Financial advisor Malcolm H Guy says for the saver/investor, Chancellor Gordon Brown's Budget was more about what it did not do, rather than what it did.

There will be no further change to Mortgage Interest Relief at Source (MIRAS) beyond the planned reduction from 15 per cent to 10 per cent from April.

There will be no change in the tax relief given on pension contributions, so higher rate tax payers will continue to receive a 40 per cent boost on their retirement savings.

There will be no change to savings already held in personal Equity Plans (Peps) and Tax Exempt Savings Accounts (Tessas).

When the Chancellor's plans for Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs) were first announced, it was planned to restrict the maximum amount of capital which could be rolled over from Peps and Tessas into ISAs to £50,000. There will now be no lifetime limit on ISAs.

Surprisingly, Mr Brown increased the Inheritance Tax free ceiling by £8,000 from £215,000 to £223,000. He has also made significant changes to Capital Gains Tax.

Although he has lifted the tax free exemption to £6,800 from next tax year, he is freezing indexation relief and cracking down on "bed and breakfasting deals", and phasing out retirement relief for small businessmen.This area of financial planning may require some action before the end of this tax year.

Good financial planning has always included an element of legitimate tax avoidance - not tax evasion! For the financially prudent, the sting in the Chancellor's statement was his promise to raise revenue over the next three years by £1.5 billion by closing a number of loopholes, including offshore trusts. The details will be published next month.

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