Already confirmed
Legislated · April 2027+These aren't Budget-day surprises — they're already announced for the 2027/28 tax year and beyond. If any affect you, they're worth acting on now, not in October.
The ISA shake-up
The overall £20,000 ISA allowance stays, but from April 2027 the amount you can hold in a cash ISA is set to fall for under-65s, and uninvested cash sitting in a stocks & shares ISA is due to be taxed. The nudge is clear: move idle cash into investments or use it inside the wrapper.
Bed & ISA calculator →Landlords: +2% on rental profit
From April 2027, income tax on rental profits rises by two percentage points for individual landlords in England (20%→22%, 40%→42%, 45%→47%). It applies to individuals, not company-held property, and Scotland has said it won't follow. If you let property, your after-tax yield changes.
Check your tax band →Pensions fall into inheritance tax
From April 2027, unused pension pots are brought within your estate for inheritance tax — reversing years of pensions being a tax-efficient way to pass wealth on. For anyone with a sizeable SIPP and an IHT-exposed estate, this reshapes the plan.
IHT on pensions calculator →Scotland's £1m+ council-tax bands
Holyrood has confirmed new council-tax bands for homes worth over £1m, due by April 2028, with a consultation on the exact rates underway — Scotland's own answer to the "mansion tax" question, on a lower threshold than England's.
The property-tax debate →On the table
Rumoured · not confirmedThese are the measures being trailed, leaked and speculated about in the run-up. None are confirmed — treat them as "what to watch," not what to do. We'll mark each one confirmed or dropped on the day. Each links to a calculator so you can see what it would mean for you.
A capital gains tax rise
CGT was last raised in 2024 (to 24% on most gains) and there's persistent talk of another increase, and of aligning it closer to income tax. If you're sitting on gains outside an ISA, the annual exemption and timing matter more than ever.
CGT calculator →The pension lump sum
Persistent speculation about cutting the tax-free pension lump sum — currently up to £268,275 — with some previews floating a figure as low as £100,000. Also on the radar: trimming pension tax relief, which costs the Treasury around £50bn a year. Unconfirmed, but the most-watched pension question of the Budget.
Model your drawdown →Dividend tax
Talk of moving dividend tax rates closer to income tax, on top of an allowance that's already been cut to just £500 a year. Relevant if you draw dividends from your own company or hold shares outside a wrapper.
Dividend tax calculator →Wealth & property taxes
A "smorgasbord" of ideas is in the air — from a mansion tax on the priciest homes to the wider debate about a 0.48% proportional property tax replacing council tax. Nothing's committed nationally, but property is squarely in the frame.
Property tax calculator →Unlikely to move
Manifesto-protectedHeadline income tax, VAT & National Insurance rates
The government's manifesto ruled out raising the headline rates of income tax, VAT and employee National Insurance, and that's expected to hold. But watch the quieter lever: frozen thresholds. Because allowances aren't rising with inflation, more of your income is pulled into tax — and into higher bands — every year. That "fiscal drag" is a tax rise in everything but name, and it's the one most likely to affect you without a single rate changing.
See how the freeze affects you →See what any of this does to your actual plan
The Budget matters because of what it does to your numbers. WealthR tracks your net worth, pensions, tax and forecasts in one place — so when a change lands, you can see the effect on your own picture, not a headline. Free, no bank linking.
How to read the run-up
Budgets aren't decided on the day — they're trailed for weeks. Expect a steady drip of previews, think-tank papers and "sources say" stories through October, each one attaching a specific number to a specific idea. Most won't happen. The job between now and the 28th isn't to react to every rumour; it's to know which changes would actually touch your situation, so that when the Chancellor confirms one, you already understand it.
That's what this page is for. The confirmed section is safe to act on today. The on the table section is a watch-list, not a to-do list — but it tells you which calculators to have open when the speech starts. And on the afternoon of 28 October, once the Red Book is out, we'll replace every "rumoured" with what actually happened and what it means for you.
Common questions
When exactly is the Budget?
What's already certain, regardless of the Budget?
Will the tax-free pension lump sum be cut?
Are income tax, VAT or NI rates going up?
Is this financial advice?
Last updated 24 August 2026. This page will be updated live on Budget day, 28 October 2026.