WHAT DOES THE CHANCELLOR’S BUDGET MEAN FOR YOU? March 23, 2011 CATHERINE GANNON, 48 MANAGING DIRECTOR OF CITY LAW FIRM GANNONS LAW LLP Catherine is single with two children, earns a gross income of over £100,000 a year and pays a mortgage on her family home. She has a share portfolio and also has mortgages on various investment properties. She does not drink or smoke. She [...]
Tax-free threshold on ISAs hit by change in inflation measurement from April 2012 March 23, 2011 ALLOWANCES for several direct taxes will rise at a slower rate than before, after changes made by chancellor George Osborne yesterday. The measure of inflation used to calculate increases in direct tax allowances will change from April next year, Osborne announced. Thresholds for capital gains tax (CGT), national insurance (NI) and ISAs, will now be [...]
Entrepreneurs among Budget big winners March 23, 2011 ENTREPRENEURS were among the biggest winners from the Budget, with a raft of measures aimed at encouraging people to invest in their own businesses. The changes, most of which will come into play on 6 April, will include: •A hike in the lifetime limit for entrepreneurs from £5m to £10m. •Relaxation of the Enterprise Investment [...]
Espirito Santo profits fall on Basel III cost March 23, 2011 PORTUGUESE investment bank Espirito Santo blamed the Eurozone debt crisis and the new Basel III rules for a 22 per cent drop in net income to €122.2m (£106.3m) for the year yesterday. Espirito Santo, which bought London stockbroker Execution Noble last November, said pre-tax profit fell 3.2 per cent to €678.6m. Fees and capital market [...]
Wealth managers cheered by new non-dom rules March 23, 2011 The City’s private wealth industry received a boost after the Budget’s reform of how the UK’s wealthy non-domiciled residents are taxed proved more benign than expected. Chancellor George Osborne said ‘non-doms’ – people resident but not domiciled for tax purposes in the UK – will have to pay more after living here for 12 years. [...]
Betting on the Budget March 21, 2011 IT’S Budget week, the Wimbledon of financial news, so will the Chancellor’s announcements be champagne and strawberries for CFD traders, or “new balls, please”? Unless the Chancellor of the Exchequer takes leave of his senses, the tax free status of spread betting is not going to be under threat. At the same time, the capital [...]
Britons hit by £360 a year fall in income March 21, 2011 HOUSEHOLD incomes have dropped by an average of £360 a year since 2008 — after accounting for inflation — the influential Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) revealed yesterday. This is the largest decline in living standards since 1980 to 1983, the IFS said. Usually household incomes rise above the level of inflation, by around five [...]
It pays to know HMRC’s stance on trading gains March 20, 2011 ONE of the biggest draws of spread betting over traditional share dealing is the former’s tax status. Although the Treasury is currently searching under each and every rock and stone in the search for revenue, it is highly unlikely that spread betting will lose this position. Spread betting is tax free for the consumer in [...]
Losses worsen at RAB Capital hedge funds March 16, 2011 STRUGGLING hedge fund manager RAB Capital’s losses deepened yesterday, after it reported a pre-tax loss of £20.2m and a 15 per cent fall in revenues last year. Assets under management tumbled 21 per cent to $1.06bn (£662m) last year as a mixture of underperforming funds and fleeing investors hit the company, which issued a profit [...]
Fear and loathing stalk the global financial markets March 15, 2011 EVERYTHING always seems to go wrong at the same time. Global investors are always extraordinarily naïve about geopolitics and natural disasters; they have suddenly awoken from their stupor and realised that the world is a much more dangerous place that they thought. The earthquake in Japan, a devastating catastrophe for that country, was the tipping [...]