The Government has decided on the most severe way of introducing its new capital gains tax regime by insisting on a controversial retrospective measure that will catch thousands of Britain’s most successful entrepreneurs who have already sold businesses. Daily Telegraph
The move will cause outcry among the business community, which has fiercely criticised the Treasury’s plan to raise the tax rate on business assets by 80% after April 5.
Many entrepreneurs who have sold businesses in recent years and been paid in bonds, such as loan notes, will be forced to pay the higher rate of tax, having been expecting to pay 10%.
It means any entrepreneur who has built up and sold a multi-million-pound business and is now sitting on more than £1m of loan notes that have yet to mature into cash will have to pay the new 18% rate on gains above £1m.