When does the Budget come into effect? All the dates for your diary - The Mirror

Less tax on pay, more tax on cigarettes, new railcards and benefits help - but WHEN? Sara Benwell explains all

With every Budget comes a lot of changes - whether it’s how much your cigarettes cost or how much tax you pay on what you earn.

This time around we saw stamp duty frozen for first-time buyers, a very modest income tax cut, and an increase in the price of cigarettes.

Then there's talk of a new tax on plastic packaging, railcards for Millennials and help for universal credit claimants.

But when does it actually take effect? Well, here are the dates for the diary:

When are cigarettes going up in price?

Sadly it’s too late to stock up on smokes before the price rise as this came into effect at 6pm today.

That means your next packet of cigarettes will be 4.9% more expensive and rolling tobacco has shot up by 5.9%. This pushes the average price of a packet of 20 cigarettes up to £10.40.

I’m buying a house now - will I still benefit from the stamp duty freeze?

The stamp duty exemption for first time buyers (on properties up to £500,000 in value) kicked in today. This tax triggers on the day you complete, so there will likely be some first time buys today with an unexpected windfall of up to £5,000.

Sadly anyone who completed last week will have missed out, as the policy will not be backdated.

Does the plastic tax mean I need to pay more for my coffee or takeaway?

Certainly not yet - at the moment the Chancellor is only consulting on this, so it may not even happen at all, and certainly we can’t expect any changes in the next six months?

When’s my pay packet going up?

Both the minimum wage and the income tax thresholds are going up from April 1st 2018.

Income tax changes mean most of us should see our take home increase by £70 a year from then.

While the minimum wage increase means £600 a year more for workers on the basic wage.

I own a diesel car - when will that get more expensive?

Like most budget announcements this will kick in April next year - so some diesel drivers (with cars that don’t meet the latest emission standards) will have to pay more.

VED is based on a vehicle's CO2 emissions and the cost for the first 12 months ranges from zero to £2,000.

I’m about to turn 30 - will I be able to get the new ‘millennial travel card’?

It depends when your birthday is and where you live. Officially the new cards are planned to be available from next April, so if you’re born in May onwards you should be fine.

I’m being moved to universal credit, will I still be impacted by delays?

Unfortunately, the new changes on Universal Credit won’t be rolled out until the new year, so we’re likely to hear of more people left unable to pay rent, or with gaps where they’re not receiving their benefits.