As we enter a New Year, the tax clock is ticking and the countdown to the end of the financial year on 5 April approaches with increased vigour. If appropriate to your situation, one way in which you could hold a wide range of investments and shelter your returns from tax is to take advantage of an Individual Savings Account (ISA).
Following a review of its UK Equity Income sector, the Investment Management Association (IMA) is splitting the sector and providing a new definition for the new IMA UK Equity Income and Growth sector.
As a result of the review, IMA has:
removed from the UK Equity Income sector all funds within the sector that fail the yield test based on 12 months’ look-back as at 31 December 2008, but taking into account final distributions if these are out of step with a fund’s calendar year end, and amend the definition accordingly;
created a new sector known as the UK Equity Income and Growth sector effective from 1 January 2009;
offer funds that fail to meet the definition of the UK Equity Income sector (based on the yield criterion) a home in the new sector, permitting the retention of track records, if they meet the definition;
funds in other sectors may apply to move to the new sector if the fund is able to demonstrate that it has complied with the definition on an on-going basis; track record retention will not be automatic.
Sector changes formally became effective on 1 January 2009.
A report reviewing the competitiveness of London’s financial centre, produced for the Mayor of London, highlights the need for improvements to the UK tax regime if London is to compete on a level playing field with centres like Dublin and Luxembourg which have succeeded in attracting funds away from the UK. The investment industry is already working with government on a package of tax measures designed to enhance the competitiveness of UK authorised funds and make the UK a more attractive domicile for funds.
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Small business received a wide-ranging package of extra finance, including a scheme to spread tax payments and a new three-year loss carry-back rule for losses up to £50,000. In addition, the increase in small companies’ rate to 22 per cent is deferred for a year, to 2010.
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HM Treasury released on 16 December 2008 three sets of proposals on fund tax reform and a further consultation on changes to the tax regime for listed investment companies.
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Unlike a traditional personal pension, a Self-Invested Personal Pension (SIPP) may offer for appropriate investor’s far greater flexibility in terms of the assets that can be held within its wrapper. A SIPP enables investors to spread investment risk across various asset options, but also to select investments that meet any specific requirements and financial objectives set.
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Helping those who might be hardest hit in tougher times
Mortgage lenders will have to prove they have tried to help struggling homeowners avoid losing their property, under new rules brought in by the government on Wednesday 22 October 2008 aimed at reducing repossessions.
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The Prime Minister on the 19 December last year revealed that a White Paper on protecting London’s position as the world’s leading financial centre will be published this year.
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It is estimated that there are nearly two and half million of us, which equates to 7 per cent of the adult population who envisage retiring before we reach the age of 50, even though many of us have made no retirement provision whatsoever.
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Care home fees vary by almost 50 per cent across the UK, and are typically 3 times the average annual mortgage payment, reveals the first annual Saga Cost of Care Report published on 8 December 2008. The analysis, in conjunction with Laing and Buisson, shows Northern Ireland is the cheapest region for residential and nursing care and the Northern Home Counties the most expensive for nursing care with London the most expensive for residential care. Contrary to popular misconceptions, care is not free in Scotland and fees there are exposed as more expensive than Wales, Northern Ireland and the North of England.
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