Draft Finance Bill 2014 published
The Government published the Finance Bill 2014 draft clauses, explanatory notes and draft secondary legislation on 10 December 2013. The draft legislation is open for consultation until 4 February 2014. The Bill and explanatory notes together with other related documents run to more than a staggering 1,000 pages. The final contents of the Bill will be subject to confirmation at Budget 2014 before being introduced in Finance Bill 2014.
One of the main measures is the introduction of new rules from April 2015 that will allow a spouse or civil partner, who is not a taxpayer, or who does not pay tax above the basic rate to transfer up to £1,000 of their personal allowance to their spouse or civil partner. This will not advantage higher rate tax payers as the recipient of the transfer cannot be subject to tax at higher than the basic rate.
The draft Finance Bill also introduces new CGT rules on the sale of a private residence. At present, if a property has been occupied at any time as an individual’s private residence, the last three years of ownership are disregarded for CGT purposes. This is so even if the individual is not living in the property when it is sold, and may possibly be claiming private residence relief on a different property at the same time. From 6 April 2014 this final period exemption will be reduced to 18 months.
Commenting on the publication of the draft Finance Bill, David Gauke, Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, said:
‘The government is committed to making the UK more competitive for business, supporting hardworking families with the cost of living and cracking down on aggressive tax avoidance.’
‘The package of measures in the legislation published today delivers action that builds on our efforts to create a tax system that supports growth and fairness. And by consulting on the draft legislation in this way we are delivering on our promise to make the system more certain and stable for taxpayers and businesses.’