News and Press releases

Half a sigh of relief as Capital Gains Tax rise isn’t as savage as feared

23/06/2010

Crucially for small investors, the annual exemption threshold will remain at £10,100 and will rise with inflation.
Announcing the new higher rate of CGT, the Chancellor stopped short of the 40% or 50% it had been widely feared it would be increased to. He also refused to bow to pressure to re-introduce some form of taper relief to reduce the amount of tax paid by people who have held assets for longer periods, in order to keep the system simple.
The increase aims to narrow the gap between the rate higher earners pay on CGT and the one they pay on income tax to cut down on income tax avoidance.
It is thought £1 billion in tax revenues is lost every year through people taking income as capital gains. Yesterday’s change is expected to boost revenues by £725 million next year, rising to £925m in 2014/15.
The increase in the CGT rate is not expected to spark a flood of sales from buy-to-let investors, as had been predicted if the tax was raised higher and there was a delay before the new rate was introduced.
Julie Paterson at the Investment Management Association said: “This provides an important buffer for those on modest to middle incomes against capital gains arising simply from inflation. It keeps thousands of basic rate taxpayers out of complex annual tax calculations as they drawdown their savings during retirement..”
Stockbroker Brewin Dolphin’s executive chairman, Jamie Matheson, said basic-rate taxpaying investors were “Britain’s hidden entrepreneurs, as they risk their savings as capital to help businesses”.
Peter Young, personal tax specialist at Scottish accountants Johnston Carmichael, said the relatively modest changes probably reflected “a groundswell of opposition” to CGT rises, as well as the issue of reducing yield. But he said Osborne’s stated aim of discouraging high earners from converting income to capital was likely to fall short. “If you are a 50% taxpayer there is still a differential of 22%.”
David Alexander, at letting and estate agency D J Alexander, said the tax hike would have a “neutral” effect on residential property investment. “This will mean a substantially higher tax bill for anyone making a gain on the sale of an investment property or second home, but I doubt if it will mean much extra money flowing into the Government coffers for the time being.”

THE HERALD, 23 June 2010

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