“Business tax faces urgent call for government review”

Apr 18, 2018 | Tax

If you run a business, you might see a glimmer of hope in this headline. Are they going to have a proper look at the taxes that affect and cripple most small businesses, most days? VAT? Business rates? Corporation tax? Employee National Insurance?

No, they’re going to focus on ‘the operation of the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme, Enterprise Investment Scheme and Venture Capital Trust schemes, and the interactions, and differences, between Entrepreneurs’ Relief, Capital Gains Tax gift relief and Inheritance Tax reliefs for business assets’.

In the words of The Only Ones (kids etc.), ‘Another Girl, Another Planet’.

“HMRC scraps plans to tax pensions after death”

Nov 25, 2023 | Tax

A couple of other Statement Highlights (in my world, anyway). A welcome ‘nothing happened’ on the treatment of pensions on death. They were never going to be liable to IHT (too complicated with trusts and trust law) but there was talk of making them income-taxable on the recipients at whatever age you die.

“Raising IHT threshold could cost government £6bn”

Nov 14, 2023 | Tax

Well, the lesson of this week in politics must be to expect the unexpected. Or, alternative interpretation, to expect more of the same. The speculation on the future of Inheritance Tax has switched from abolition to a rise in the amount of wealth you can have before the 40% payment hits.