News and Press releases

Consumers fear 'big crunch'

19/06/2010

Almost half of consumers (45%) were concerned about their finances in light of the current economic situation and 49% felt worse off now than ever before, said the survey from uswitch.com. The same proportion were already enduring a pay freeze, while 20% did not think their job was secure and 18% were using debt to fund their living costs.
A VAT rise in the Budget was the main concern for 60% of consumers, then interest rate increases (42%), National Insurance rises (37%) and stagnant salaries (33%). More than half said they were reining in their retail spending, and 36% were putting off major projects such as home improvements.
The Investment Management Association (IMA) is calling on the Government to undertake a comprehensive review before making any further piecemeal changes to pensions and savings incentives.
It said stamp duty on share transactions is “a tax on savers” that should be phased out in due course, while there should be no change to the annual £10,100 capital gains tax allowance.
Richard Saunders, chief executive of the IMA, said: “We badly need a system which provides simplicity and clarity for savers and which targets incentives effectively. Piecemeal further tinkering will not achieve this.”
While the government has remained silent on the tax-free allowance for capital gains tax, the LibDems have previously proposed reducing it from £10,100 to just £2,000. Under 250,000 people paid CGT in 2007-08.
Fidelity said its average client in the UK had managed to save a pot of around £18,000 in investments outside tax-free wrappers. If the allowance was reduced to £2000, CGT would become due after just two years, instead of nine as at present, regardless of whether the investor is a pensioner, a basic rate taxpayer or high net worth individual.
Paul Kennedy, head of tax planning, said: “Our analysis shows that decreasing the tax-free allowance will result in millions of average long-term savers being dragged into a net that many believed was being set for the rich. Such a change is likely to damage older people who have saved prudently to supplement their income and gradually sell down their holdings.”
Widening the CGT net will create a “gambling mentality” among small investors, driving them into spread betting and away from direct investment, the UK Shareholders Association believes.
Martin White, secretary, said: “As a major attraction of spread betting for some is the tax advantages it enjoys, incurring neither stamp duty nor any CGT at all, this would be wholly counter-productive for reducing the fiscal deficit.”
The LibDems’ proposal, meanwhile, ignores indexation or taper relief, meaning savers’ existing built-up capital gains would include inflationary increases since 1982.
Johnny McGlynn, private client adviser at Brewin Dolphin in Edinburgh said: “Without any indexation or taper relief, CGT bills could more than double overnight. Someone who invested £10,000 in the FTSE All Share in 1988 would currently face a tax bill of £9910 based on the value of his or her shares having increased to £75,155. However, if CGT were increased to 40% the tax bill would more than double.”
McGlynn added: “The coalition’s plans are light on detail and this has caused many
savers and landlords sleepless nights.”
Options still open include re-allocating assets between husbands and wives, considering the use of offshore bonds, and ‘re-basing’ portfolios to establish a higher book cost.
Bestinvest, the independent adviser, has called on the government to introduce a “Children’s Isa” as a credible alternative to child trust funds, now effectively being phased out.
Adrian Lowcock at Bestinvest said: “The structure of these products could look very similar to their adult equivalents with anyone allowed to contribute, but parents being an authorised administrator and encashing of the product outlawed until the child reaches the age of 18.”
Investor landlords, meanwhile, should think carefully before letting tax changes influence them, said David Alexander, head of residential letting agency D J Alexander.
He said: “If someone bought property in a prime area of Edinburgh or Glasgow 10 years ago, the value of their asset will have grown substantially over that period, even if prices have stalled or fallen back slightly since late 2007. Therefore, the most sensible route might be to dispose of the asset now rather than pay a higher level of tax in the future.
“Conversely, someone who bought rental property five years ago, and, therefore, is sitting on a much smaller profit would be selling at the wrong time in purely market terms. As rental demand looks likely to be buoyant for some time, a better option might be to hold on to the property in the hope that the market recovers.”
Accountants Saffery Champness claim those with second homes could well be affected by CGT changes, advising: “As part of any increase in taxation on second homes, the ability to choose which of two or more residences qualifies for the CGT main residence exemption – known as ‘flipping’ may also have to be modified.”
One leading care home provider has warned that as many as 150,000 families with relatives in care homes could also be hit by CGT changes.
Tony Banks, chairman of the Balhousie Care Group said: “Anybody who lives in a care home for three years but continues to own a family house could be liable to pay CGT on what is then their second residence.”