The Chancellor announced new rules on Entrepreneurs’ Relief in this year’s Budget, lessening some of the challenging restrictions he introduced last year. However, this year’s changes look set to lead to problems of their own.
Entrepreneurs’ Relief was firmly in the Chancellor’s sights last year as he faced political pressure to take action on tax avoidance.
There are several conditions that have to be met for Entrepreneurs’ Relief to apply. These include a one year holding period for which the asset must have been owned.
The Treasury introduced the relief to create an incentive for people to set up and grow their own businesses. Capital gains arising from eligible sales are applied at 10 per cent rather than the full rate of Capital Gains Tax.
However, the changes announced in this year’s Budget mean some people who had lawfully claimed the 10 per cent rate under the associated disposals rules may find that in retrospect they did not qualify. Instead the 18 per cent/ 28 per cent rates of Capital Gains Tax should have applied. It is now unclear whether the shortfall will have to be paid back and hopefully the Revenue will clarify their position in future.
