Capital Gains

JULIE BUTLER provides a practical guide to the tax implications of the new single payment scheme.

THE INTRODUCTION OF the Single Farm Payment is considered by many to be the most fundamental change to farming since the repeal of the 'corn laws'. It essentially means that farming subsidies are no longer 'coupled' to production, but are based on area and historical entitlement. The burning question has been: how will this impact upon the taxation of farmers and landowners?

The effect of capital gains tax on estates is examined by CLARE MUNRO.

YOU WOULD HAVE to have spent the last decade in media-free exile not to be aware of the stratospheric appreciation in UK house prices in recent years. The impact on the Exchequer's inheritance tax take is well documented; the potential complications with capital gains tax following a death are not.

MARTIN DAWSON and CHRIS HOLDEN contemplate the global nature of the capital gains tax legislation.

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE WROTE in As You Like It, that 'All the world's a stage'. While he could not have contemplated just how wide the territorial scope of the UK's capital taxes legislation would extend some 400 or so years later, the words are opportune when considering the subject.

MIKE TRUMAN looks at the High Court judgment in Small (HMIT) v Mars UK Ltd, and asks what it means for the Distillers case.

MALCOLM GUNN FTII, TEP examines a controversial Revenue statement on termination payments.

IN 1991, THE Revenue issued a statement of practice which was part of its 'Mystifying Misinterpretations' series for practitioners. As readers may know, there is a companion set of publications, the 'Catastrophic Climbdowns' series, which is much smaller and includes the Revenue statement following the decision in Mansworth v Jelley [2003] STC 53, and another one from some years ago concerning insurance commission rebates.

DAVID HUGHES reviews the High Court's decision in Wood v Holden.

Corporate residence can be a problematic area. A company may be resident overseas if it can show that its central management and control takes place outside the UK, but if a company only carries out a few transactions (such as the purchase or sale of subsidiaries), what level of involvement is needed to exhibit central management and control?

ANDY WELLS considers the effect of the 'trading company' definition on the capital gains tax gifts relief.

SUBSTANTIAL QUALIFICATION, the article by Paul Hodge and Matt Reid in Taxation, 20 January 2005, p370 focused on business asset taper relief, but the matters discussed are also vital if relief is to be claimed under TCGA 1992, s 165 on a disposal of shares by way of gift, (see s 165(8)(aa) inserted by FA 2004 with effect from the current tax year).

KEVIN SLEVIN considers the true value of the tax treatment of civil partners.

JULIE BUTLER considers the tax treatment of wind farms.