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‘Trading’ activity and tax – when can company owners claim CGT and IHT reliefs?

Thursday, July 26, 2012 | Posted by: Mike Hyland
Categories: Business, Personal, Protecting your wealth | Tags: tax, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, CGT, IHT, Mike Hyland, shares, sale, BPR, Entrepreneurs' Relief, Business Property Relief, Entrepreneurs’ Relief, non-trading assets, holdover relief, company sale, HMRC clearance, trading company, trading status, investment assets

There are a number of reliefs that can help company owners mitigate capital gains tax (CGT) on selling or giving away their shares, and inheritance tax (IHT) on their death or on a gift into trust. A general requirement for all of these reliefs is that your company or corporate group must be ‘trading’. Here I’ll explore what this means and how the position might be optimised.

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Reasonable tax planning or ‘morally wrong’ tax avoidance? UK GAAR attempts to draw the line

Thursday, July 05, 2012 | Posted by: Francesca Lagerberg
Categories: Personal, Protecting your wealth | Tags: tax, tax planning, Francesca Lagerberg, tax avoidance, GAAR, tax evasion, UK GAAR, general anti-avoidance rule, general anti-abuse rule, reasonable, aggressive

Draft legislation for a general anti-abuse rule (GAAR) to tackle tax avoidance in the UK was published last month – to a mixed response. Do the proposals clearly separate ‘reasonable’ from ‘abusive’? And will the new GAAR (previously known as the general anti-avoidance rule) affect your tax planning arrangements?

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