Thursday, March 22, 2012

Annual mansion tax?

In his Budget George Osborne has intentions to tax annually high value property owned by companies. A kind of Super Council Tax? It would have to be a high rate to recoup the cost of valuation which would need to cover many homes well below the £2m mark to make sure it was fair.  If only a light tax it probably won't be effective or efficient - maybe it's just a sop to Vince Cable.

Budget quote (pages 4,34, 73): see bold

tackle the ‘enveloping’ of high value properties into companies to avoid paying a fair share of tax. The Government will introduce a 15 per cent rate of SDLT to be applied  to residential properties over £2 million purchased by non-natural persons, such as companies.This new rate will take effect on 21 March 2012.


 In addition, the Government will consult on the introduction of an annual charge on residential properties valued at over £2 million owned by these persons with the intention of legislating in Finance Bill 2013 for commencement in April 2013


posted by Charles Bazlinton

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