Pre-Budget Report 2009 Introduction Personal tax Tax rates and allowances Furnished holiday lettings Pensions and Credits State Pension Rates of tax credit National Insurance Contributions Rates and limits: 2010/11 Rates and limits: 2011/12 Employees Bankers' bonuses Electric cars and vans Cars up to 2012 Car fuel Works canteen Savings Pension contributions Capital Gains Tax Annual exemption and rate Inheritance Tax Rates and threshold Stamp Duty/Stamp Duty Land Tax Extended holiday ends Corporation Tax Rate of tax Business Tax Bank payroll tax Capital allowances Research and development Time to pay Empty property rates relief Value Added Tax Standard rate Flat rate Other Measures Equitable liability Offshore disclosure opportunity Public sector pay and pensions Tax avoidance

Looking for the pot of gold at the end of the recession When you are in a hole, the saying goes, you should stop digging. For the Chancellor of the Exchequer, there is no choice - he has to make a Pre-Budget Report at the end of the year to outline what he intends to put in his Budget in the Spring. This year many people are predicting that the country's finances will not be Alistair Darling's responsibility for much longer, but he still has to tell us what he will do if we give his party another five years. He had a very difficult balance to strike between the demands of politics - not wanting to scare the voters too much - and economics - trying to convince the world's markets that the UK's finances would be restored to health in the foreseeable future. He has announced a number of significant measures, but many people are still wondering whether there is enough here to fill the deficit: there is surely more pain to come, in higher tax or in cuts to public spending, which will have to be announced after the election by whichever party is in power by then. The Shadow Chancellor, George Osborne, was quick to criticise the proposals, but it's not yet clear what he would do instead. Mr Darling tries to portray the Conservatives as more likely to send the country back into recession, while Mr Osborne says that Labour has failed to address the huge public sector debt, and will leave the country bankrupt. Whoever is right - and it is possible that they both are - the Pre-Budget Report contains a number of detailed proposals behind the headlines. This document explains the main announcements so you can see how they might affect you.