Thanks a million!

Jan 24, 2008, 06:46 AM

Authors : Richard

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Post date : Jan 24, 2008, 06:46 AM

The original suggestions for a lower rate of tax or an exemption on the first £100,000 of gains made on the disposal of business assets were attacked as ‘wholly inadequate’ and the Federation of Small Businesses had been angling for a lifetime allowance of £750,000.
The Chancellor has decided to go for a nice round sum: £1 million, which will be taxed at 10% rather than 18% and which should presumably satisfy many small businesses.
At the time of writing I am awaiting the promised ‘further information about the new relief, along with draft legislation and other documents’ that HM Treasury promise will be on the HMRC website.
On investigation the latest press release appears to be ‘Ghana drugs case shows the misery of narcotics trafficking and notes that ‘the sentencing of two UK school girls to one year each in jail for attempting to smuggle cocaine from Ghana to the UK is a stark lesson in the misery of the drug trade’.
One wonders how many tax advisers, desperate for a period of respite following 31 January, will now be facing the misery of the tax trade advising clients on the new proposals and the pros and cons of a sale before or after 5 April 2008 taking this new relief into account; and, of course, the prospects of keeping a lifetime record of entrepreneurs’ capital gains tax computations.
Mike Truman in this year’s Hardman lecture tackled the question, ‘Can a fair tax system ever be simple?’
Probably not on this evidence.

However, it’s easy to return to Taxation.co.uk. Simply click here.

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