Tax allowances and amounts

This fact sheet tells you about the current tax rates and allowances. Use this fact sheet to find out about:

• personal allowances for income tax;
• income tax rates and bands;
• National Insurance contributions for sole traders and partners in a business partnership;
• National Insurance contributions for directors of limited companies and employees;
• corporation tax; and
• value added tax (VAT).

Income tax allowances

Personal allowances	2020/21	2021/22
Personal allowance (1)	£12,500	£12,570
Income limit for personal allowance (2)	£100,000	£100,000
Income limit for married couple's allowance (3)	£30,200	£30,400
Married couple's allowance (maximum amount) (4)	£9,075	£9,125
Married couple's allowance (minimum amount) (5)	£3,510	£3,530
Blind person's allowance	£2,500	£2,520

Notes

(1) and (2) Since 2016/17 everyone is entitled to the same personal allowance and income limit, no matter when they were born.

(3) Where income is above this figure, the allowance is reduced by £1 for every £2 above the limit.

(4) and (5) The relief for married couple's allowance is given at 10%.

Income tax rates and bands

	2020/21	2021/22
Basic rate 20%	Personal allowance - £37,500	Personal allowance - £37,700
Higher rate 40%	£37,500 - £150,000	£37,700 - £150,000
Additional rate 45%	Over £150,000	Over £150,000

• Your personal allowance goes down by £1 for every £2 that your adjusted net income is above £100,000. This means that your personal allowance is zero if your income is £125,140 or above for 2021/22.

• From 2017/18 tax relief for finance costs for landlords of residential properties will be restricted to the basic rate only. For more information, see HM Revenue and Customs guidance on Tax relief for residential landlords: how it's worked out.

National Insurance contributions

	2020/21	2021/22
Class 2	£3.05pw	£3.05pw
Class 2 - Small profits threshold	£6,475pa	£6,515pa
Class 4 - Lower profits limit	£9,500pa	£9,568pa
Class 4 - Upper profits limit	£50,000pa	£50,270pa
Class 4 - Rate between upper and lower profits limit	9%	9%
Class 4 - Rate above upper profits limit	2%	2%

Example calculations for estimated monthly income tax and National Insurance contributions for 2021 to 2022

• If you are under retirement age and either a sole trader or a partner in a partnership, these examples will help you work out the monthly income tax and National Insurance you should pay on your profit from your business.
• You will then be able to work out your Available drawings from your business. This will help you work out your household budget to show you what you have available to pay your creditors.
• In this example, the figure worked out on the business budget sheet for Drawings (what your profit is before tax and National Insurance) is £4,250 per month.
• This example should not be used for income from residential properties.

Estimated monthly income tax

1.	Insert the monthly Available drawings figure from Your business and household budget sheet	£4,250	A
2.	Multiply Figure A by 12 to get your yearly drawings figure	£51,000	B
3.	Insert your Personal allowance for income tax figure	£12,570	C
4.	Take Figure C (your Personal allowance for income tax) away from Figure B (your yearly drawings) to work out what part of your drawings you pay tax on	£38,430	D
5.	Multiply the first £37,700 of Figure D by 20% to work out how much Basic rate tax you need to pay	£7,540	E
6.	Take £37,700 away from Figure D and multiply the answer by 40% to work out how much Higher rate tax you need to pay (you only need to do this step if Figure D is more than £37,700)	£292	F
7.	Add together Figure E and Figure F to get an estimate of your yearly tax liability	£7,832	G
8.	Divide Figure G by 12 to get an estimate of your monthly tax liability	£652.67	H

Use H £652.67 as the Estimated tax figure on Your business and household budget sheet.

Estimated National Insurance contributions

Class 2 National Insurance contributions

Use a flat-rate of £13.22 per month (£3.05 per week) as the National Insurance class 2 figure on Your business and household budget sheet. 

Class 4 National Insurance contributions

1.	Use Figure B from above (unless Figure B is more than the upper profits limit of £50,270, then insert £50,270)	£50,270	I
2.	Figure I minus £9,568 (the lower profits limit)	£40,702	J
3.	Figure J multiplied by 9% (the rate payable between the lower and upper limits)	£3,663.18	K
4.	Figure B from above minus £50,270 (if the answer is less than 0, insert 0)	£730	L
5.	Figure L multiplied by 2% (the rate payable above upper limit)	£14.60	M
6.	Add together Figure K and Figure M to get your estimated yearly amount of class 4 contribution	£3,677.78	N
7.	Divide Figure N by 12 to get your estimated monthly class 4 contribution	£306.48	O

Use O £306.48 as the National Insurance class 4 figure on Your business and household budget sheet.

Corporation tax

	2020/21	2021/22
Main rate	19%	19%

From 1 April 2015, there is a single corporation tax rate for non-ring fence profits. 

Value added tax (VAT)

	2020/21	2021/22
Standard rate	20%	20%
Reduced rate	5%	5%
Zero rate	0%	0%
Registration level	£85,000	£85,000
De-registration level	£83,000	£83,000

Making Tax Digital for VAT was introduced on 1 April 2019 for businesses with a taxable turnover above the VAT threshold of £85,000. For more information, go to www.gov.uk.

National Insurance contributions class 1

Directors and employees	2020/21	2021/22
Lower earnings limit primary class 1	£120pw	£120pw
Upper earnings limit primary class 1	£962pw	£967pw
Primary threshold	£183pw	£184pw
Secondary threshold	£169pw	£170pw

Rates	2020/21	2021/22
Class 1 rate between primary threshold and upper earnings limit	12%	12%
Class 1 rate above upper earnings limit	2%	2%
Class 1A rate on employer provided benefits	13.8%	13.8%

Employers' rates	2020/21	2021/22
Secondary class 1 rate above second threshold	13.8%	13.8%