CGT - The Devil is the Detail
Well, what a surprise. Several hours after the chancellor announced the changes to the capital gains tax regime yesterday, a few very nasty details emerged.
The first startling discovery was that ‘entrepreneurs’ relief’ is in fact a misnomer. The 10% CGT rate turned out to be a lifetime allowance, an effective kick in the teeth for all serial entrepreneurs for whom a one-off £80,000 tax concession will not make a huge difference. They are more concerned about the 80% tax hike they will have to wear for all their hard work for the end of their days.
Secondly, this new two-tier system will require a whole raft of new anti tax avoidance legislation to be drawn up - so much for the supposed objectives of creating a simple system.
Thirdly, the government is striking out one of the chief incentives for retention of key staff. Any employee with less than 5% of the company they work for is ineligible for the Entrepreneurs’ Relief. Not many can lay claim to that level of stake-holding. The vast majority of employee shareholders will therefore face a near doubling of tax rates on share gains.
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Tags: capital gains tax, cgt, entrepreneurs