Today we have the last Budget to be held in the spring. From now on, all Budgets will be held in the Autumn time, which means we have another Budget this year, before settling down to a yearly Budget again. Until they change the rules again.
Well, that was a quick announcement. So now we know.
This will be the last Budget to take place in March of each year. From now on, Budgets will take place each Autumn – which means next year we shall actually be having two Budgets.
But after that – well, if things go smoothly, we would be having a Budget at the end of the year, the people who sit in the Houses of Parliament will be able to talk about it for a bit and hopefully pass it by March the following year, just in time for the start of the financial year in April. Which is as it should be.
I apologise by the way for not updating my own Autumn Statement page and being generally silent for a while. A few “family troubles” have cropped up when they shouldn’t have, so I have been otherwise occupied.
But I do wish to take this opportunity to thank all my readers for reading the articles on this site, and for your kind support over the years. I hope you and your family have a restful holiday, wherever you are.
Hooray. I’ve been waiting and waiting all day for this (not really – slight exaggeration).
You can download the Draft Finance Bill 2017, together with the Explanatory Notes from this page. These documents are both in pdf format.
One other link which should be particularly useful is the overview of the draft legislation. I would urge you all to take a look at this page while you’re also going through the draft Bill. After the opening bits we come to a section called Information about changes to tax legislation. For the first time in a long time, we have a single page on a government website where you can access links to the separate policy papers and technical notes.
Which saves me having to do it on this site. Happy reading everybody.
The Corporation Tax Annual is part of a collection of Core Tax Annuals published by Bloomsbury Professional. There are eight volumes in all, making a complete set. Apart from corporation tax, the annuals deal with: income tax, capital gains tax, national insurance contributions, stamp taxes, VAT, inheritance tax and trusts and estates.
This year, there’s another set of annuals to deal with the Scottish taxes. Because as you’re all aware, Scotland has recently been following its own tax map – Scotland can set its own tax rates and has its own set of stamp taxes called Land and Buildings Transaction Tax. And soon, Wales and Northern Ireland will follow suit. Creating a nightmare for tax practitioners. Continue reading »
I don’t know for certain. The awful GOV.UK website tells me that the main page will be here.
And the important documents – you know, the ones that tell you what’s really going to happen – well, they are to be found here.
Oh, perhaps I’d better tell you the date. Tomorrow. Wednesday 23 November 2016. Continue reading »
The following article was written in July 2013. Since that time, the Government has introduced various changes to the tax legislation, in order to discourage private landlords operating in the buy to let sector. These changes include higher SDLT rates on acquiring a “second home” restrictions on tax relief for borrowings and higher CGT rates on residential property.
This has led to increasing interest amongst individual landlords in the question whether it is worth incorporating. Although companies are also subject to the higher SDLT rates, they are not affected by the interest relief restrictions, and they are taxed at lower rates, both on rental profits and capital gains.
There is a special CGT relief for incorporating a business. In the context of buy to let incorporations, it is crucial that the properties are held as business assets rather than as an investment – and the two are not necessarily the same thing.
(This article can be downloaded in pdf format at Academia.edu.)
Investors’ relief is a new CGT relief introduced by Finance Act 2016, designed for people who invest in unquoted trading companies without being involved in the management or operation of the business. These people cannot qualify for entrepreneurs’ relief on realising their investment, and so they wouldn’t expect to benefit from the special 10% rate – until now.
This is a tax relief which should be of particular interest to business angels. Although we already have other tax advantaged schemes, such as the venture capital schemes, they are too complicated and hedged with all sorts of rules and regulations. Investors’ relief is far simpler and should prove an attractive alternative for investors.
(This article can be downloaded in pdf format at Academia.edu)
Yes, that’s right. It’s finally been passed, and the Act is now available to download as a pdf file. HTML format is not available at the time of writing, but I expect it will be some time soon. Continue reading »
The news is in the heading. The source is here at the GOV.UK site. Particularly gratifying to see that they haven’t waited a few days after it first appears on the BBC website.
Not that there’s anything particularly wrong with the latter, but those who practice law, and professional historians and journalists all know that primary sources are always better than secondary ones. Continue reading »
Last year, the Government made some changes to the rules on entrepreneurs’ relief, aimed at individuals who use a corporate vehicle to conduct their business. Before the changes, it was possible for the individual’s personal company to trade through a joint venture or partnership and apply “look-through” rules to qualify for trading status. This was stopped, but now, following Budget 2016, the position is being restored in cases where the individual holds a 5% interest in the relevant joint venture or partnership.
However, there are quirks in the new rules. As we shall see, the position has not been restored exactly in the way that one might expect. We shall concentrate on the rules for joint ventures, but the rules for partnerships are similar and give rise to the same issues.
(This article can be downloaded in pdf format at Academia.edu)