They say change brings opportunity, so the optimists among you can rejoice (maybe) because, thanks to the present government, a whole new range of clients need your advice (perhaps).
Why the equivocation? Well, until recently, it seemed certain that changes affecting the taxation of non-UK domiciliaries (non-doms), which were included in the March 2017 version of the Finance Bill 2017, would come into effect on 6 April 2017, as planned.
Many of the most successful businesses are the product of the investment of its founder’s time, energy and money. Often, this investment may be the most significant source 
of their retirement income or personal wealth. Yet at some point, whether due to political or market conditions, or more personal reasons, it may become time to sell the business and unlock the value of this investment.
Under current practice the Tax and Customs Administration (NAV) fines taxpayers that are caught with a VAT shortfall even if the budget has sustained no losses. An opinion recently published by the Advocate General of the European Court of Justice could spell the end for this extremely unfair and much criticised procedure.
The VAT treatment of certain transactions can often be problematic, and it is by no means uncommon for the parties in the transaction to end up misinterpreting – together and in good faith – the relevant provisions of the VAT Act. The parties may, by mistake, treat a transaction that is subject to a reverse charge as a regular transaction, or vice versa.
The Chancellor announced in the recent summer budget that the Government intends to bring all UK residential property held directly or indirectly by non-doms into the scope of UK Inheritance Tax, and this would include such property owned through an indirect structure such as an offshore company or trust. One reason holding UK residential properties in offshore companies has long been attractive to non-doms is that shares in the offshore company could be an excluded asset for Inheritance Tax and not taxable on the non-dom’s death. More…