I kind of agree with both Andy2 and Tim123 on this.
Firstly, in my ideal world of a flat tax with corporation tax at the same rate as income tax, there's no room logically for any CGT at all on shares, because all profits within companies will already have been taxed at the income tax rate. Since all distributions (dividends) are either a return of capital or profits after corporation tax, it follows that shareholders will, on average, not receive any money that has not been taxed at the standard rate. There should therefore not be any personal tax (income tax or CGT) on their dividends or capital gains. (Note the phrase "on average". One shareholder may well make a untaxed gain by clever timing, but for every gainer there must be a loser who can't use the loss to get a tax reduction, so it all balances out, from the governments point of view.)
At the same time I agree with Tim123, that if someone is selling a business for a large amount then the overall tax (Corporation tax + CGT) is roughly equivalent to higher rate tax anyway, which is probably the amount they ought to pay, under the current tax system. The only concession I might give them is the ability to put the sale amount into a pension, so they can spread the taxing of it over a number of years. I suspect that might be possible already, with the help of a creative accountant.
If the seller is a contractor who's a basic rate taxpayer, then it was always better to take the money out as dividends over a number of years, that way avoiding CGT altogether.
Firstly, in my ideal world of a flat tax with corporation tax at the same rate as income tax, there's no room logically for any CGT at all on shares, because all profits within companies will already have been taxed at the income tax rate. Since all distributions (dividends) are either a return of capital or profits after corporation tax, it follows that shareholders will, on average, not receive any money that has not been taxed at the standard rate. There should therefore not be any personal tax (income tax or CGT) on their dividends or capital gains. (Note the phrase "on average". One shareholder may well make a untaxed gain by clever timing, but for every gainer there must be a loser who can't use the loss to get a tax reduction, so it all balances out, from the governments point of view.)
At the same time I agree with Tim123, that if someone is selling a business for a large amount then the overall tax (Corporation tax + CGT) is roughly equivalent to higher rate tax anyway, which is probably the amount they ought to pay, under the current tax system. The only concession I might give them is the ability to put the sale amount into a pension, so they can spread the taxing of it over a number of years. I suspect that might be possible already, with the help of a creative accountant.
If the seller is a contractor who's a basic rate taxpayer, then it was always better to take the money out as dividends over a number of years, that way avoiding CGT altogether.
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