Finance Bill: Treasury to clamp down on wealthy tax dodgers

The Treasury is expected to close a loophole that allows wealthy individuals to avoid paying stamp duty on expensive property transactions in draft legislation for the Finance Bill today.

The Chancellor, George Osborne, will announce that properties bought through offshore companies will be subject to 5% stamp duty, rather than the 0.5% rate they can currently pay, according to the Telegraph.

Tax charges for non-domiciled investment in UK business are expected to be reduced - from the current 28% rate for capital gains and 50% income tax rate - to zero.

In total, more than 30 reliefs are likely to be scrapped in a long-running effort to simplify the system.

The draft proposals will aim to modify the Controlled Foreign Companies legislation, which taxes UK-based companies on their overseas earnings.