According to accountancy firm UHY Hacker Young, taxpayers saw a 43% jump in their capital gains tax (CGT) bills last year, paying £5.5bn in CGT in 2013/14 – up from £3.4bn the year before. The firm says that a succession of increases in the CGT rate and the removal of CGT reliefs, combined with an increase in the turnover of investments like shares and buy-to-let property, have led to this increase. Matthew Hodgson, UHY Hacker Young partner, explains: ‘Recent increases to CGT are really beginning to bite. With an increase in the turnover of assets, this has led to a dramatic increase in government revenues from this source. The top rate of CGT was increased to 28% as a response to the financial crisis, and many taxpayers would like to see this rate cut as the economic recovery beds in.’
Figures from HMRC also show £2.3bn in CGT levied on taxpayers in London and the South East – 47% of the UK’s total CGT take, despite representing only 27% of the UK’s population. North East England experienced an 87% rise in the year from £46m to £86m, and North West England saw CGT receipts jump 67% from £247m to £412m over the same period. Hodgson noted that ‘rising property values in the North mean that CGT is going to become an increasing problem there as well [as in London and the South East]’.
According to accountancy firm UHY Hacker Young, taxpayers saw a 43% jump in their capital gains tax (CGT) bills last year, paying £5.5bn in CGT in 2013/14 – up from £3.4bn the year before. The firm says that a succession of increases in the CGT rate and the removal of CGT reliefs, combined with an increase in the turnover of investments like shares and buy-to-let property, have led to this increase. Matthew Hodgson, UHY Hacker Young partner, explains: ‘Recent increases to CGT are really beginning to bite. With an increase in the turnover of assets, this has led to a dramatic increase in government revenues from this source. The top rate of CGT was increased to 28% as a response to the financial crisis, and many taxpayers would like to see this rate cut as the economic recovery beds in.’
Figures from HMRC also show £2.3bn in CGT levied on taxpayers in London and the South East – 47% of the UK’s total CGT take, despite representing only 27% of the UK’s population. North East England experienced an 87% rise in the year from £46m to £86m, and North West England saw CGT receipts jump 67% from £247m to £412m over the same period. Hodgson noted that ‘rising property values in the North mean that CGT is going to become an increasing problem there as well [as in London and the South East]’.
