Unwelcome change to capital gains tax matters

TAX

Capital gains tax exemption for authorised unit trusts is going to be changed so that it will only apply to funds where each investor holds less than 10%

Last December, in the pre-budget report, the Treasury announced its intention to bring forward measures that would change the existing taxation arrangements for authorised unit trusts. This would mean that in future the capital gains tax (CGT) exemption that currently applies to these funds would instead be restricted to only those where each investor holds less than 10% of the fund. These measures are widely seen as an attempt to prevent wealthy investors from using what are loosely referred to as private unit trusts to defer CGT on profits from share portfolios. Under the Taxation of Ch...