Northern Ireland Budget-specific announcements

2 minutes ago

4 min read

The NI Executive will receive an additional £270 million through the Barnett formula.

£7.5 million of new R&D investment will be provided for Queen’s University Belfast’s Centre for Secure Information Technologies (CSIT) Cyber AI Hub, to further grow NI’s cybersecurity and AI sector, which employs over 2,700 people across 140 companies.

The government will provide £1 million to deliver a Northern Ireland Investment Summit to promote investment, showcase opportunities in high-growth sectors, and highlight NI’s unique dual market access.

The government is working with the NI Executive on a region-wide defence skills and apprenticeship programme.

The NI Executive is receiving funding to set up its own version of the British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme, to lower electricity costs for manufacturers that use a lot of power.

Minimum Wage Rate

On 1 April 2027, the National Living Wage will be £13.21 per hour. The National Minimum Wage for 18-20 year olds will be £11.27 per hour, and for 16-17 year olds and eligible apprentices will be £8.31 per hour.

Personal Taxation

savings income

The rates of income tax applied to savings income will increase by 2 percentage points, taking effect from 6 April 2027. The savings basic rate will be 24%, the savings higher rate will be 44%, and the savings additional rate will be 49%.

Property income

The rates of income tax applied to property income will increase by 2 percentage points, taking effect from 6 April 2027. From 2027 to 2028, the property basic rate will be 24%, the property higher rate will be 44%, and the property additional rate will be 49%.

ISA reform

The annual cash Individual Savings Accounts (ISA) subscription limits will be maintained at £20,000. A new ISA incentive for people investing in a stocks and shares ISA for the first time will be developed with the industry.

RGA Accountant reviewing Northern Ireland budget

Business and Enterprise Taxation

Writing down allowances

There will be an increase the main rate first-year allowance to 50% for expenditure incurred on or after 1 January 2027 and to reduce the main rate writing down allowance to 12%, with effect from 1 April 2027 for Corporation Tax and 6 April 2027 for Income Tax.

Bank Corporation Tax surcharge rate

The surcharge rate will increase to 6% for 15 months, from 1 January 2027 to 31 March 2028, returning to 3% from 1 April 2028.

R&D Tax Reliefs

The R&D tax credit Claim Notification Form will be removed from 1 April 2027, and the Additional Information Form will be simplified from autumn 2027.

Trading Allowance

The Trading Allowance will be increased from £1,000 to £3,000, allowing individuals to receive up to £3,000 of trading and miscellaneous income tax-free each year, taking effect from 6 April 2027.

Capital Gains Tax (CGT) Founders’ Relief

A new Founders’ Relief will be introduced, providing a 10% CGT rate on up to £10 million of lifetime gains for qualifying founders of high-growth, innovative companies from 6 April 2027.

Employee Share Schemes

Greater flexibility will be provided under the Enterprise Management Incentives (EMI) rules from 6 April 2027 by extending the exercise window for individuals following disqualifying events from 90 to 180 days. Companies transitioning to an Employee Ownership Trust structure will retain access to EMI. Shares and share options set aside for employees will be able to be held for 15 years without triggering disguised remuneration rules.

Capital Gains Tax exit charge treatment for trusts affected by trustee migration

Changes are being made to capital gains legislation to provide an administrative easement to the ‘exit charge’ that otherwise applies when a trust ceases to be resident in the United Kingdom. This will make it easier for globally mobile talent to relocate to the UK more quickly.

Enterprise Management Incentive (EMI): Removal of the grant of options notification

The Enterprise Management Incentives (EMI) scheme will be simplified by removing the separate notification requirement for EMI option grants. From 6 April 2027, grants will instead be reported through the existing EMI end-of-year return.

Business Assets Disposal Relief (BADR): lifetime limit

The lifetime limit on gains eligible for BADR (which offers a reduced 18% rate of Capital Gains Tax on qualifying disposals) will be reduced from £1 million to £500,000, applying to disposals made from 6 April 2027.

Corporate Interest Restriction (CIR): interaction with creative reliefs

From 1 January 2027, the calculation of taxable earnings for CIR will exclude Audio-Visual Expenditure Credits and Video Games Expenditure Credits.

RGA Accountants reviewing the latest budget

Tariff Suspensions

Business Suspensions will be extended to 269 goods which are otherwise due to expire at the end of 2026. Tariffs will remain suspended on products such as grape juice (20% tariff), tomato paste (14%) and bicycle tyres (4%). A new window will be open from 11 November 2026 to 3 February 2027 for businesses to request the suspension of tariffs on further products to reduce input costs and support competitiveness.

The government is also temporarily suspending tariffs on fertiliser and kerosene heating oil. Food and kerosene suspensions will be in place for two years until December 2028. Fertiliser tariffs will be suspended until December 2027.

Fuel and Vehicle Duties

The 5p fuel duty cut and freeze will continue until to 30 June 2027, while maintaining the Heavy Goods Vehicle (HGV) road tax holiday. The 3.7p cut to red diesel duty continues.

Relief for small alcohol producers

Small Producer Relief in the Alcohol Duty system will be boosted to £10 million per year of support to over 2,000 small alcohol producers across the UK. A more generous discount taper will be implemented for products below 3.5% ABV – strengthening incentives to produce lower-strength products – and uprate the marginal discount for products between 3.5%-8.4% ABV by RPI+10% from 1 February 2027.