Pre Budget Report

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Our thoughts on the Pre Budget Report December 2009

Having now had the opportunity to look through the proposals in the PBR there does not appear to be anything of major concern from a tax perspective unless you are a financial institution or an impoverished banker expecting a bonus of £25,000 or more. After all two years ago the PBR included the abolition of taper relief.

The freezing of rates and allowances will obviously cause us all to pay additional tax but there is not as much pain as was predicted. Is this due the next year's election and should we expect additional measure in a post election budget? You decide.

There was clearly no tax increase. After all the increase announced was to NIC and as we all know this is not a tax. This is going to be a cost to employers when possibly they do not need any additional costs.

It can be assumed that our cutbacks (and the real pain) are yet to come after the election. Overall there does not appear to be much here that provides us with many headaches but there are some opportunities that could be looked at to reduce your client's tax and produce you a fee.

We have reviewed the report and produced a summary of the points which we feel you will be interested in, these include:

• Furnished lettings
• Income from patents
• Green tax relief
• Proposed company car changes
• EMI Scheme
• Pension provisions
• Salary sacrifice schemes
• Offshore tax penalties
• Late returns
• Irish Republic's budget news

As ever the devil is usually in the detail, much of which is yet to come. We have attached a document which further explains these points and for which we can offer advice on how they may affect your clients' interests. Should you require any assistance at this point please give us a call on 0845 854 3334.