Tax

Foreign investors are setting up “club deals” to manage new stamp duty surcharges that come into place on 1 April, a tax and advisory firm has claimed.

Despite HMRC’s focus on it, tax avoidance isn’t as widespread as people might think. In fact, according to HMRC’s own figures only an estimated £1.7 billion was lost to tax avoidance in 2018 to 2019.

Despite much speculation that the Chancellor would announce changes to Capital Gains Tax (CGT) in his most recent Budget, Mr Sunak has kept rates the same for now. He also announced that the annual exempt amount for CGT will be frozen at its present level until 2026. This is currently £12,300 for individuals and estates, and £6,150 for trustees of most settlements.

No one was quite sure what to expect from the first “tax day” in the lead up to 23 March.

At face value, those who did not get too excited appear to have been proved right. However, there is a lot of information hidden in the detail of various consultations that could shape tax policy for years to come.

Here’s what caught the private wealth industry’s eye. 

The Russian Federal Tax Service (the FTS) has sets out guidance for tax inspectorates on how to identify tax-avoiding misrepresentations of business operations and the use of sham companies.

Non UK tax resident buyers who have already or are about to exchange contracts should proceed with caution

In its first ever “tax day”, the UK government made its current priorities clear, namely: modernising tax administration and tackling non-compliance. All other policies and consultations – ranging from aviation tax reform to the taxation of trusts – were lumped together in one ‘”further tax policy announcements” category.

eprivateclient has compiled an overview of the announcements that could have the biggest impact on the private wealth industry.

Today marks the UK’s first “tax day”. Unlike the Budget earlier this month, little information has been leaked and with no previous examples to look back on, advisers are unsure what to expect. All that is known is that the Treasury will unveil a number of tax consultations and Chancellor Rishi Sunak will outline his vision for tax in the UK.

Self Assessment taxpayers have just over a week to pay any outstanding tax liabilities or set up an online payment plan to avoid incurring penalty charges, HMRC has warned.

“ISAs have been around for over 20 years but could now present the most valuable form of defence and attack against the government’s latest tax grab,” Blick Rothenberg has argued.