay rises, without any rate changing.
Finish anything you had already planned, such as a pension contribution or using your capital gains exemption. Do not make irreversible decisions on rumour alone: pre-Budget reporting is often wrong, and undoing a transaction can be expensive.
Most start on 6 April, the next tax year, which leaves a window to use the current rules. Some, such as fuel and alcohol duty and anti-avoidance measures, can start on Budget day itself.
It is what happens when tax thresholds stay the same while pay and prices rise. More of your income ends up above each threshold, so you pay more tax without any rate going up. With the personal allowance and the higher-rate threshold frozen until 2031, it is the biggest tax rise most people will see.
If it changes allowances or thresholds, yes, usually from the next 6 April. HMRC updates codes automatically and your employer or pension provider applies the new one. It is worth checking the code on your first payslip after 6 April, because errors are common.
Yes. It was announced at Budget 2025: from 6 April 2027 people under 65 can put £12,000 a year into cash ISAs rather than £20,000. The overall £20,000 ISA limit does not change.
Step 1 of 5 · Your pay