But what will the election bring?

Patricia Mock, a director in the private clients practice at Deloitte, comments:

"As far as personal taxes are concerned, the Budget was notable by what it did not contain, rather than what it did. There were no changes to the proposed 50% tax rate, which will apply to incomes over £150,000 from 6 April 2010, nor to the NIC increases which will apply from 6 April 2011. The withdrawal of personal allowances for income over £100,000 also remains, although this can be alleviated by pension contributions or gift aid contributions.

"Capital gains tax (CGT) also remained at 18%, although there was a welcome extension to entrepreneurs' relief to a lifetime limit of £2,000,000 gains from the previous £1,000,000. This can give an overall CGT saving to entrepreneurs of £160,000 and will be very welcome to those who are seeing value return to their owner managed businesses as the recession passes."

HMRC powers

Mock says: "HMRC powers are also dealt with, in particular introducing an enhanced penalty regime for those who evade tax relating to offshore matters. This follows HMRC's recent offshore disclosure facilities, particularly the recent facility for Liechtenstein. The penalty rate will be a multiple of the rate that would apply to UK evasion, and the multiple will depend on the exchange of information requirements that the UK has with the overseas country concerned. If there are automatic exchange arrangements then the penalty will be the same as for non compliance in the UK, but if there are no exchange requirements the penalty will be twice the equivalent UK rate. This could lead to penalties of up to 200%.

"HMRC powers in this area were the subject of a recent consultation, in which a requirement for all UK taxpayers opening an offshore account to notify HMRC was proposed. This requirement has not been proceeded with at the current time and it is welcome that HMRC powers are being focussed more closely on actual evasion, rather than imposing notification requirements on all taxpayers."

Charities

Mock says: "Those making donations to charity will welcome the extension of UK tax reliefs to certain organisations equivalent to UK charities in the EU, Norway and Iceland. This follows a European Court of Justice decision last year. It may be possible to apply for tax relief in respect of donations made to qualifying EU, Norwegian and Icelandic charities between 27 January 2009 and 1 April 2010; HMRC have indicated that such claims will be considered on a case by case basis.

"Non-UK residents who have UK source income will now be able to obtain tax relief on gift aid donations. It also seems that 50% taxpayers will be able to get 50% relief on their gift aid payments, which has been the subject of some debate over recent months.

"Although there are a number of inconsistencies which are being corrected, these improvements will be generally welcomed."

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