On initial examination I was not that excited about Investor’s Relief. In a nutshell, shareholders can benefit from the 10% capital gains tax rate on the disposal of ordinary shares in an unlisted company for which they have subscribed after 16 March 2016, as long as they have held the shares for at least three years. The three-year period cannot…
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Escaping IHT on family homes
In the first Budget speech of this parliament, George Osborne promised to ‘take the family home out of the inheritance tax net’. If only it were true. In fact, what Osborne has introduced is something called the maximum residence nil rate band (RNRB) – an additional inheritance tax (IHT) allowance available if an individual passed their family home (with a…
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Taxing the rich
Taxing the Rich by Kenneth Scheve and David Stasavage is a study of 200 years of tax data from 20 different countries and references many other sources, not least the Bible: ‘The rich shall not give more and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, when they give an offering unto the Lord, to make an atonement…
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Wyoming: a very secret state
America has come under attack for being one of the largest tax havens in the world, an accusation I will come on to in a moment, and it has reminded me what a useful location it is for any business planning to carry on its trade or to hold assets outside the USA. There are three US states offering a…
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EU proposes clampdown on corporate anti-avoidance
The European Commission has published recommendations regarding how to stop corporations from avoiding tax, although many MEPs feel that the recommendations don’t go far enough and want stricter limits on deductions for interest payments, tougher rules on foreign income, more transparency for trust funds and foundations, common rules for ‘patent box’ tax reductions on intellectual property earnings, and an EU…
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Serious tax evasion up
HMRC experienced an 8% increase in serious tax evasion cases for 2015/16, according to legal firm Pinsent Masons, as the government department referred an additional 3,000 suspected instances for specialist investigation. The law firm suggested that the figures represent how HMRC is under “continued political pressure” to clamp down on aggressive tax avoidance and evasion. Interestingly, HMRC investigations into high-value…
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Supreme court for Spot the Ball
In May Sportetch, the company behind the Spot the Ball competition, won its case with HMRC over £97m worth of wrongly-applied VAT.However, Sportech has been informed that HMRC has now applied directly to the Supreme Court for permission to appeal the Court of Appeal’s unanimous judgment. Sportech claims that Spot the Ball is a game of chance, not skill, and…
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EU investigation into Panama Papers
The EU has authorized an investigation into the Panama Papers in order to discover how wealthy individuals, politicians and multinational corporations were able to hide substantial levels of wealth in the Central American tax haven. A special committee with 65 members will have 12 months to present its report. 30.6.16
Rush to liquidate
Over 2000 solvent companies were placed in liquidation in March as directors rushed to cash in on lower tax rates before changes to the tax rules in April. Since then HMRC has clamped down on business owners winding up companies to access entrepreneurs’ relief at 10 per cent rate on any capital gains. Now the 10 per cent rate is…
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More higher rate taxpayers
The number of UK taxpayers paying income tax at the higher or additional rate has reached a record 5m people. However, a million fewer people will pay income tax this year than they did when the coalition government came to power, although low-paid workers are still caught in the net of national insurance contributions. Income tax revenues of £182bn are…
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