Retrospective Tax Rules Confirmed

On 13 July 2017, the government announced that the Finance (No.2) Bill 2017 would be introduced after the summer parliamentary recess to enact the measures withdrawn from the Finance Bill published before the general election. It confirmed that where a commencement date preceding the publication date of the Finance (No.2) Bill 2017 had been previously announced for a measure, that date would apply.

Some of the measures withdrawn from the previous Bill will be revised to ensure that they operate as intended, including changes to the deemed domicile rules for income tax and capital gains tax, and inheritance tax on UK residential property held indirectly by non-domiciled individuals effective from 6 April 2017. Updated draft versions of these measures were also published on 13 July 2017. The government also announced that the introduction of Making Tax Digital (MTD) would be delayed.

Anyone who is non- UK domiciled but living in the UK should review their affairs as a matter of urgency as the new tax rules may have a significant impact on their affairs.