Capital gains tax
Who were the winners and losers?

Your questions answered

Q: What is the current rate of capital gains tax (CGT)?
A: At the moment the actual rate of CGT you pay is determined by your top rate of income tax. So for higher rate taxpayers you will pay 40 per cent CGT in the 2007-08 tax year and lower rate taxpayers will only pay CGT at 20 per cent. But you can also pay as little as 5 per cent depending on the assets you are disposing of.

Q: What are the benefits of utilising ‘taper relief’?
A: Taper relief can help reduce a potential CGT bill. If your chargeable gains after allowable losses are more than the annual exempt amount for the year you can qualify for taper relief, which is calculated depending on how long the asset has been held. The longer the asset has been held the more relief you will get. After ten years only 60 per cent of the gains are chargeable to CGT. This tapering can reduce the effective rate of CGT to 12 per cent for basic rate taxpayers and 24 per cent to higher rate taxpayers after a decade.

Q: How are the CGT rules changing?
A: The current system will cease from April 5, 2008. The Chancellor, Alistair Darling, has decided to move to a single rate of CGT for everyone which will be paid 18 per cent.

Q: I own a second home, how could the rule changes affect me?
A: At the moment the minimum CGT you will pay on the chargeable gain is 24 per cent, but it could be more depending on how long you have owned the property. If you have been a landlord for less than three years you face a CGT bill paid at 40 per cent. From next April you will only pay 18 per cent, irrespective of how long you have owned your property. However, if you are a basic rate tax payer you may pay more. For example, a basic rate taxpayer who has held a buy-to-let property for 9 years will pay CGT at 18 per cent, rather than 13 per cent.

Q: What are the new tax implications of owning a holiday let?
A: If you own a qualifying furnished holiday let it is a business asset and so you will pay CGT at 18 per cent, rather than the current 10 per cent as a higher rate taxpayer.

Q: Will I now pay less tax when I sell my shares?
A: If they are fully listed shares you will pay CGT on the chargeable gain at 18 per cent, rather than a minimum of 24 per cent. But the new rules will disadvantage owners of qualifying "trading assets", such as unincorporated business or AIM listed shares in unlisted trading companies. The effective tax rate after two years of ownership which, after business asset taper relief, until now has been only 10 per cent, will now increase significantly to 18 per cent.

Q: Will my AIM share portfolio that was set up to shelter inheritance tax (IHT) be affected?
A: Provided you have held shares, which are eligible for business asset taper relief, for a minimum of two years, the original investment plus any subsequent growth continues to fall outside your estate for IHT. However, if you dispose of your shares after two years you will have to pay CGT at 18 per cent after April 2008, rather than the 10 per cent you would today as a higher rate taxpayer.

Q: What changes will the new system bring to venture capital trusts (VCTs) and enterprise investment schemes (EISs) ?
A: If you took advantage of the old rules that allowed you to defer your capital gains by investing in a VCT pre-2004 you will be benefit. Before you could have faced a tax bill of 40 per cent, but now you will pay just 18 per cent.

Those who rolled over capital gains with a 10 per cent tax charge into Enterprise Investment Scheme shares will not fair so well. When they sell the EIS shares, the rolled over gain will be taxed at 18 per cent rather than at the 10 per cent they would have paid had they not done the roll over in the first place. Gains made on the EIS itself remain CGT free.

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Levels and bases of, and reliefs from, taxation are subject to change.