Jersey not targeted in Osborne's Budget

Thursday 20 March 2014

There were no big hits on Jersey in George Osborne’s Budget yesterday, but proposals on property taxes could affect Islanders with homes in the UK.

Wendy Dorman, tax partner of PWC, said after the Budget was announced that none of the measures announced by George Osborne would have a big impact on the Island but that there was a potential impact from the extension of the mansion tax to properties worth between £500,000 and £2m owned through a corporate structure.

She said that the new proposals to expand the Annual Tax on Enveloped Dwellings (mansion tax), as well as stamp duty and capital gains tax on transactions involving the properties would force homeowners to make a decision about whether they want to own property in their own name or through a company.

“One of the reason why we would normally advice a client to use a company is that it gives protection against inheritance tax,” she said.

“We now have to decide whether it’s more important to have the inheritance tax protection or to avoid these charges, and I think that in most cases, avoiding the charges will be the most important.”

Mrs Dorman said that although there was nothing new on the subject of aggressive tax planning, there were references to work continuing with the OECD. She said that there were no fresh commitments but that the Coalition government was putting down a marker that they were taking the issue seriously.