Autumn Budget 2026

What does the UK Budget control for someone in Scotland?

The Chancellor's Budget sets National Insurance (employee, employer and self-employed), Capital Gains Tax, tax on dividends and savings interest, Corporation Tax, VAT, Inheritance Tax, and the Personal Allowance, which applies across the UK. Those changes affect a Glasgow business owner exactly as they affect one in Manchester.

What the Budget does not set for Scottish taxpayers is the rate of Income Tax on earnings, pensions, self-employed profit and rental income. Those are decided by the Scottish Parliament in the Scottish Budget, usually published in December or January for the tax year starting the following April.

What is already legislated for April 2027 and later?

Making Tax Digital for Income Tax extends to sole traders and landlords with qualifying income over £30,000 from 6 April 2027, and to those over £20,000 from April 2028.

From 6 April 2027 most unused pension funds and death benefits will count towards an estate for Inheritance Tax. From the same date separate, higher rates apply to property income and savings income in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, with the Scottish Government expected to set its own property income rates.

From April 2029 the National Insurance saving on pension salary sacrifice is due to be capped at £2,000 a year. The Personal Allowance, higher-rate threshold and Inheritance Tax nil-rate bands are frozen until April 2031.

How will this page and the calculators be updated?

On Budget day we update this page with the measures that affect individuals and small businesses in Scotland, and update the affected calculators — take-home, dividend, Corporation Tax, CGT and Inheritance Tax — as soon as the rates are confirmed in the Budget documents.

Each calculator shows the date its figures were last reviewed, so you can see at a glance whether it reflects the latest announcement.

What should you do before the Budget?

Avoid making large irreversible decisions — selling assets, extracting dividends or making big pension contributions — on the strength of speculation. If a change is announced with immediate effect, it is the timing of the transaction that matters, and that is usually better planned with the rules in front of you.

If you are near a threshold that is already set to change, such as the £30,000 MTD limit or the April 2027 pension and Inheritance Tax rules, the planning can start now regardless of what the Budget says.