Entrepreneurs’ relief
Entrepreneurs may gain benefits by selling or giving away their business at a reduced tax rate. This benefit is called entrepreneurs’ relief.
Entrepreneurs’ relief is available for up to £10,000,000 lifetime gains.
Entrepreneurs gain tax relief at a reduced rate of 10%.
Entrepreneurs’ relief is available to sole traders or partners selling or giving away whole or a certain part of their business. It is also available to company directors and employees having 5% or more shareholding.
There are many entrepreneurs who wish to sell whole or a part of their company and gain maximum benefit from it.
Entrepreneurs’ relief reduced the amount of Capital Gains Tax paid on business assets on or after April 2008. Today, in the United Kingdom entrepreneurs selling or giving away their business can obtain entrepreneurs’ relief which is an allowance of £10,000,000.
Entrepreneur’s relief may be considered as one of the most attractive tax benefits any entrepreneur may obtain. By taking appropriate steps, entrepreneurs may gain maximum benefit from entrepreneurs’ relief. There are some measures that need to be taken care of to gain maximum benefit from entrepreneurs’ relief.
The first and the most important thing to keep in mind is that all the conditions for entrepreneur’s relief must be met for at least 24 months (increased recently in the budget from 12 months). This means that any entrepreneur claiming entrepreneurs’’ relief must keep the business appropriate for the relief at all times.
Since 2008, when entrepreneurs’ relief was first introduced many entrepreneurs have gained benefit from entrepreneurs’ relief.
Recent changes in Entrepreneurs’ Relief
In the past couple of years, laws and policies concerning entrepreneurs’ relief have been significantly modified, as a consequence of the UK Government’s initiative and attempts to rectify the loopholes in the system. These changes are mainly related to Capital Gains Tax.
One of the major concerns that the UK Government has been trying to resolve is the establishment of a workable policy and machinery to provide greater tax relief on an individual’s business assets than that on his personal or investment assets.
The introduction of the policy that led to the reduction and elimination of tax payments in direct proportion to the period for which the assets are being held is one of the government’s attempts to extend increased support towards entrepreneurs’ relief.
In addition to the previously stated initiative, the government also introduced a policy of reduced capital gains tax rate on all gains. Under this policy, the Capital Gains Tax, as an attempt to facilitate entrepreneurs’ relief, was decreased to a rate of 18%, on all gains acquired through the sale of a business entity.
However, capital gains tax, as an integral part of entrepreneurs’ relief policy, by the government has been subjected to further alteration. The government has applied changes to the payment of capital gains tax, mainly on the basis of higher rate threshold defined for capital gains and standard rate band, 28% and 18% respectively.
These initiative, concerning the reduction and tapering of capital gains tax are primarily focused on encouraging entrepreneurial initiative and ensuring the prospective entrepreneurs do not feel reluctant to lay down the foundation of a new business setup, as a result of their concerns surrounding the payment of a considerable amount on account of capital gains tax, if ever in the future a business needs to be sold. It is believed that through facilitating entrepreneurs, entrepreneurial culture is to be given a boost which will eventually contribute towards the creation of more job opportunities and acceleration of economic growth.
As the significance of entrepreneurs’ relief for supporting economic growth has been widely acknowledged, the government has taken the initiative to provide further support to entrepreneurs under this policy. The rate of capital gains tax has been reduced to 10%, for lifetime capital gains that are within the limit of £5 million. This modification in the policy has particularly benefited established entrepreneurs, who now wish to explore new pastures or are thinking about retiring.
Challenges faced while availing Entrepreneurs’ Relief
The recent changes concerning entrepreneurs’ relief though have largely benefited the majority, but there are some sections which may suffer as a consequence of newly introduced changes.
Sale of loan notes
The first major impact of these changes concerns the eventual CGT position of loan note holders. Those entrepreneurs, who might have exchanged their shares that qualified for entrepreneurs’ relief, for business loans, are advised to re-examine their CGT positions at the eventual sale of their loan notes. There are chances that if the loan note holders proceed to sell these possessions, they may be liable to pay CGT at an increased rate, rather than the expected rate of 10%.
Qualification criteria
Also, with the recent development concerning the entrepreneurs’ relief policy and its increasing popularity, it is expected that HMRC might introduce some modifications in the policy. It is believed that these changed are mainly to be concerned with the qualification criteria for entrepreneurs’ relief. Hence, under the changing circumstances, entrepreneurs need to be wary and aware of their statuses for qualifying for entrepreneurs ‘relief.
Impact on shareholders
Since entrepreneurs’ relief policy has also been subjected to changes concerning the qualification of shareholders, shareholders may find themselves surrounded in ambiguity, with respect to their qualification for availing the facilities offered through entrepreneurs’ relief.
To be sure of their current position, shareholders today need to study and understand all the recent changes incorporated into the entrepreneurs’ relief policy.
Partnerships
Perhaps, the impacts of the recent changes in the entrepreneurs’ relief policy are to be most deeply felt by sole traders and those entrepreneurs who are working in partnerships. The recent changes are to render significant negative impacts on the sale of shared business assets, which may be proposed to be sold separately.
Structural shortcomings
Furthermore, questions are being raised ion the structural development of entrepreneurs’ relief policy by various experts. Many have pointed towards the need to modify the structure of the policy to ensure that the extension of entrepreneurs’ relief support is extended to individuals who have owned considerable shares in business but fail to qualify for entrepreneurs’ relief due to unfulfilled technical requirements.
The major issue in this area is associated with the requirement for entrepreneurs to own business assets for a prescribed period of time in order to qualify to be facilitated through entrepreneurs’ relief.
Today, the limit of entrepreneurs’ relief is £10 million per person. It is a considerable sum and any entrepreneur selling or giving away their business can be entitled to have this money. However, with the changing and updates of the tax policies, it becomes more restrictive to obtain.
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